Parts of a leaf: In the Montessori classroom you’ll find many “parts-of” activities, like parts of a flower, parts of a bird, parts of a tree, and so on. The ideas for topics are endless!
There are wooden puzzles and three-part cards that can be used to go with the “parts-of” activities. You can find parts of a leaf three-part cards and purchase parts of a leaf puzzles online. In addition to parts of a leaf, you could also do types of leaves, such as Maple, Oak, Elm, and so on.
I decided to make a parts of a leaf puzzle out of felt, rather than make three-part cards or purchase a leaf puzzle. Making activities out of felt is so easy and inexpensive!
I made a template from the picture of this Montessori wooden leaf puzzle to trace and cut out the felt pieces.
I made two copies of the felt puzzle; one I glued together to use as a control of error and one copy I kept the felt pieces separate to be the puzzle.
Control of error is a Montessori term which means that the activity is self-correcting, so that the adult is not correcting the child.
Tip: We also found a leaf out in nature that looks like the same shape as the leaf puzzle. You could use a real leaf as a control of error and talk about the different leaf parts while doing the leaf puzzle.
Fun idea: You could also label the parts of a leaf with a painted leaf print! This is a great activity for a child a little bit older than three.
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Have you seen the art collages built outside with leaves, pine needles and pebbles as the art medium. There’s a fantastic book to show kiddos the amazing art created from just naturally found leaves. Portraits, landscapes, fantasy…
Yes, it’s so beautiful! I’ve done outdoor mandala art made with sand, rocks, sticks, flowers, and leaves. I used to do this with the kids when I was a Montessori teacher.
love all these fun ideas to use with young ones and especially love the parts of a leaf project..
This is a great way to paint with different types of materials. How unique and original!
These are all really cute ideas and are great for little ones to do in the fall! Passing this on to my sister!
I always get cool activity ideas for kids from your articles. Kids not only enjoy such type of activities but also learn much from them
Leaf rubbing is one of my favorite things to do with my son during the fall!
These are all great ideas! Saving this for later!
I tried the leaf tracing, rubbing and painting activities with my kids. They had so much fun.
These are all such great activities.
I remember making leaf rubbings with crayons when I was a kid! I love all of these ideas – creative yet super easy to make. Thanks for the tip on how to make leaves stay fresh – I didn’t know that!
These are such great ideas! I love the one where you tape the leaves down and paint, then it’s just their silouhettes that show. Super cool!
Oh my goodness! My kids would absolutely love this activity!
Great ideas! My preschooler will def love the leaf rubbing and the leaf painting.
These are some really fun crafts. Definitely gonna do some of these with my kids.
Leaf rubbing is a favorite in our home. I haven’t gotten around leave cutting or painting. But, what I do know is my son will love doing these. He loves nature and everything to do with it! Can’t wait to try these with him.
Very cute ideas! Something to do with all the leaves in our yard. 😂 Going to try leaf painting and tracing with my daughter.
I absolutely love fall! This is my favorite time for fun crafts like this.
We tried leaf painting last year but it didn’t work out as well. I think we needed a different kind of paint. Might try again this year or attempt the crayon one!
We had to try a couple of times to get it right. Dampening the paper first, then printing, and using a small rolling pin really helped! It came out much nicer. Also, use a small paintbrush and use a thin layer of paint. If you put too much paint on the leaf it’s harder to see the details. We used tempera paint on watercolor paper but you could also try acrylic paint! Of course, painting leaves is so much fun for young children!