Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert

 Take a look at the fun Michael and Margaret had making their leaf man creations. Read down to the end of this post for more ideas and a link to an activity guide for Lois Ehlert's book, Leaf Man. Enjoy! Susan

We had fun collecting leaves in anticipation of making our own "leaf characters". First we read Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert. That inspired us to go outdoors and collect different size and shape leaves. We pressed them between pages of phone books and after several hours we began creating!
Above you will see Michael's leaf moose! He is writing that under his creation.



This is another leaf man made by Michael.



Margaret joined in making a collage of leaves. Such excitement!

Here is a leaf fish with bubbles added for underwater effect bbbbb......

Here are some other ideas to do with the leaves.

• covered the page with laminate sheets that you can purchase at Walmart or Target.
• Put the leaf creation on a piece of wax paper. tape it down. Cover with another piece of wax paper and adhere the pieces using an iron. Add some crayon peels to add more fall color.
• Encourage children to use descriptive words to describe the leaves ( as you read through the book talk about descriptive words - pointed, jagged,smooth edges/fragile/veins/stems/colors
• Sort the leaves by color.
• Sort the leaves by shape.
• Sort the leaves by size.
• Use a magnifying glass to see the veins, creases in leaves
• Find out the names of the leaves using the web to check out pictures of leaves. Also there are some books to look at that provide pictures of leaves and more information on trees such as Trees, Leaves and Bark ( see the link below).
• Make leaf rubbings by putting a leaf on a firm surface (put "fun tak" under it to keep it from moving). Place another piece of paper over the leave and rub with the side of a fat crayon. "Rainbow" rub using different colors to add that leaf color changing look.
• visit this site for more ideas for using the book Leaf Man http://www.harcourtbooks.com/leafman/teacherguide.asp