Autumn is Here, Leaves are for poems

This is a project that combines science, literature, art and just plain fun.

Find outlines for leaves of trees in your area on the internet–oak, maple, elm, whatever you have, Cut some shapes as large as you can.

Go for a nature walk with your child. Take a look at the leaves. When you come back, ask your child to write down three words that described the leaf. Depending on the child’s age, you write the words on the leaf with a marker pen or allow him/her to do so.

Then the child colors the leaf and you put it up on your home poetry tree. As your walks progress, the leaf colors will change and you can make more demands on the writing–rhyming words, alliterative words–all building blocks for poetry, all nouns, all verbs, good building blocks for any kind of writing.

In addition you have sharpened the child’s observation skills–prime for science.