Colorful Fall Leaves

First, we went outside and did some observations.  I snuggled little guy as I carried him around and we pointed out the colors we were seeing.  We found some leaves we liked.  He enjoyed picking them for me.  

This is countdown day 6.  I decided this morning to set up for the activity before picking up Princess R from preschool.  I knew time would be limited as I am taxi mom on Monday!   As I was putting out the materials Special K became intrigued and wanted to play RIGHT NOW!  Who could blame him?  New stuff.  Looks colorful...  And I did this whole look at Special K toddler boy, and then looked back at the materials and thought,  "This project won't work for him.  How can I make it so that he can do this independently?"  So I abandoned the plan I had and I thought back in my brain that had this image of a post from Pinterest or a blog or who-the-heck-knows where.  My mind is a cesspool of crafty educational junk.  And I remembered this project.  And so we proceeded to do it.  Right then and there.  And it was so appropriate.  And it was such a special time for both of us.  I'm so glad I was flexible in changing the plan to fit the interests/needs of my guy because as it turns out, it was an activity that was approached with zeal throughout the day by my entire brood.  Including the high school-er who was eager to play with the color mixing!

We brought his collection inside and chose the perfect one that he liked most.  I traced the shape with a pencil and cut out several layers of coffee filters to create many sassafras leaf shapes.

We then took small amounts of liquid watercolor and squeezed the color onto each shape.  The results were immediately rewarding!

The way the colors mix together is both unexpected and beautiful.