Third Grade Leaf Prints

This year the leaves have been especially lovely in my neighborhood, so I decided to revisit a printmaking project that I hadn't done for several years. For a brief moment, I thought I would ask the students to bring in leaves for us to press and prepare in class, but the insanity of that idea quickly passed and I collected leaves on my evening walks for several nights instead. Much easier since I only see each class once a week and that's more than enough time to forget an assignment!

The week before the printmaking, each student prepared his or her frame using oil pastels and pan tempera.

 The following week, my room set up required coming in a little early in the morning, but the prep was well worth it. The students moved smoothly through the stations, choosing their leaves and ink colors and having a great time creating their leaf prints.

Clean up proved to be a breeze, too. I have the students place the brayers and trays in dish pans, one in each sink, and add liquid dish detergent. We just let them soak until the end of the day, then all I have to do is rinse them off and set them on towels to dry until morning. Paper and leaves are put in the trash and the plastic table cloths are rolled up and put away for another day.

 

And here are some of the colorful results!

 

 

This determined students found the perfect leaves
 to create her little yellow bunny!