Seven is apparently a magical number, so for some fall kindergarten readiness fun and learning, is a magic leaf activity: leaf rubbing. To do this magic, some flat fall leaves, a paper, and some wax crayons are all that is needed.
To start the magic, a grownup can hide a leaf under a big piece of paper on a table. (I used some scotch tape to hold the paper down on the coffee table and some of the finish came off. Guess I’ll be getting out a magic wood crayon for that.) Kids can say the magic words; adults can color over the first leaf using a soft wax crayon on it’s side. Where did that leaf come from? It was under the paper all the time. Now kids can color by themselves but it really helps to have extra hands to hold the paper down snugly.
Some fall colors are red, orange, yellow, and brown but Big Sister just wanted to use red. It’s fun to have leaves of different shapes and sizes so kids can see that leaves are not the same. Ask your child what those lines in the leaf might be. You can tell your child they are called veins. A good place to see veins on our bodies is often in the wrist. A leaf has a stem like other plants. Some stems stick right through the paper and make a big, hard lump that is tricky to color over.
This activity may interest some children for only a few minutes while others will want to make many leaf rubbings over and over. There’s some science observation happening, practicing with writing tools, connecting to nature, and using words especially magic spells. It really is quite magical to see a leaf appear on a page, isn’t it