Do your kids enjoy collecting leaves as much as mine does? Display your collection with this
eco-friendly portrait craft!
Kids love collecting leaves, don’t they?
Display their collections with this adorable, eco-friendly portrait craft. Your little artists will love collecting leaves, creating their portrait, and will develop their fine motor skills when weaving the stems through their custom-made boards.
This couldn’t be easier to set up and looks amazing when complete.
Plus, you can choose to either use this as a permanent craft or use it as a reusable threading board. It’s up to you!
Here’s how we did it.
Supplies:
- Leaves
- Marker or crayon
- Cardboard
- Scissors or a sharpened pencil (to poke holes in cardboard)
Directions:
- Use a marker or crayon to draw a large letter “U” in the center of your cardboard. This will be the outline of your portrait.
- Draw 2 parallel lines from the bottom of the “U” to create a neck.
- Use your marker or crayon to add facial features and details to the cardboard, completing the portrait drawing. Be sure to leave the space above the forehead blank.
- Carefully use scissors or a sharpened pencil to punch a series of holes into the space above the portrait.
- Collect leaves and thread through the punched holes to give your portrait a full head of hair.
We tried to identify which trees each leaf came from, and took pictures of the ones we couldn’t identify for further research. It was a fun way to extend the activity!
Looking for another outdoor activity to try with your kids?
Check out this blog post for a Winter Texture Scavenger Hunt (with a free printable) or this post on creating a painting using the chlorophyll found in leaves.
Enjoy!
