Friday morning before my classes started, I went searching around my school building trying to find some good leaves to use for texture rubbings with kindergarten. After scouring the parking lots for a while, I returned to my classroom with a big ziploc baggie full of beautiful fall leaves!
When picking leaves for texture rubbing it is important to get them at the right moment. You want to get the ones that very recently fell off the tree, because the ones that have been sitting there for a while are probably too dried out to get good rubbings off of (instead you'll just get a dirty crumbly mess).
Once my kindergarten babies came in for class, I demonstrated how to lay the leaf (bumpy side up - **back side) underneath a piece of paper, and then using the SIDE of a crayon, rub the paper over top. For the most part every student was very successful on their own... but there were a few who tried rolling their crayons over their paper instead of rubbing them. Ohhh they were so frustrated that it was working for everyone else except them!! But once I came over and showed them how to rub the crayon instead... their faces lit up like a Christmas tree. :)
After we did some crayon rubbings I took out some warm-colored watercolor paints and let them go to town. The results are stunning. LOVE LOVE LOVE!! One of the greatest parts of the lesson - we got an entire piece of gorgeous artwork done in only one class period (which is foreign to me)!!
