Skip to Main Content

Leaf-Motif Frame

Students will create a beautiful autumn-themed frame while learning about how leaves change color.

Lesson Plan

Supplies Needed

Gather all the supplies needed to bring your craft ideas to life! From paints and markers to glue and scissors, our crafts section has everything to spark creativity and make every project truly special.

  • Photo(s)
  • Recycled Cardboard

Steps

  • Step 1

    Have students learn about how leaves gain and lose color. Explain that trees that lose their leaves are deciduous. (Evergreen trees that have needles are coniferous.) Leaves contain chlorophyll, a green substance, that absorbs energy from the sun. This causes photosynthesis, which is the process of converting light energy into food. In autumn, when there is less sunlight, leaves start preparing for winter and stop producing chlorophyll. As the green fades, other pigments that have been masked by the green begin to emerge. Carotenoids produce yellows and oranges; anthocyanins bring out reds and purples.

  • Step 2

    Take the class outside when weather permits and ask students to gather some fallen leaves. Ask them to try to determine the type of tree they fell from by looking at websites that can identify them.

  • Step 3

    Have students create an autumn-themed frame. The can begin by cutting out the center of a piece of cardboard and then embellishing it with an autumn background color such as gold, reddish brown, or any seasonal color. Then they can brush one side of a leaf with paint and press it onto the cardboard. They can use a new color for each leaf.

  • Step 4

    When dry, students can either glue a photo they brought from home into their frames at school or take the frames home where they could insert an autumn-themed photo or any other that they'd like to exhibit.

Standards

SCI: Support an argument that plants get the materials they need for growth chiefly from air and water.

MATH: Represent measurement quantities using diagrams such as number line diagrams that feature a measurement scale.

Adaptations

Have students learn about the difference between coniferous (evergreen) and deciduous trees. For example, a common misconception is that evergreen trees don't lose their leaves when in fact they do; it just happens constantly and slowly throughout the year rather than all at once.

Have students pick a region, such as the Redwood Forest or the Amazon Rainforest and learn about the species of trees that are there.