Create Leaf and Bark Art

Find an outdoor area with several varieties of trees, like your backyard or a nearby park. Look for trees with different types of bark and leaves. Explore the texture and properties of the bark and the leaves. You and your child can close your eyes and feel the bark. Ask how the bark feels and which trees have smooth bark and which are the roughest. Next, feel the tops and undersides of the leaves. Do the leaves have texture, like the bark, or is it different?

Use your hands or a piece of tape (optional) to hold a piece of white paper on the tree at your child's eye level. Show your child how to rub a crayon on the surface of the paper, over the bark, so the tree’s texture shows on the paper.

Make several bark rubbings of different trees and compare. Ask your child questions like, "How can you tell which rubbing belongs to which tree?"

Help your child collect leaves from different trees.

Put a leaf on a piece of cardboard or a clipboard, cover it with paper, and rub the crayon over the paper to make leaf rubbings.

Once you and your child have made several leaf and bark rubbings, play a matching game with them. Mix them up and see if your child can pair the bark rubbing with the leaf rubbing from the same tree. How can you tell?

Try this activity in different spaces, with trees of various sizes and ages. When you’ve finished, hang up your child’s artwork, or show it to family members and have a chat about your favorite trees!