Leaf Activities

When I saw these giant leaf cut outs from Oriental Trading, I had to have them. I didn't really have a plan for them, but I was pretty sure I'd figure something out. 

Let me just say, I was really impressed with what I received - the images are great quality and the set included 48 leaf cut outs, so I had a ton of leaves to work with. 

While I was trying to figure out the best thing to do with all of them I came up with a long list of ideas, so I decided that instead of sharing just one or two, I'd give you the whole list.  

First I did a little research to figure out exactly what kind of leaves these were (thank you What Tree Is It?). I wrote the tree names on each of the leaves with a white paint marker.  I would love to take these outside and go on a leaf scavenger hunt to see which of these trees we can find in our neighborhood. 

This is a great way to help my students learn to pay attention to the world around them while learning about the different kinds of trees in our area. 

With this next set, I wrote a different number on each leaf.  I'm planning on using them for sequencing and large motor games outside - things like having the children jump on them and hop as many times as listed on their leaf, or playing relay races to put them in the correct numerical order.

I'll also use them for counting practice - like this:

They would be perfect for hiding around the playground and asking the children to find all of them, or even to write all of the children's names on them and hanging them from the ceiling in the classroom.  

The leaf images are printed on a thin cardboard, so I'll definitely laminate them before taking them outside, but other than that they're perfect for all kinds of fun activities - what would you use them for?

If you're looking for great ideas for your classroom, make sure to check out Oriental Trading's Halloween collection!