no paintbrushes allowed

a favorite fall craft in our household, is painting with leaves! so when I saw that our local library was hosting a series called 'no paintbrushes allowed' and this months activity was painting with leaves, I made sure to mark it on our calendar!

it's a really simple craft, all you need is paint, leaves, + paper.

first, collect some fall leaves that have already fallen off of the trees, and try to gather different textures + sizes. make sure to get your littles involved in this part, we like to take mason jars, or even a lightweight basket on our walks, and sparrow has fun filling them up with keepsakes along the way.

second, if you don't already have paint - make sure you pick up washable paint. any brand will do, but this is my favorite kind. and third, gather paper. you can use construction paper, computer paper, or my personal favorite watercolor paper. I like to have different sizes on hand - depending on the art project sparrow wants to do. and you can pick it up at any of your local craft stores.

now, to prevent messes, or rather to create an easy clean-up for you (because, kids + paint, everyone knows it gets a little wild!) make sure you put some kind of paper over your table (butcher, newspaper, ect..) - unless you have a designated craft table and you don't mind. but, in our home, most of our art projects just happen on our kitchen dining room table.

so once you have your table protected, let your little one choose 3-4 colors of paint, and give them a little dollop of each on a paper plate - set up your pile of leaves - and a fresh sheet of paper, and watch the creativity flow!

the only rule : no paintbrushes allowed! they must use the leaves to create their painting!