“That’s my favorite tree!”
“I drawed some leaves that fell. I’m doing the lines of the leaves that are falling.”
“I see all the colors on the ground too. Trees grow from a seed. The leaves turn colors because it is getting cold out.”
“They turn colors because fall is not summer anymore.”
The following week, the children took a closer look at the leaves. They studied the shapes, colors and textures by tracing the leaves on acetate. This is harder than it looks. The children must draw slowly and pay attention to tiny details, like points and curves, while drawing. This supports hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills important for future writing endeavors.
This was a difficult concept for some of the children to grasp at first, and instead of tracing around the silhouette of the leaf, they drew a circle around the outside. After they tried it a few times, most of them were able to slow down, and concentrate on the shape of the leaf while drawing.
“Is this how you do it? Why do you have to go slow? I saw brown and yellow and green on my leaf. We already did the Maple tree. Now we need to draw the leaves.”
“I see red in my leaf. I did another one that is a different color. This one has a little bit green for the veins and also a little yellow.”
Reflection by Danya Lanphear, Art Specialist