Leaf Stringing

OK.........there's a little backstory to how this activity evolved.  First of all, I've never seen this particular activity anywhere else in blog-land.  Chances are good that someone somewhere has done it, but I've never seen it.  Here's the story.  I have been writing weekly posts for my local MOPS website called "Mommy and Me Mondays" where I give our MOPS moms ideas for simple activities to do with their young children.  For this past Monday I had what I thought was a great idea......to use dollar store silk leaves and decoupage them onto a clear glass vase as a fall decoration.  I loved that young children could easily be involved with spreading the Mod-Podge onto the vase.  One problem:  the silk leaves wouldn't stick to the vase no matter how much Mod-Podge my son and I slathered onto it.  I swear I've seen this idea done somewhere (the leaves on vase idea, not the one I'm sharing here) but maybe it was with real leaves that had been pressed flat.  That might work better than the silk ones.  I think the problem was that the silk ones weren't flat enough to mold themselves to the contours of the vase.  Anyhoo...........I realized the futility of this craft idea on Sunday afternoon and had to get a post up by Monday morning.  That's when the following idea was born.

First I took my package of $1 Dollar General leaves (I had 2 packages but one would be PLENTY for this activity)..........



I used my scissors to cut slits into the leaves as shown below.

 

Then I found a fall ribbon and cut about a 2-foot length.  I folded the ends over and sewed a button to each end.  This will prevent the ends from fraying and will make them sturdier and thus easier for little hands to manipulate.

 

I placed the leaves into a basket with the ribbon in a little wooden bowl.  A very pretty fall presentation. (NOTE:  I haven't actually put this on the shelves yet.  It will probably go out next week.)

 

Since I was trying this out at home, the photo below shows my youngest son placing the leaves onto the ribbon.  He loved working with them and said he was making a pattern.  (I thought I should explain the bare belly in the photo.  We don't usually take our shirts off at preschool.  At home it's okay though.)

 

Here is my son holding up his leaf garland.  It looks very pretty.  He wanted to hang it up in our house right away.  I told him that this one is for Mommy's classroom.  Luckily I have a BUNCH of leaves left over and we'll make a longer one to decorate our home this weekend.

 

I am pretty sure that my little preschoolers will love doing this work.  They may even want to make one at home too! 

Comments

[Jessie]

This is so lovely. I think we'll have to do something like this :)

Thanks!

Jessie

[Laura]

Thanks! Me too!

To: directress@live.com

[branflakes]

I think this is so pretty!

[Laura]

I have seen the button snake before and its on my to-do list for sure. Thanks so much for the reminder!
Laura

To: directress@live.com

[Laura]

Thanks so much for writing. This activity will be on my PL shelf on Monday. I think the children willlove it!
Take care,
Laura

To: directress@live.com

[Laura]

Hi, Sharon! Thanks so much for writing!
Take care,
Laura

To: directress@live.com

[Laura]

I have been meaning to make a button snake. Maybe Ill get to that soon.
Thanks for writing!
Laura

To: directress@live.com

[Laura]

Hi, Liz. Congrats for starting your new blog. It looks like youre having lots of fun with your daughters. Thanks for taking the time to write.
Take care,
Laura

To: directress@live.com

[Laura]

Thanks, Michelle! Im glad you liked the idea.
Laura

To: directress@live.com

[Laura]

Thanks, Nicole. Im glad you liked this activity. It will be out on the shelves in my classroom on Monday. I am pretty sure it wont stay on the shelf very long though!
Take care,
Laura

To: directress@live.com

[Our Country Road]

This is fantastic! Thank you for sharing!!

[Nicole]

I love this and will be copying it with my son soon! It's funny, I had thought about lacing silk leaves onto twine or string, but my hole puncher did not work well on them. Isn't it ridiculous that I never thought to just snip them with scissors?! So thank you for that! The ribbon is beautiful and I love the finished garland, as well as how you've presented it - lovely!

[Michelle]

Thank you for sharing this ahead of time! I have some craft leaves and have been wondering what to do with them ~ I will be sure to link to your post if I share online. Thanks so much!

[Liz]

That is a neat idea! I'll have to use it with our leftover leaves from our leaf sequencing activity.

My daughters and I did something similar to the decoupaged leaf vase. We used streamers and tissue paper to make ghosts and jack o lanterns. You can read more about it on my blog here. http://absorbentmindsofchildren.blogspot.com/2010/09/its-starting-to-look-lot-like-autumn.html

[Giggly Girls]

I love it!! And I have the leaves already. My daughter loves the button snake so she should love this too.

[Sharon]

Ohh...I just love this idea, I have been looking for something festive to decorate my classroom with that the children could make...thank you so much for sharing..

Blessings,Sharon Spry

[Discovering Montessori]

Wonderful Idea!! A must do activity. I will link this right back to you. You are truly crative and inspiring!! Thank you for sharing.

[Joyful Mama]

Hi there! I have made a button snake similar to this with felt squares just to practice buttoning skills (you can see it here: http://joyfulmamasplace.blogspot.com/2010/07/two-simple-ribbon-toys.html), but I absolutely LOVE the idea of making a garland in this way. It is spring here now, so I think we'll celebrate with a nice green one, though. Will let you know how it turned out. Thanks for the really super idea!!