Leaf Exploration With Stencils

We’re finally feeling the heat here in Sonoma County and I can’t help but look towards fall for cooler weather, the typical season for leaf exploration.

But why wait until autumn to learn leaf shapes? The more we practice now, the better we’ll be prepared for identifying the plethora of fallen leaves this November. In true Spritzer-Leyba fashion, we feel the need to transform everyday activities into learning experiences.

We stumbled upon this fantastic, incredibly inexpensive book of leaf stencils at our local art supply store. The stencil book contains six different leaves: aspen, holly, maple, sweet gum, white oak, and yellow poplar, all common to North America.

The book contains perforated pages, so you can remove the stencils from the book to trace them more easily. We decided to punch a hole in the top of each stencil and use a binder ring to keep them together.

I love watching our daughter learn without realizing it. She’s having fun, stenciling away, while learning the names of leaf shapes.

I watch, with a smile on my face, as she decides that we need to clearly label each leaf.

She’s our daughter for sure.

I can’t help but hope that she’ll grow up to be a scientist too.