A lesson full of STEAM based hands on learning.
BOOK OF THE DAY
Fletcher and the Falling Leaves by Julia Rawlinson
The structure of our day today was a little bit different, and as it turns out, Lane does well with structure. This was a good challenge for both of us though. We headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Cookie’s house for a change of scenery, and then to downtown Boise for another change of scenery-this one much more “fall” themed.
Our book centered around our weekly theme of leaves and because we would be scavenging for actual leaves today, this choice only made sense.
FAMILY FIELD TRIP
Leaf Scavenger Hunt
My dad, Lane and I headed downtown to one of our favorite spots: beautiful Katheryn Albertson Park. If you ever visit Boise, there are many parks to see, this one is a particularly magical spot and I recommend you add it to your bucket list. It’s full of paved and unpaved walking trails, lush trees and shrubs, abound with wild flowers and if you’re lucky you’ll spot a variety of wildlife. Birders and wildlife photographers often gather here.
Our plan was simple. Go for a walk to collect leaves of all varieties, colors and sizes and capture some photos. We got to see autumn in action.
STEAM ACTIVITY
Chlorophyll Chemistry
Since we had tons of leaves on hand from our walk, we had to get sciency with them. What gives leaves their color? It’s called chlorophyll. Chlorophyll helps the leaf turn sunlight into nutrients, but as spring turns to summer and summer turns to fall, the chlorophyll breaks down, resulting in changing leaf colors. The leaves then start producing other chemicals and these are the chemicals responsible for creating vivid oranges, yellows and reds.
This easy experiment doesn’t require a lot of supplies but the results are fun for kids and grownups alike. So now, using science, let’s extract some chlorophyll from our leaves.
Supplies Needed
- different colored leaves
- shot glasses or another small container
- rubbing alcohol
- a boiling pot of water
- tongs
Start by setting up your shot glasses and fill them with rubbing alcohol.
Then you will need to put your selection of leaves in the pot of boiling water for 5 minutes. Definitely have an adult do this part. The boiling water helps break down the waxy skin on the leaves so that the chlorophyll can be extracted.
Once the 5 minutes is up, use a pair of tongs to remove your leaves and sort them by color into the rubbing alcohol.
Now just go do an activity or take a nap for a couple hours.
When you check back after a few hours, you will see how the alcohol has pulled color from the leaves. While the color from most leaves will be the same as the original color of the leaf itself, we found that our dark purple leaves turned into a dark green. That’s why it’s great to find a good variety.
HANDS ON LEARNING AND WORKSHEET
Sort + Count and Leaf Tracing
A simple way to use our leaves while we waited on our chlorophyll study was by sorting and counting them. I gave Lane a few paper bags with which to sort by color. Once he had them all divided, we inspected each color more closely. See how some are bigger than others. And some of them are different shapes. We felt the leaves and found some were fuzzy or prickly or waxy. Then in typical preschool fashion, I asked Lane to count the leaves.
After he had enough of the leaves, it was time to color. This time another tracing patterns. Featuring leaves. Because why not make it theme related, right?
Click here for the leaf tracing worksheet.
CRAFT CORNER
Leaf Trinket Dishes
Our craft included leaves. We’ve done everything else with leaves so we might as well do this too! This lesson post won’t include the full process for these clay trinket dishes so check the blog later this week for the full process.
Supplies Needed
- air dry clay
- parchment paper
- rolling pin
- butter knife
- leaves
- bowls
The directions on the tub of clay say to add water to soften but since we were using a fresh container, I found that adding water made the process more difficult. So we continued with clay unaltered from the tub.
Lay out a sheet of parchment paper onto a flat work surface. Prepare another sheet of the same size.
Start digging out a lump of clay and kneed it in your hands to soften a little bit.
Place your clay on the sheet of parchment paper and cover it with the second.
Start flattening it out like you would cookie dough with your rolling pin.
Once you have a piece about 1/4 inch thick, remove the top layer of parchment paper and place your leaf, veiny side down on the clay.
Add your second sheet of parchment paper again and roll over the leaf and clay with your rolling pin. You don’t need too much pressure, just enough to leave an imprint. When we rolled too hard it made removing the leaf challenging.
Next, remove the parchment paper and leaf from the clay and gently shape it into a dish.
We placed our leaves on top of small bowls lined with more parchment paper and left them overnight.
Now I gotta leave you hanging. Once our clay dries completely I will follow up with the finished project!
Ember + Pine 