I love the book, “Leaf Man”by Lois Elhert. The book is beautiful; the illustrations really tell the story! It starts with a man made out of leaves and as the story progresses, he blows away to become something new: a chicken, a fish, a cow, etc. A leaf man can become anything when the wind blows. I love talking with Lil about what she sees in the pictures. We try to find the images on each page and the book becomes a kind of nature scavenger hunt. She often sees images that I can’t – I love that about kids.
I always grab for “Leaf Man” as soon as it’s almost Fall. Even though I live in California where we have mild seasons, we are lucky that there are some trees that actually change colors! To my surprise, when Lil and I went for a nature walk around our new home, we collected many fall colors. Here was our collection:
I decided that it was the perfect time to remind Lil about, “Leaf Man.” We wondered what our leaf man would look like from our collection. Lil made a very small Leaf Man at first. Then, she took the largest leaf and began to make layers. Although I thought the top red leaf looked like a smile, she told me that it was a beard (her Daddy recently grew a beard and now everything she draws or creates has one too!).
After she finished arranging the leaves, we moved leaf man to the drawing table. I love to encourage preschoolers to draw their three-dimensional artwork. It’s an additional step that extends learning. Imagine the skills they use to transfer something three-dimensional into a drawing! Plus, Lil loves to draw 🙂
Here’s what she drew:
I love the little face amid the complicated squiggles and lines. She really tried to draw what she saw! It also allowed us to keep something from the project (we put it on the fridge) since our leaf man returned outside. I’m sure he blew into the wind to become something new.
What do you think your child’s Leaf Man would look like?
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