Okay, okay, I know this is incredibly simple art, but it is a big deal for me since I usually run from doing art with 4 children. Art with children is generally chaotic and messy. I try to steer clear of chaotic and messy, thus I usually don’t do art with 4 children.
But the fall leaf color inspired me, and I’m trying to hang on to fall as long as I can. So the children and I walked through the woods on our property, collecting leaves. Then we came back to the house, grabbed some wax paper, heated up the iron and . . . . . .
Wa-La! Bee-yu-ti-ful leaf art. At least the children were impressed.
Prairie Sings 
I was just thinking yesterday how I never do anything artsy w/ the li’l ones. That doesn’t sound too painful. What exactly did you do w/ the leaves, wax paper, and iron?
1. Adjust your ironing board to a low level to make it easy for little people to see.
2. Heat up the iron on a low setting.
3. Rip off a sheet of wax paper. Lay it on ironing board.
4. Allow the chosen child to pick favorite leaves and lay on wax paper in whatever fashion they enjoy. I do encourage them to turn all the leaves either right side up or right side down though. You also want to adjust any leaves they place too close to the edge or edges won’t seal well.
5. Rip off another sheet of wax paper. Lay it on top of leaves. Lift and set iron. Hold 10 seconds or so. Lift and set iron. Hold for 10 seconds.
**Sidney and Lincoln were able to do it on their own, after they saw me make my leaf art first. I let Rachel put a hand on the iron with my hand over hers, so she felt like “she” was doing it.
OK, just to make sure, I’m assuming the waxy side of the paper goes on the inside (wax up, then leaves, then wax down)? This looks neat!!
That makes sense to me. Sidney and I spent a long time discussing which side of the paper was waxy. I honestly couldn’t tell. Both sides felt waxy. Maybe it is just the brand of wax paper I was using, and your wax paper will be more obvious.
We did it! I felt so artsy and crafty! 🙂 I’ll have to post on the blog whenever I finish recovering from vacation.
Yay! I’m glad you are growing your artsy-crafty side. It was there all along. You just didn’t know it.
I actually have a neat but simple art project I did with Sidney when he was 2 yo. I only requires a white crayon and the cheap watercolor sets like you get from Wal-Mart. But the results are rather impressive, I think.