Preserving Fall Leaves

In the yard the leaves are beginning to change. On nature walks we are discovering some beautiful colors. It is a great time of year to add some leaves to your nature collection or just for some artistic fun.

Holly collected a few leaves late last week and pressed them between paper towels in a dictionary for a couple of a days. The moisture is pulled out pretty well. Once they were dry I broke out some Modge Podge in which Holly painted on - front and then back, drying in between of course. She did her Modge Podge on wax paper... a bit messier than I'd hoped. After seeing the extra residue on her first coat I decided to pull the freshly painted leaves and place on a new sheet of wax paper. If you don't, the leaves might stick to the paper making it difficult to remove them or ruin them all together.

Once coated the leaves are a bit more vibrant in color (which faded from drying), they are more pliable, a bit more sturdy for little hands to inspect, and a wonderful addition to our nature display.