Learning About Leaves

The last week of September has brought us to explore more about leaves.  The rapid change in colors and the rate of how they fall from the trees has ignited Vito’s interest on leaves thus we worked on some activities based on these interests.  Below are some of the activities (and ideas) on leaf studies and links to the resources that we used.

BOOKS ABOUT LEAVES, TREES, SEEDS, AND PLANTS

Below are really good books on trees, leaves, seeds, and plants!

• Usborne Nature Trail Book of Trees and Leaves Fantastic resource!
• The Woodland Book
• Woods and Forests (My First Discoveries)
• Why Do Leaves Change Color? (Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science 2)
• Naturetrail Trees

LEAF SHAPES

We have these cards (Montessori Inspired Leaf Shapes) from the shop that we use at home whenever we wanted to identify the different shapes of leaves.  Learning about leaf shapes is important in the identification and naming of leaves and trees and the properties of a plant.  Our previous lesson can be found here (Our Leaf Shapes Study).

PARTS OF A LEAF

Using our Parts of a Leaf 3 Part Cards, we dissected a leaf sample from our recent visit to the park and identified its basic parts.  We also discussed some of the functions and important role of these parts to a plant.



That’s my cutter and Vito insisted on using it.  Note that Vito is capable of using knives but I do not recommend that you let your child use a cutter even with supervision.  He used this cutter knife for just a minute and I took it right away and made him use a scissor in dissecting the leaves.



Our 3 part cards set comes with description cards which you can assemble into a booklet.

LEAF IDENTIFICATION

Our main reference when identifying leaves are the books mentioned, but I find these free printables helpful especially on our nature study in the park as books tend to be bulky.  These are from Opal Explore Nature Website and Woodland Trust they were handy and helped us in identifying the leaves in our neighborhood and local park.


And that’s about it!  We love learning and exploring nature… hopefully this October we’ll get to learn about fruits and veggies too (for harvest season).

Pins this for later!