INSPIRATIONS - Leaves
Our most easily accessible natural material - there's a lot you can do with a leaf!

Introduction
Aren’t leaves brilliant! Leaves are a wonderful natural resource to use for all sorts of activities. They are fun to collect, come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, and change colour! From identifying trees to simple leaf craft, we’ve collated a bundle of leaf activities to give you some leafy inspiration.
Welcome to Muddy Faces Inspirations - bringing together activities & ideas with a specific theme, to inspire your time outdoors playing, learning & connecting with nature. Keep an eye out for highlighted links taking you to our step-by-step activity guides.
Key Features
- Age Range All Ages
- Duration 1 - 2 Hours
- Location Anywhere
- Season Any
- Time of Day Anytime
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Categories:
Art & Creating
Inspirations
Outdoor Play
Other outdoor play ideas
Useful items from our shop
- Leaf Print Set
- Cutters - Leaf shape set
- Discover Leaves & Seeds Set
- Leaves Trail - 1-5
- Corrugated Leaves Die Cuts
- Skeleton Leaves
- Skeleton leaves - Pack of 20
- Leaf Rake - Kids
- Chalkboard - Oak Leaf
Environmental Considerations
Consider the environmental impact of preparing, carrying out & completing this activity. Could this impact be reduced? Specific considerations for this activity could include:
- ideally collect leaves from the ground, but if picking leaves from a tree aim for minimal impact (seek permission when necessary )
Health & Safety Considerations
Follow your usual operating procedures and carry out appropriate risk benefit assessments.
Some considerations particular to this activity include:
- see individual activities
What you'll need
- collected leaves
This activity has been provided by

A collection of our leaf activities:

Threading leaves
A very popular woodland activity – collect autumn leaves to use back at base, or make amazing leaf mobiles.

Leaf colour matching
A lovely activity for little ones to practice matching and naming colours.

Cheery autumn leaf faces
This simple concept can be the inspiration for all sorts of creations, such as leafy lions manes.

Autumn Window
A very simple early years activity to cheer up any window with gorgeous autumnal colours.

Autumn leaf wand
A simple-to-make leaf wand for ushering in the autumn fairies.

Leaf art with pens
You could write messages too!

Leaf decorations
Combine leaves & cookie cutters for a fun and effective art project.

Hapa zome - leaf bashing
A natural way to create your own amazing leaf prints on cloth.

Hapa zome - decorations
A natural way to create your own amazing leaf prints on discs.

Hapa zome – Christmas tree decorations
Use bashed leaf prints to create Christmas tree decorations.
a few more ideas:

Sycamore leaf basket
Push the stalk through the leaf and create a mini basket.

Land Art:
Create spirals or geometric patterns, faces or whole scenes – use the different colours & shapes to your advantage.
Take some inspiration from land artists James Brunt and Andy Goldsworthy, and Land Art for Kids.

Leaf trail:
Use our Discover Leaves & Seeds set - with designs burnt into wooden discs - to go on a trail and help with tree identification.
Disclaimer: Muddy Faces cannot take any responsibility for accidents or damage that occurs as a result of following this activity.You are responsible for making sure the activity is conducted safely.