This may just be my favorite new project from this school year!  Third grade made these beautiful painted paper leaves in the fall and we displayed them at the county fair art exhibit and outside the classroom for our Fall Festival.  And then we hung them inside the art room to show them off for a bit longer!  

Each student chose a secondary color to completely paint their paper.  All students had access to the primary colors, black, and white paint.  Painting the entire paper took longer than I expected, so we waited for the second day of the lesson to create the texture.  Students used a variety of tools and odd objects to add texture to their leaves, still using the colors to create their secondary color, black, and white.  They had so much fun with this!  I need to do more painted paper projects!

To finish the leaves, we practiced drawing leaves on the back of the paper.  We began with the center vein that ran from the top to the bottom of the page, then students looked at images of leaves and completed their own leaf shape.  Leaves were cut out, veins drawn on the front, and the edges and veins were painted black.  

Before the leaves were displayed, I laminated them.  This helped some of those leaves with thinner lobes be a bit stronger.