How to Make a Fall Leaf Collection

Go on a fall leaf collection walk. As you are walking, look on the ground for leaves that have already fallen from the trees. Make sure you have a plastic bag or ziploc bag to store your leaves in. Try to pick leaves that are not too brittle or crunchy yet, so they won't crumble easily. Also, try to find leaves that are different colors to make your fall leaf collection colorful.

Organize your leaves when you are back at home or in your classroom. How do you want to set up your album or your poster display? Do you want to put the leaves in order of size? Do you want to alternate colors? Spread all the leaves out on the table in the order you want to put them into your album or on your posterboard.

Put the first leaf into your album or mount it on posterboard. The best thing to use for securing your leaf to your display is double-sided tape like people use in scrapbooks. It is acid-free, and it usually is easy to break into little tabs if you have smaller sized leaves. You can get double-sided tape at craft stores and most discount stores like Wal-mart or Target.

Find the leaf in a leaf identification book or a book about tree identification. These books, which are available at libraries, will show you the shape of the leaves and the names of the trees. Write underneath your leaf the name of the tree the leaf came from, where you found the leaf (such as in my neighborhood), and the date that you found the leaf.

Mount each leaf one-by-one on the posterboard or put them into the album, label each one, and then go on to the next leaf. When you are finished, you will have a beautiful fall leaf collection to share with friends and family members.