I just was wandering around some other art teachers' blogs, and came across the title, "Warm Leaves, Cool Breeze." This would be a perfect title for this project, I believe.
We start out by talking about movement in artwork... how lines and where objects are placed can not only make the viewer feel that the objects are moving, but also indicate what direction they are moving. I give students a 12x18" sky blue piece of construction paper (starting with the blue base makes the end product more vivid), and they have to draw their "line of motion" - the line that their leaves will travel across. The line has to fill the paper, and I caution them on making it too wavy or choppy. We then trace leaf stencils along the line of motion. Real leaves would probably work fine, but I made a set of stencils by tracing real leaves on tag board so I could use them for a while - real leaves dry out and become difficult to use. I show the class what a "leaf parade" looks like (the leaves lined up nose-to-tail along the line), and tell them that they do NOT want that. They want the leaves to look like they are naturally blowing in the breeze, so they should turn the leaves this way and that, and the line of motion shouldn't go right through the middle of each leaf. Students also need to add the veins in the leaf, but I warn them not to make them complicated or detailed, because the next step is to outline the leaves and veins with good ol' Elmer's white glue. I have a set of glue bottles set aside that are smaller than my normal class set, and are only used for this project so the hole is nice and new. A good hint is to tell students to go from top to bottom, left to right (or right to left if students are left handed). The glue has to dry for a few days before the next step: color with chalk pastel. We discuss warm and cool colors, and I add brown to the warm list, as the pastels come with a warm brown. They have to use more than one color in each leaf, and the background should be colored and blended in the direction of the "wind."
Now, maybe I'm a control freak, but I know that if I did it any other way, I would have a big mess. I tell my students that they are not allowed to blow the excess chalk dust all over... instead they can just shake it to the floor by holding their paper down next to them. I also have them keep a wet paper towel at their seat for whenever they need to wipe their hands - otherwise my one sink would be way too crowded and nothing would get done!
Let's be honest, it's still messy, but the results are well worth it. The example above isn't quite complete (needs a bit more color in the background), but you get the idea.
