Make Plaster Casts of Leaves - Children Activity

by Kay

One of my favorite activities with the kids is to go leaf collecting in the park during Autumn.

It always seem a shame that the leaves don't last for very long, so i came up with this idea for the children to make plaster casts of the leaves. They can then decorate them later and use them as paper wights or to hang on the wall.

You will need some plasticine and plaster of Paris.

Collect some leaves and press them down into some plasticine so that the veins of the leaves can be seen in the mold. Form a wall around the mold and pour some plaster into it. Leave to set for a few days and then carefully remove the plasticine from around the plaster.

Comment from Kate
I recently saw some of these leaf plaster casks on the wall of my local school. they had decorated a rather boring concrete wall.

It looked so lovely and I bet the children were very proud with their work.

This is a great frugal activity for the kids.