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Autumn family craft: leaf printing

Written by Allie McAllister
A young girl paints a sycamore leaf with brown paint.
Autumn is a great season for fun crafts with the family, and fallen leaves are just right for creating colourful leaf prints.
On this page:

What you’ll need

  • Paper
  • Poster paints
  • Freshly fallen leaves
  • Paint brushes

Did you know?

Birch is the most common native tree in Scotland, and it’s also one of the easiest to recognise because of its silver bark and small, light green leaves.

Different green leaves on a sheet of newspaper.

How to leaf print

Step 1

Head outside and collect some lovely fallen leaves. Enjoy autumn, play and jump in leaf piles!

Step 2

Once you’re home and have set out all your supplies, choose your first leaf and apply a layer of paint to the bottom of it, making sure you can see all its details.

A young girl paints a fern leaf with green paint.

Step 3

Repeat the process with all your leaves. After you’ve checked that all your leaves are well-covered in paint, gently place them paint side down on a sheet of paper. Press them down a bit to make sure they are flat and touching the paper as much as possible.

A young girl presses a fern leaf on to some paper.

Step 4

Once you’ve pressed down on the leaves, gently remove them from the paper. When you’ve taken all the leaves off, you will have your finished print!

Leaves covered in paint and their prints of a page next to a book on 'trees and hedgerows'.

Share your pics!

Ask an adult to help you share your creations on Instagram, tagging @nationaltrustforscotland

Top tip

You can look at an online guide or a book about trees to help you figure out what leaves you’ve gathered and printed! 

Check out our spotter’s guide for the top places across the Trust to see different types of trees.

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