Autumn Nature Journals

Autumn

Yellow the bracken,

Golden the Sheaves,

Rosy the apples,

Crimson the leaves;

Mist on the hillside.

Clouds grey and white.

Autumn, good morning!

Summer, good night!

~Traditional

For Grade 1, we are making a nature journal for each season. For fall, we decided to use one of our leaves from our maple tree.

I had been saving cardboard and we taped the leaves to our covers and used acrylic paints in fall colors.

After we removed the leaves and the paint dried, we went back and using colored pencils, drew the veining and shaded the insides so the contrast wouldn't be so stark. We tore up drawing paper for the inside and punched holes in the cardboard to tie up with hemp string. And here's how they turned out!

Once a week, we have been taking our journals out to capture nature in the fall. Here is some of what we drew...

In Southern Cal, the hibiscus can bloom all year round. 5 years ago, we moved about 30 miles north & it actually drops just a little too cold now for our hibiscus to survive in the winter, but in our old house, it used to bloom profusely and I miss that...

It was a gift to journey to the midwest this fall as the vegetation is so different and lush. The trees are so thick that you can't see through them and the colors were just amazing - definitely not desert-like! Here are a few shots of fall pictures we drew in our journals from our trip...

This is my Granny's Macintosh apple tree and this year, it had many, many apples. My aunt made some delicious apple sauce with them and we drew the bounty in our books...

Happy Autumn to all!