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Lessons learned while walking through the leaves
I
can’t help it. I love to go out in
the fall and gather leaves. I en-
joy looking at the reds, yellows,
oranges and browns of deciduous
leaves against the turquoise skies
of a crisp autumn day. I savor peel-
ing the paper off a broken crayon
to make leaf rubbings that accentu-
ate the veins, shape and edges of
the leaves. These foliage designs
transform into note cards, framed
posters, placemats and Christmas
tree decora ons. In my
humble opinion, one
is never too old to
take a walk, gath-
er some leaves
and break out
the colors.
Learning
the names of
the trees in my
neighborhood
has made a
place feel like
home. Recently
walking down the
street where I lived
in my teens, a sense of
homecoming came over me as I
saw the mature shaggy oaks and
the ponderosa pines towering over
the sidewalks. My Audubon Soci-
ety Field Guide of North American
Trees has go en a workout over
the years as I’ve moved and hiked
over the United States.
Looking at leaves and trying to
fi gure out what kind of tree the
leaves come from has been an
ac vity that helped me model curi-
osity and inves ga ve skills, while
le ng my children know that,
actually, mommy doesn’t know
everything. Almost everything, but
not quite.
The Audubon Field Guide steps
through a process of inves ga on
and discovery by asking ques ons
such as follows:
• Where did you fi nd the leaf?
• What shape is the leaf?
• Is each leaf from the tree the
same? (Maybe I shouldn’t tell
you, it may spoil your fun, but
sassafras has two diff erent
shaped leaves.)
• Is there any fruit visible?
• What does the bark of the tree
look like?
As you gather and inves gate
leaves, here are some ideas for
discussion and new vocabulary.
The shape of the leaf:
Does it look like a heart? It’s
cordate.
Does it look like an upside down
heart? It’s obcordate.
A triangle? Deltoid.
An ellipse? Ellipsoid.
An oval? Ovate.
An upside down oval? Obovate.
A circle? Orbiculate.
A spoon? Spatulate.
A kite? Cuneate.
A fan? Ginkgos have fan-shaped
leaves.
An arrow? Sagi ate.
A spear? Lanceolate.
The palm of your hand? Palmate.
Are the fi ngers or lobes of the
palmate leaf pointed or rounded?
The edge or margin of the leaf:
Is the margin of the leaf toothed,
lobed or en re?
An en re edge will
be smooth with no
bumps around the
en re leaf.
A toothed
edge can
be dentate,
poin ng
outward;
serrate,
poin ng to
the leaf’s p;
crenate, broad
and round; or
incised, with deep
sharp irregular teeth.
A lobed margin will have
deep indents or sinuses, called
either sinuate or undulate. Sinuate
margins are very wavy, while undu-
late are wavy but not as much as a
sinuate margin.
The veins of the leaf:
Maren
Schmidt
_______________
Kids Talk™
Are the veins parallel or re cu-
late?
Simple and compound leaves:
Is there one leaf per stem or do
the leaves cluster on the stem?
Oaks have simple leaves. Wal-
nuts have compound leaves.
Take an hour for a walk and a
gathering of leaves. Create some
art projects by rubbing leaves with
a crayon or pressing leaves be-
tween wax paper in a book. Dis-
cover with your children and name
the quali es of the plants in your
neighborhood. Knowing the names
of a few leaves can make a house
feel like a home.
________
Kids Talk™ is an award-winning
column dealing with childhood de-
velopment issues wri en by Maren
Stark Schmidt, M.Ed. She has more
than 25 years experience working
with young children and is the au-
thor of Understanding Montessori:
A Guide for Parents. Contact her via
e-mail at maren@kidstalknews.
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