Leaf Tracing & DIY Field Guides

Written By Sarah Nassif

Tracing a leaf is simple enough for anyone to try. This relaxing activity takes about five minutes. Make a note of your stress level before and after the exercise and whether it changes!

Leaf Tracing:

  1. Start with a leaf you’ve collected on a walk outside or a houseplant. You can even print out the image below.

  2. Take time to look closely at your leaf. What is its overall shape? Do you notice anything about the leaf’s edges like zig zags? Is the leaf the same on the top and on the bottom, or is one side different? What about the lines patterns on the leaf—the veins of the leaf?

  3. Now place your leaf on top of a piece of paper and trace around it the best you can. It’s ok if it’s not perfect. You are aiming to capture the outside shape of the leaf and the pattern on the edges of the leaf.

  4. Remove the leaf and draw in the veins by eye. Add any unique features like where an insect chewed a hole.

  5. Observe your drawing and your leaf. Did you capture three observations about your leaf in your drawing?

  6. Add any words you’ve observed in the blank space—the color, texture, smell and where you found the leaf are all great to note.

Take It Further, Make a DIY Field Guide!

  1. What if you collected a leaf from each of the trees on your street or in your yard? You cold create a small volume that reflects the diversity of trees where you are. Don’t worry if you don’t know what they are, but if you are curious, you can look them up using an app or the wonderful resource minnesotawildflowers.info.

  2. Get a friend to help you create a real neighborhood resource. Check out some of the resources I recommend to learn more about botany.

Connecting Nature and Art in More Ways:

  1. The study of plants has always been a fusion of art and science. Join a community like https://www.inaturalist.org/ to learn more about local ecology and add your observations.

  2. Explore other naturalist artists: Beatrix Potter,

  3. Make a leaf motif screenprint, or dream up another art project to take your leaf drawings into new realms of your own design.

Sarah Nassif https://sarahnassif.com
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