Art Lesson Plans for the Book Fall Is Not Easy

Literature-Based Color Theory and Autumn Leaf Collage Activities

© Renee Carver

Aug 28, 2008

Trade book pictures can illustrate art concepts and serve as models for creating other art. Use Fall Is Not Easy by Marty Kelley [Zino Press Children’s Books, 1998] to introduce color theory content and inspire children to construct collages.

Objectives

1. Students will identify warm and cool colors and how they are used.
2. Students will select colors to express different thoughts and feelings.
3. Students will use book illustrations as models for crafting collages.

Materials

• Fall Is Not Easy by Marty Kelley
• Photographs of fall foliage
• Paper
• Glue
• Scissors
• Collage materials

Color Wheel Lesson

1. Read Fall Is Not Easy aloud. Then, discuss the leaf picture on the back cover, identifying it as a color wheel.
2. Ask children which colors seem warm (red, orange, yellow) and which seem cool (green, blue, purple). Turn to the rainbow leaf picture and have children note how the colors progress from warm to cool.
3. Display photographs of fall foliage and have children identify any warm colors they see.
4. Discuss how the tree wants its leaves to be "fire, all brilliant and bright." Ask whether it wants its leaves to turn warm or cool colors (warm).
5. Examine the leaf pictures the tree makes. Have children identify whether the illustrator used warm or cool colors in each one. Discuss how the color usage affects the feeling of each picture.

Autumn Leaf Collage Activity

1. Discuss the different pictures the tree’s leaves make in Fall Is Not Easy.
2. Provide children with collage supplies such as foil, tissue paper, construction paper, cardboard, felt, buttons, foam, and cut-up magazine or catalog pictures.
3. Have children sort their materials into warm-color and cool-color piles.
4. Give children glue and a piece of paper with an outline of a tree drawn on it. Have children paste collage materials inside the outline to make their own leaf pictures.
5. Invite children to present their finished collages to the class. Have them talk about whether they used warm or cool colors and why they chose to use the colors they did.

Fall Leaf Collage Activity

1. Take children on a fall nature walk. Have them gather collage supplies such as leaves, stems, bark, berries, seeds, acorns, flowers, grass, and twigs.
2. Give children glue and a piece of paper with an outline of a tree drawn on it. Have them tear, cut, or snap their natural collage supplies into tiny pieces and paste them inside the outline to make a leaf picture to express their thoughts and feelings about autumn.
3. Invite children to present their finished collages to the class. Have them talk about why they used the colors and materials they did.

Extension Activities

1. Have children use the illustrations in Fall Is Not Easy as a model for painting their own tree pictures. Note that the illustrator depicts the tree leaves with little daubs of paint. Display a reproduction of Georges Seurat's painting Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte and have children examine how Seurat also used little dots of paint to depict trees.
2. Trace and cut out a simple outline of a tree (trunk and leaves) on stiff paper. Mix up and roll out a batch of cut-cookie dough. Use your tree outline to cut out cookie trees. Have children create leaf pictures on the surface of the unbaked cookies with colored sprinkles and sugars. Bake the cookies. Or, bake the cookies first, and then have children create pictures using icing and sprinkles.

Leave Fall Is Not Easy out for children to reread at their leisure. You can also use this book to teach literature-based lessons in science and writing.

Fall Is Not Easy Collage

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