Craft Time: Pressed Leaf Bookmarks

Leaves are wonderful! Here at Cave of the Mounds we love looking at our large oak trees in wonder and awe. Leaves are great for many things besides crafting. They provide shade on hot days, create camouflage for animals that reside in the tree’s branches. Leaves turn sunlight into starches and sugars, which is food for the mighty tree through the process called photosynthesis. When the leaves fall off the branches, they create a thin layer on the ground that helps the ground absorb moisture, and when they start to decompose, they release nutrients into the soil that are used by other plants to grow. Aren’t leaves beautiful! That’s why artists like Isaak Ilyich Levitan or Oscar-Claude Monet painted leaves in artworks like “Autumn Leaves” or “The Avenue”. In this craft, you will press leaves into some bookmarks!