Celebrate the Autumn Equinox with Fall Foliage Art
Autumn is a glorious time of year to view the fall foliage. In Maine we watch the colors change from roughly September 15 through October. When the leaves fall there is still fun to be had! Take a break from raking to make an artistic leaf animal or a leaf rubbing.
Autumn leaf animals - an owl, a turtle, and a mouse.
Leaf Animals—in the photo above are an owl, a turtle, and a mouse. Use your imagination to create as many animals of Maine as you can. Supplies: Assortment of leaves, scissors, paper or cardboard to lay out the leaves, and a glue stick. Procedure: If you prefer to make temporary designs, make your leaf animal without glue, photograph it, then let the leaf animal scatter in the wind. If you want to keep it, glue it to itself or a sheet of paper, or use self-sticking laminate or clear contact paper to hold and seal your design.
Leaf Rubbings - Supplies: white paper,
crayons – a variety of colors, paper peeled from crayons, and an assortment of freshly fallen leaves. Procedure: Place a leaf, under‐side up, (the bottom of the leaf has more pronounced veins) under a sheet of paper, pressed flat. Use the side of the crayon, not the point, to rub color over top of the paper above the leaf. As you rub you will see the leaf shape and veins appear on the paper. Extension: Use the Forest Trees of Maine to identify the tree leaves in your rubbings.
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Leaf Color Change Explained Daylight length (the photo‐period) is the trigger for fall color change. Since sunlight is diminished in autumn, chlorophyll* is no longer needed to capture it and so is no longer produced by the trees. The leaves that were once green due to chlorophyll now reveal the color (pigments) that were always there beneath the green – carotenoids produce yellows, oranges, and browns; anthocyanin produces reds. Day length, rainfall, and the amount of sugar left in the leaves all influence the quality of fall colors. Bright days and cool, crisp nights, but not a killing frost, promote the most brilliant autumn foliage.
*Chlorophyll is the substance in leaves that give them their green color. Chlorophyll is responsible for taking in or capturing, sunlight for the plant. Green plants use sunlight plus water and CO2 to make their food (simple carbohydrates – also called sugar). This process is photosynthesis; literally “putting together with light.” Photo = light. Synthesis = to make OR to put together.
The Autumn Equinox takes place tomorrow night, Thursday, September 22, at 9:04 p.m. ET. It marks the beginning of Autumn and the shortening of daylight hours until the Winter Solstice - the "shortest day" of the year (the day with the least amount of daylight). View images and learn why the autumn equinox takes place at the NASA Watch the Skies blog.
Plan a Fall Foliage Adventure - View the foliage map and get updates on the advancing of the fall color throughout Maine, read suggestions for fall foliage road trips and destinations, and find resources for learning about trees at MaineFoliage.com
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