What do you need?
cardboard boxes
old newspapers
stacks of heavy books
pretty coloured autumn leaves
Drying leaves (and flowers) is very simple with cardboard and paper. In toy stores you can buy flower and leaf presses for between 5 and 10 euros. However, you can only dry a few leaves at a time. Creating your own leaf press is more fun and we can dry a shoebox full of leaves in just one go!
The DIY method with cardboard
Save a stack old newspapers and cut up some cardboard boxes.
Find a place where the board is out of the way, it has to stay put for two weeks at least.
Place newspapers on the cardboard and spread the leaves on them
Cover the leaves with a layer of newspaper and a piece of cardboard.
Repeat until all the leaves are used and finish with cardboard. Now for the hard work!
Piles heavy books on the cardboard, making sure the cardboard is completely covered.
Now we have to wait. That wait will last at least two (but preferably four) weeks before the leaves are completely dry and you can use them to make fun things with them. Are you curious too? Be careful if you want to take a look, leaves are quite brittle when they are dry!