Creating Cyanotype Art Prints With Leaves – A Fun Nature Activity for Kids

Use leaves or other objects to create beautiful sun prints with light-sensitive cyanotype paper. A photographic image without a camera! Cyanotype paper works through a light-sensitive chemical reaction that creates a blueprint-like image when exposed to ultraviolet (UV) light – the result is a high-contrast blue-and-white print.

This guide will give you some tips and ideas for using cyanotype paper to create nature prints of different leaves with children. You can link making these prints to science, art and history, making it a great cross-curricular activity.

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What you need:

– Cyanotype paper (You can purchase from Amazon here)

– A shallow, waterproof tray that can fit a sheet of paper comfortably inside

– A small jug of water

– A selection of clean, dry leaves

– Sunshine!

The directions for different brands of cyanotype paper may differ. Always follow the instructions included with the paper you are using.

Collecting the leaves

First, collect some leaves. I take a plastic tub with me to avoid delicate leaves becoming crushed. Look out for interesting shapes. Leaves that are flat work well. Some leaves can start to wither within an hour so you’ll want to use them soon after collecting.

Choose leaves that will easily fit on the size of the cyanotype paper you are using.

Arranging the leaves

Do this part indoors, away from direct sunlight. Take a piece of cyanotype paper and place it flat in a shallow tray. Immediately seal the remaining paper in its bag – it’s light sensitive so needs to be kept in the dark until you are ready to use it.

Take the leaves and arrange them on top of the paper. You could display them in a pattern or in any design you want to. Once they are in place, you can add a sheet of transparent plastic on top to keep them from moving (if your paper comes with this).

Take the paper outside

Take the tray outside and place in a sunny spot (full sun is best). Leave it in place for 5-15 minutes.

Add water

Bring the tray back inside. Remove the leaves and put them to one side.

Take a jug of water and carefully pour it into the tray until the surface of the paper is just covered. You will notice the paper turn bright blue and that there are silhouettes left where the leaves were!

Let the paper dry

Put the wet paper outside to dry. You’ll be left with a beautiful sun print that you can keep.

The science – what’s happening?

The paper is coated with a mixture of ferric ammonium citrate and potassium ferricyanide. These chemicals are sensitive to UV light but remain invisible on the paper until exposure.

Exposure to sunlight causes a chemical reaction. This creates a pigment called Prussian Blue. This pigment is insoluble – it doesn’t dissolve in water.

The water washes any original chemicals away, leaving behind the deep blue. The unexposed areas, which were blocked from UV light, remain white.

How else could you link this activity to science learning in the classroom or at home?

Talk about different leaf shapes. For example, is the complete leaf round, heart-shaped, spear-shaped (long and thin) or hand-shaped? What are the edges like? If leaves are arranged on a stem, are they opposite each other or staggered?
Use the leaf shapes, colours, and size to identify the trees they came from to help build an understanding of nature in your local area.
Do this activity alongside learning about botanist and photographer Anna Atkins, who used cyanotype photography in the mid-1800s to record plant specimens. You could even link it to the children’s book ‘The Bluest of Blues: Anna Atkins and the First Book of Photographs’.