Why Do Leaves Change Colour?

One of the most common questions that arose during our inquiry unit on trees was "Why do the leaves change colour?" Prior to the storm we experienced, the children drew the trees in our Kindergarten courtyard.

Some of the children decided that the leaves are yellow because "a painting man comes and paints them." To test out their theory, we conducted an experiment and painted a tree leaf black. When we revisited the tree, we saw that the leaf was no longer painted, since the paint washed off the leaf. 

Through this experiment, the children realized for themselves that their painting theory was not correct and we are coming up with new theories to explain the colour change leaves go through in the fall.