Outfit each person who will be working on the art project with a pair of lab safety goggles and gloves. Goggles will prevent pieces of metal from flying into the eyes and gloves will protect the hands as you cut the soda cans.
Cut the top and bottom off a soda can. Cut the resulting tube in half to obtain a rectangular sheet of aluminum.
Place a dry leaf on the sheet. Use a pencil to trace its shape onto the metal. Make as many tracings as you can fit on each aluminum sheet.
Cut out the metal leaf. Sand the edges with sand paper to smooth them and remove sharp corners.
Use your pencil to trace a spine along the center of the aluminum leaf shape. Add veins branching off from this central line for authenticity.
Poke a small hole at the top of the leaf using the tip of your pencil. Tie a loop of string through this hole so you can hang the leaf to display it.