Making festive crafts is always a cozy and fun activity in the fall, and kids enjoy it perhaps more than anyone. Leaves of all shapes and colors can be used to their best advantage in this season. Here are some ideas of fun fall leaf crafts for kids to make.
1. Leaf Coasters
A fun project that will also save your tabletops, leaf coasters can be a fun craft for little ones to help with. Get some glue or any craft paste that dries clear. You’ll also need some small discs that can be found at the craft store. Gather your leaves. The more colorful the leaves, the better! Flatten the leaves between a book for an hour or so, and then arrange them on the disc as desired. Brush your craft paste over the leaves and allow to dry for at least one hour. Afterward, enjoy some handmade autumn coasters!
2. Leaf Pumpkins
Combine two beautiful elements of the autumn season in one project with a leaf pumpkin. Grab a pumpkin of any size that you don’t mind covering up. Once you have gone outside and collected at least 30 leaves, arrange the leaves one at a time on the surface of the pumpkin and brush over them with craft paste. This creates an attractive layered effect. Kids will love deciding where to place the next leaf. The final product can be covered with as few or as many leaves as you wish.
3. Leaf Pendants in Resin
This craft may be suited for older kids, but it is still a craft that they would love to help with. The items needed are a pendant holder, acrylic resin, and some beautiful fall leaves. Make sure the leaves are small, or you can always cut them down to size, depending on how large a necklace pendant you wish to make. Place the leaf inside the pendant holder and pour the acrylic resin over it. Allow resin to cure overnight, and in the morning you will find a totally unique piece of jewelry waiting for you.
4. Pressing Leaves in Pages
One way to preserve a perfect fall leaf for kids is to press them into pages. This craft is an easy one for children of all ages. Find a book with thin, onion-skin pages. The thinner the pages the better this craft will work. Take a leaf or two and make sure it is clean and fresh. Dried leaves do not work as well. Place the leaf or leaves between two pages and close the book tightly. You may also place a heavier book or object on top to help set it. In a day the leaf will be perfectly pressed and preserved.
5. Leaf Tracings with Colored Pencils
One way to capitalize on the beautiful leaves of fall is to do leaf rubbings or tracings with colored pencils. Collect a fresh fall leaf from outside and place a piece of tracing paper over it. The thinner the paper the more detail you will be able to achieve in your leaf rubbing. Take colored pencils and trace or color over the area where the leaf is sitting. You should be able to see all the veins and details of the leaf underneath. This effect can also be done with crayons or lead pencils.
6. Cookies in Leaf Shapes
The chilly months of fall are the perfect time to do some baking. Try making sugar cookies that are cut out in fun fall leaf shapes. Children love to help in the kitchen, and they can be in charge of cookie-cutting the dough before it goes in the oven. If you are really feeling festive, add food coloring to the dough before baking to turn out red or golden leaves. Small designs and ridges can also be added before baking to get the true leaf shape. Decorate afterward with sprinkles or other fall touches.
7. Leaf Faces and Friends
One super easy craft for kids is creating leaf faces and friends. Gather several large leaves that are all bright, striking colors. Glue them onto a piece of construction paper and offer children several options to decorate them. Fun googly eyes are one option, but stickers also work. Have the children draw faces, arms and legs onto the leaves. You could even provide yarn or grass for hair. Encourage the children to create a whole scene around the leaf people.
8. Leaf Collage
One beautiful yet easy craft is a leaf collage. Glue, paper, leaves and imagination are required materials. First, collect 20-40 leaves per collage. Then, allow the kids to choose a large and colorful piece of construction paper for their background. One by one, glue the leaves together in a tree shape. The children will be delighted when they realize they are making a tree out of leaves! Encourage them to draw a trunk and surrounding landscape to complement their creation.
9. Jars with Leaves and Light
Another project for older children are leaf lights. Take a mason jar and unscrew the lid. Choose the colorful leaves you wish to decorate your jars with, set them inside the jar and then brush craft paste over them. This glues them in place. After the paste has dried, place a strand of battery-operated fairy lights inside the jar and pop the lid back on. The soft light from within will create a lovely translucent look to the leaves and will showcase their bright colors that can be enjoyed anywhere.
10. Mobile with Fall Leaves
Another simple but enjoyable craft for kids is a fall leaf mobile. Other than leaves, you will need colorful yarn, glue and a wire hanger. Cut several pieces of yarn into different lengths and tie each onto the wire hanger. Try to space the yarn strings evenly. Glue a leaf to the other end of each string. Varying the lengths of string and size and color of the leaves will make a more visually interesting mobile. Hang it up somewhere high and enjoy!
