11 Autumn Leaves Craft For Kids

Introduction

Fall is one of the best times to be outside. The weather’s starting to cool down, there are fewer bugs and mosquitoes, and you can enjoy the changing colors of the leaves.

If you live in an area with lots of trees, this is a wonderful time to bring your kids outside and have them explore nature by collecting different kinds of leaves. If you don’t have any trees where you live or if it’s too cold outside for leaf-picking activities, no worries! We’ve got plenty of options for crafting with fall leaves indoors as well.

Fall Leaves Fairy

What you need:

• Paper
• Scissors (optional)

What you do:

• Cut out a leaf shape from your paper and color it with crayons or markers. Don’t forget to add some detail like veins, air bubbles, and leaf hairs! Don’t worry if it looks too messy—it will still look great on your fairy’s dress!

Leaf People

If you’re looking for an easy craft to make with your kids, leaf people are the perfect choice. These little leaf people are a great way to teach kids about nature, and they’re also very easy to put together. You can use expired leaves that have been sitting on the ground all winter (or even this season) and create cute little characters made from nature’s bounty!

This is also a good project for parents who want to decorate their house for fall or Halloween. You may need more than one bag of leaves if you want enough pieces for each member of your family and friends, but we guarantee that it will be worth the extra effort!

Autumn Leaf Crab

Materials:

• brown leaf (for the body)
• green leaf(s) (for the legs)
• black marker (for eyes and mouth)
• pipe cleaner(s), or other cylindrical objects for antennae.

Falling Foliage Picture

• Make a picture frame with an autumn leaf.
• Use the leaf as a stamp and then press it onto blank paper to make your own autumn leaf art.
• Use a dried leaf as a paintbrush and draw with your child! This is great for practicing fine motor skills, too!
• Use the dried leaves as stencils to create different designs on paper or cardboard by tracing over them with crayons, or even making prints from their hands and feet!

Falling Leaves Garland

Materials:

• Leaves (of course!)
• String of lights (we used a strand from IKEA)
• Hot glue gun or super glue

Instructions:

• Gather leaves and begin gluing them onto the string of lights. You can leave these as is for a simple garland, or add more detail by gluing a few leaves onto individual bulbs like we did here. If you’re thinking about using this as table decor, consider using smaller leaves and placing them in strategic spots so that they don’t take away from the beauty of your dinnerware.
• Hang up your creation! We used clothespins to hang ours from our ceiling fan over our dining room table during dinner parties—it looked amazing!

Pressed Leaf Coasters

• Materials:
• Pressed leaf coasters (see below), or leaves you want to press
• A flat, heavy book that’s been covered with waxed paper or parchment paper. If you’re using a book, make sure it’s one you’re not too attached to! Books with thick pages work best for this craft.
• Waxed paper or parchment paper for lining your press and for placing under your leaf when pressing it.

Leaf Print Mugs

What you need:

• Leaf print paper
• Mug with a handle
• Pencil (optional)
• Scissors (optional)

What to do:

• Cut out your leaf print paper, and then cut off the top of the handle if you want to make it even easier for little hands to hold. You can also use a small piece of scrap cardboard if you don’t have any extra leaves lying around! Use the pencil to trace around each leaf with a top hat shape at its base, so that there is just enough room for glue when you place it on your mug. When all of your leaves are traced,
• fill in each one with glue and place it onto your mug handle, which should work as an easel while drying. Let them dry overnight or until completely stiffened before filling up with watercolor paint or glitter glue!

Leaf Crowns

You will need:

• Leaves, a variety of sizes and shapes (preferably dry)
• Paper crowns, in various colors and sizes (if you don’t have any, you can use plain white paper)
• Glue gun, or other heat-proof adhesive

Fall Leaf Structures

• Take fall leaves and use them to make structures. You can create a house or a frame using sticks, or you can make your own leaf structures. You can also use the leaves for other things, like making baskets and even bracelets!
• Use thin branches to create different shapes with your leaves. It’s easy to get creative here with what you want your final product to look like – from simple circles, triangles and squares through more complicated ones like hearts and stars!
• Create an autumn wreath using long branches of varying sizes which you can then decorate with ribbons or string lights at nightfall so they shimmer in the dark!

Woven Leaf Place Mats

The beauty of this craft is that you can use any kind of leaf. You could even use leaves from your garden, if you don’t mind giving them up for a few days. The key is to use a variety of colors and shapes. If possible, try to find some different types of leaves (lacy vs simple) as well as textures (smooth vs rough).

Make sure each leaf is clean before beginning the project so that it doesn’t stain the other materials or make them dirty. Also remember: Don’t worry about perfection! This project is all about having fun, so have at it!

Leaf Lanterns

This is another basic craft, but it’s one that can be made into some really fun variations. For example, you can use a hole punch to make holes for a string to hang the lantern from, or you could use a hole punch to create a loop so that it can be hung on a hook. You could also make the leaves larger or smaller depending on what look you want to achieve and how much time you want to spend making them.

Making Leaf Lanterns:

• Cut out leaf shapes from construction paper or cardstock and then glue them together in rows (like tiles) until each piece makes up half of the leaf shape and has two sides that are connected by glue edges. When all of your pieces have been glued together and dried, turn them over so they face up again and use markers or paintbrushes dipped in watercolors or acrylic paint (allowing them plenty of drying time) to color both sides of each piece with different colors so it looks like there are multiple layers on each side of each piece when viewed from above; this will add depth later on when hanging these types of lanterns outdoors during autumn season!

Crafting with leaves is a great way to teach kids about nature.

Crafting with leaves is a great way to teach kids about nature. Leaves are a free source of craft materials and it also helps them learn about recycling.

Learning about the cycle of life is another great aspect of crafting with leaves, especially when you’re making leaf print cards or leaf art pieces.

Conclusion

Once you’ve made your craft, why not share it with us? The Leaf People and Falling Foliage Picture are great ways to get kids involved in the crafting process. We’d love to see what you come up with! If you have any questions about any of these projects, please feel free to contact us at [email protected]