Looking for ways to celebrate the autumn season and create memorable learning experiences with your kids? Look no further than my favorite FALL arts & crafts below. As an added bonus, a few will help decorate your house!
- Pine Cone Bird Feeder: Take a walk to find a few large pine cones. Tie a string around the tops and leave enough string on the other side to hang from something outside (try to find a place where squirrels won’t be able to reach it!) Smear all sides with creamy peanut butter and sprinkle with birdseed. Hang up where you can watch the birds come and enjoy!
- Orange Peel Bird Feeder: Peel an orange in a circular motion, making sure the peel is in one long piece. Repeat the above steps starting with peanut butter.
- Leaf Rub: Collect a variety of leaves. Talk about each of the leaves color, size, and shape, and try to identify which tree it fell from. Place a leaf under a piece of paper and rub a crayon over the paper where the leaf is to watch the leaf appear. Extras: Make your art into a greeting card. Try to find other flat objects to do this with, such as coins.
- Waxed Paper Leaf Press: After rubbing the leaves, place them between two pieces of wax paper, place a paper towel over the top, and press with a dry iron on medium heat. The heat will seal the wax paper together to preserve the leaf. When cool, cut out the leaf leaving at least one inch of border. I tape these hanging from a light fixture and the light catches them quite nicely.
- Fall Tree: Paint your child’s hand and forearm with washable brown paint and stamp onto paper to make a tree with branches. Your child dip can then dip his or her fingers into red, orange, yellow, or green paint to press “leaves” onto the tree and on the ground.
- Pumpkin Seed Collage: After carving a pumpkin, wash and dry the seeds. Glue them to paper in different designs and shapes. Optional: Brush paint over them when the glue dries.
Finally, when raking all of those leaves, encourage your child to make a pile of leaves and jump in it! Enjoy the good old-fashioned fun…and don’t forget your camera!