Leaves

Activities, Art, Fall, Preschool, Toddlers

Our Fall Crafts

September 30, 2019

Are you looking for some quick fall crafts? Here are some of the crafts Rosebud and I have done so far this fall. These are simple glueing activities that are perfect for toddlers and preschoolers.

Leafy Tree

Supplies

Leaves,

Paper,

Glue,

Green paint.

First, we made this leafy tree. It started out as just a simple leaf collage. Rosebud and I went for a walk and found a bunch of leaves. She wanted to make art with them, so we just started gluing. After she glued all the leaves, we realized there was a vertical space in the middle, so we painted it green to look like a tree.

To make it look more like a tree, you can draw the outline first or use other natural items to decorate it.

Halloween Spider

Supplies

Craft sticks,

Pompoms,

Google eyes,

Glue,

Glitter,

Construction paper.

I asked Rosebud what she wanted to make one afternoon and she really wanted to make a spider. When I asked her how she wanted to make it, she said she wasn’t sure, so I looked through my craft basket. We started off by gluing craft sticks for legs, adding a pompom for the body and then adding the eyes. Then she wanted to add a mouth and nose. To top it off, she wanted to add glitter and there is our Halloween spider. Not scary, but definitely a Rosebud creation.

Haunted House

Supplies

Craft sticks,

Construction paper,

Halloween foam stickers,

Jewels,

Glitter,

Glue.

I found a bunch of Halloween stickers at the dollar store and thought they’d be great for a collage. I got the idea to do a haunted house, so we did a 2d version with craft sticks. This project is great for fine motor skills because not only are they gluing and arranging items, but pealing stickers as well. Plus halloween is right around the corner. We started this project by painting a big piece of white paper all black for the night sky. At Rosebud’s haunted house, there is a pumpkin patch, a graveyard, the bat cave and the night sky with half moons and stars. Not to mention all the black cats and ghosts in and around the actual house. We had fun with this one.

Here are some supplies for your convenience.
 
 
 
What crafts are you doing this fall? Tell me in the comments.

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Activities, Art, Fall, Parenting, Toddlers

Glitter Leaf Collage

October 17, 2018

We took a nature walk the other day to collect leaves for our glitter leaf sun catcher and we had some left over. One idea was to just simply glue the leaves on paper, but I wanted to be more creative. So, I decided to break the leaves into small pieces. That way it would make an interesting collage. Then to make it pretty and sparkly, I added some glitter.

What you need:

Natural items, (Leaves, acorns, pine needles, baby pinecones, twigs, flowers etc.)

Blank paper or coloring page,

Glue, (We used glitter glue.)

Glitter, (For that extra sparkle.)

What you do:

1. Put glue on your paper. I’d suggest using a paintbrush to spread it out. I used glitter glue from the dollar store which doesn’t appear to be a good choice because it barely glues things down, but it’s the only glue I had. Rosebud didn’t want me to take a good picture of this. Each time, she’d move the paper or put her hand in the way.

2. Glue the objects on to the paper. We used an acorn printable for our first project, but you can’t even tell it’s an acorn after Rosebud dumped all the leaves on top. Our second collage was on a blank piece of paper and that looked much better.

3. Make sure the items stick to the paper. Rosebud would place the items where she’d want them and I’d hold things in place so they would stick to the paper. I had her count to five or ten with me. Holding the items down were helping them stick.

4. If you used standard glue, you can sprinkle glitter on top as the final step. I mixed some glitter in with the leaves, but I wouldn’t do that again because when Rosebud dumped the leaves, the glitter went along with it.

Overall, this was a simple and fun project to do and Rosebud liked it. Since we’ve used all our leaves, it’s time for us to go on another nature walk. What are your favorite crafts using natural items? Tell me in the comments.

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Activities, Art, Fall, Parenting, Toddlers

Glitter Leaf Sun Catcher

October 15, 2018

Lately, we’ve been doing activities with leaves. I was inspired by this post from, On Your Own, But Never Alone. I thought why not use the glitter leaves as sun catchers?

What you need:

Leaves that are dry, but not crunchy,

Glitter glue,

Paint brushes,

Mod podge,

Contact paper or clear sheet protectors,

String.

What you do:

1. Lay leaves on a flat surface and paint them with the glitter glue. You can paint just parts of the leaf or the entire thing. We used three different colors of glitter glue.

2. Set aside to dry.

3. Paint leaves with mod podge.

4. When dry, arrange leaves in contact paper or sheet protector. I didn’t have any contact paper so I just glued the leaves inside the sheet protector.

5. Punch hole in contact paper and tie a string. If you use a sheet protector, the holes are already there.

6. Find a nice place to hang your creation. Some leaves will catch the sun and others will not depending on the color. Either way, you have a nice glittery fall decoration.

What are you making with leaves this fall? Let me know in the comments.

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Activities, Art

Leaf Painting

September 18, 2018

Here’s a simple painting activity for the fall.

What you’ll need:

Paint,
Paper,
Leaves,
Tray or some other way to set up the paint.

I just took a cookie sheet, lined it with foil and put some globs of paints in different colors on it. Then I put one leaf in each color of paint so they wouldn’t be mixed at first.

All you do is cover the leaf with paint and stamp it on the paper. I showed Rosebud once and then she got to work, creating her pictures.

I didn’t have much paint so by the time we got to our third picture, I showed her how she could use the leaves as paintbrushes.

I’m looking forward to doing more fall activities. What are your favorite fall crafts and activities? Let me know in the comments.

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