There are lots of easy crafts you can make with fall leaves. These are especially good fall craft projects to do with your kids. Be sure that your leaves are not too crisp or brown. Also, don’t let your kids do any hot gluing. If they really want to do the gluing, give them regular white Elmer’s glue to work with, and allow the project plenty of time to dry.
Leaf People
Glue a leaf on the back of an index card. This will become the body of your leaf person. Draw a head, arms, feet, and pants or a skirt around the leaf. Color them in with colored pencils. Encourage your child to make lots of these fall leaf people, with different designs.
Leaf Chains
Use leaves with long stems for this fall craft project. Carefully break off the stems. Use a needle to make two holes in the end and top of each leaf. Then poke the end of the stem through the holes of two leaves, pinning the bottom of one leaf to the top of another.
Leaf Stamps
Pull leaves off the tree for this fall craft project. You can use leaves that have changed to fall colors, but make sure they haven’t dried out or become brittle. Place the leaves inside a large, heavy book and let them remain there for at least several hours. Glue the smooth side of the leaf to a piece of construction paper. Make several of these stamps by gluing more leaves to pieces of construction paper.
Go out on a fall leaf hunt with your child. Gather fall leaves in as many different colors and shapes as possible.
Use non-toxic craft paints to paint directly on the leaves. Get creative and come up with interesting colors and patterns. Then glue the leaves to a sheet of construction paper in a variety of patterns.
Fall Leaf Tree
Gather some fall leaves for this project, as well. Also gather one slender fallen branch with a couple of interesting forks.
Paint a container such as a small terra cotta pot or a peanut can with non-toxic craft paints. Use fall colors such as yellow, red, green and brown. Place some small rocks in the container, and wedge the branch between the rocks so it stands up straight.
Paint your leaves using the same fall colors. Let them have plenty of time to dry. Use hot glue to carefully glue the painted leaves onto the branch. Continue gluing leaves onto your fall leaf tree until it looks full enough.
Fall Leaf Bouquet
Gather fall leaves, pinecones, acorns, seeds and other natural materials.
Wash and dry a glass jar. Use any jar you like, such as a pasta sauce, mayonnaise or jelly jar. Tall vinegar and olive jars are particularly good for this type of project. Remove the labels from the jar. You will use this as your “vase.”
You will need some slender wooden craft dowels for the next step. Depending on the height of your vase, you may need to cut down your dowels. Carefully hot glue each item to the end of a dowel.
Bunch up some tissue paper in attractive fall colors. Use more than one color if you like. Then carefully arrange the wooden dowels inside the jar, arranging the tissue paper so that it hides the dowels.
Leaf Rubbings
This one is super-easy and especially good for very small children. Again, gather fall leaves in a wide variety of shapes and sizes.
Position the leaves vein-side-up on a flat surface. Then place a plain sheet of white paper over the leaves.
Select crayons in fall colors such as yellow, red, green and brown. Remove the paper wrapper from the crayon, and hold it sideways over the paper. Rub the entire side of the crayon over the paper, where the leaf is. Experiment with different colors and methods of rubbing to come up with interesting and unusual leaf rubbing designs.
