Apple Collage
Quick to make but great fun for younger children, this apple collage makes a super autumn or healthy eating craft. Make sure to protect your area and your child, because things might get a bit sticky!
Autumn Crafts
Don't worry about the evenings getting longer - gather together your supplies and use the time to enjoy these fantastic autumn crafts for kids!
Apple Prints
Instead of potato printing with your kids, why not try your hand at these apple prints? Experiment with different types of apple and you might find some surprises: did you know that in some apples a star shape is formed when you cut through the centre of the apple perpendicular to the core?
Apple Tree Handprint Painting
Children love to paint apple trees and here is a fun, messy way to do it! The only problem with this hand-painting craft is that you have to wait for the green part of the tree to dry before adding the finger-print apples!
Autumn Collage
Here's an excuse to go outside and collect some autumn leaves! Even the youngest children can make a pretty autumn collage that you will be proud to display...
Autumn Leaf Collage
Scrunching tissue paper and sticking it always appeals to little kids, and you get a lovely textural result to put on display. It's possibly not so easy to see the shape of our autumn leaf in this picture, but the colours are lovely!
Autumn Placemat
This placemat in autumn colours makes a fun seasonal table decoration which the kids will enjoy weaving. Weaving is a very calming craft for children, and once they understand the process they will enjoy creating different patterns with this simple technique.
Autumn Sticker Tree
This is a lovely craft for younger children, who will enjoy both the hand painting and printing and the sticking on of stickers! You could adapt the craft for spring by using pink "blossom" stickers.
Autumn Tree Craft
Make a spectacular display to celebrate the arrival of autumn with this autumn tree craft. This obviously works well as a group or class project.
Autumn Tree Handprint Painting
Go wild with some bright autumn colours to create this autumn tree painting, and capture your child's hands in time!
Autumn Window Picture
This window picture looks beautiful on display and really captures all that's best about autumn - especially when the sun shines through it! It is simply made with clear sticky film (sticky-back plastic), leaves and glitter, and can be adapted to a range of ages.
Autumn Window Pictures
These Autumn window pictures look so pretty displayed in the classroom or home at Fall, and are a popular craft with children of all ages.
Autumn Wreath and Tree
Make this pretty autumn wreath and tree using simple craft cupboard supplies. Use real leaves as templates, print some of our templates, or design your own.
Bleeding Tissue Paper Autumn Leaf
This interesting technique relies on art tissue paper, which "bleeds" when water is added and produces a lovely mingled effect. Children enjoy watching the colours bleed into each other and the finished result is a perfect leaf for autumn.
Button Tree
This is a lovely little sewing project and I think you'll agree that the finished result would be something anyone would be happy to display! Our button tree is coloured for autumn but you can of course adapt it for any season.
Collage Tree
Sam collaged an autumn tree but you can of course adapt the colours of tissue paper in this craft to make a lovely blossom tree for spring, a summer tree full of foliage, or perhaps an apple tree.
Colour Mixing Leaf Display
Learn about mixing colours and create a pretty autumn display with this fun painting craft. We've lined up our leaves across a strip of card to make a display, but you could hang them in graduating order too.
Conker Painting
Conkers are such a part of the British autumn that we thought we'd find a slightly different use for our conker collection! Younger children will enjoy the randomness of this painting activity, and rolling the conkers around is fun!
Family Tree
This family tree display makes a great project (and poster) at any time of year, but also an unusual and special gift for Grandparent's Day.
Felt Leaves
These felt leaves are a simple way to teach children basic embroidery stitches as they get to see a quick result. We have stuck to basic backstitch as we are just starting out but you can be more ambitious if you like and experiment with other stitches.
Felt Tip Watercolour Tree
We enjoyed watching how the colours from the old felt tip pens used in this craft spread, and the resultant picture is very pretty. Make sure you use a good thick paper though, or the result might be disappointing.
Glittery Fruits Craft
These pretty glittery fruits will make a welcome display when autumn comes, and could even be hung on the Christmas tree!
Glittery Suncatcher Autumn Leaf
Glittery suncatchers appeal to everyone - except perhaps the person who has to clean up the glitter! Before you make these glittery autumn leaves, put down a tablecloth or plenty of newspaper. Wait for the glue to dry for the magic to happen!
Guest Post - Celebrating Autumn
Shelly and her kids celebrate autumn with some seasonal activities in this guest post. They have lots of fun making some colourful autumn leaves using bleeding tissue paper and try some autumn acrostic poems too.
Guest Post - Four New Autumn Leaf Craft Ideas
It dawned on me the other day that none of the children's activity groups I run gives me scope to run an autumn themed craft session this year. This is a very sad state of affairs, I love autumn!
Guest Post - Making a Four Seasons Tree
We have made our four season trees a number of times and it is such a fun and easy season craft so I thought I would share what we do.
Guest Post - Making Autumn Suncatchers
Autumn is a magical time to enjoy craft activities! In this guest post Shelly and her son make some lovely autumn suncatchers to hang up in their home.
Hanging Leaves
These stunning leaves can be adapted for any season - and depending on the age of the children you can cut out the leaves for them or leave the whole project up to them.
Hanging Leaves Garland
This Hanging Leaves Garland makes a really super display for Harvest Festival, Autumn or Thanksgiving, and offers the benefit of the fun of leaf collecting and rubbing too!
Leaf Brooch
Here's a quick an easy craft idea for a leaf brooch that children can make themselves or with minimal supervision, perfect for Autumn. For Canada Day, make the leaf brooch with red felt only and use our template, below.
Leaf Bunting
We've cheated with some pre-cut leaves to make this leaf bunting, but you can get the kids to cut out their own (using our templates, or perhaps tracing round some leaves that they collect from outdoors) for a fun Autumn craft and pretty display!
Leaf People
Here's a fun project for those interesting leaves and twigs that you've collected on an autumn walk! Unfortunately our photo isn't the best - but we hope you can use your imagination and make your own leaf people to photograph!
Leaf Plate
Stencil this pretty leaf plate to use (or display) during autumn - or give as a gift. Of course you could adapt the idea for all sorts of occasions.
Leaf Rubbing Fairy
Autumn is a fantastic time to take leaf rubbings and this craft is a lovely way to use them. Maybe it could be used to record a special walk or you could make a whole family of leaf fairies over the autumn period!
Make A Scarecrow
You don't need a vegetable patch to make a scarecrow this autumn - just make one for fun with your kids! If you haven't got any old clothes that you can use, you might be able to find something inexpensive at a jumble sale or charity shop.
Marbled Suncatcher Autumn Leaf
Marbling is always an intriguing activity for kids and the results can be truly spectacular, especially when displayed in the window like our marbled autumn leaf suncatcher! You might want to remind younger children that less is more when it comes to mixing the colours!
Model Autumn Tree
Our autumn tree is textural and fun for younger children to make and display. Of course if you can find a green "scrunchy" you can adapt the craft for spring and summer too.
Paint an Autumn Tree Using Shaving Foam
Sam turned a shaving foam painting (instructions here) in a fabulous autumn tree by waiting for the original painting to dry and then adding a trunk and brunches with dark brown paint. Obviously the same technique could be used in many ways!
Painting with Natural Paints
Make the most of your outdoor time by collecting some materials together for a painting session later - using paints that you make yourselves with nature's offerings!
Paper Plate Marbling Tree
This is a simple technique which involves a paper plate (one of our favourite crafting ingredients!) and lots of colourful paint. You will need some patience while the "tree" dries!
Paper Plate Scarecrow
Our cute paper plate scarecrow craft includes all the elements loved by young children: painting, cutting, sticking and creating! These paper plate scarecrows look wonderful on display, too.
Paper Plate Toadstool
This fun paper plate toadstool craft is useful for autumn - or a fairy theme, perhaps! Paper plate crafts are always good for your youngest children, and this one is quick and easy.
Scarecrow Puppet
Dress yourself up a scarecrow puppet from a wooden spoon and a few fabric scraps, and he will be a great addition to your puppet show! This makes a fun craft to do with kids during the autumn / fall season.
Seasonal Tree Canvases
This lovely craft idea can be undertaken in one go as a project on the seasons - or in four parts over the year as each season arrives. However you choose to do it, the canvases make an eye-catching display.
Stamped Leaf Tree
Use a lovely leaf and some twigs collected when out walking and turn them into a picture of an autumn tree with this fun stamping craft. Scroll down to see what the leaf looks like when it is ready to make the print - such fun!
Toadstool Craft
These little toadstools - which the kids can make using craft cupboard supplies - look so realistic that you may mistake them for the real thing! Remind your child that the real toadstools must be avoided, though - they are very poisonous!
Toadstool House
This is just the sort of house that a fairy (or some little toy people) might find useful... and this toadstool house is such a fun craft to make! We love crafts that have added play value afterwards, and this one definitely has.
Toadstool Labels
Make these cute toadstool labels with the kids and use them for their own names, to label seeds you are planting in the garden (in which case you will need to laminate the toadstools carefully) or perhaps to label objects and places around the house and garden.
Tracing Paper Leaf Suncatchers
These leaf suncatchers are a simple craft idea but they use a number of different fine motor skills - tracing, colouring, cutting. And they look pretty on display!
Twig Fairy
Here's a fun craft to do with the bits and pieces you collect on a nature walk, particularly on an autumn walk after a windy day when you might find leaves and conkers and twigs. Our photo isn't great but the twig fairy was lovely!
Twig Frame
Kids will enjoy making this twig frame to display their artwork this autumn! This is a good craft to do after an autumn walk, particularly after a windy day when you can collect all sorts of fallen twigs.
Watercolour Leaf Bunting
Sam had a lot of fun creating the mottled watercolour paper that we used for this leaf bunting, watching how the colours mixed together. Make sure you put down plenty of plastic sheeting before you start this craft!
Weave An Autumn Loom
Why not weave an autumn loom to show off the treasures you collect on your walks during the season? We've also seen them referred to as "fairy looms" and they look fantastic on display in the garden.
Wool Collage Leaf
Gather some scraps of wool / yarn to make this pretty, textural autumn leaf. Do it in a group and you could end up with enough to make a lovely wreath or tree display. We've used autumn colours but you could do this with different shades of green and yellow too.
