Julie Finn
Fall is my favorite season for gathering natural materials that will supply craft projects for me and my kiddos for the entire next year. There’s something about the shift to autumn that makes crafting with natural materials even more satisfying than usual, as well, so it’s rare that a fall day goes by that doesn’t find us spending at least a little time collecting acorns or pressing leaves or making something cute out of pinecones.
Whether or not you’re as obsessed with fall crafts as we are, I hope that you’ll find fall nature crafts for kids to delight you in the following list of our favorite projects.
18 Fall Nature Crafts for Kids
1. acorn bells. This is a great kid craft, and the perfect pick for a kid to make as party favors, or for a group of kids to make together.
2. acorn cap jewels. A young kid will have loads of fun with this project, both making it and playing with it afterwards.
3. acorn owls. If you lay out lots of little bits and bobs, I bet your kids will find that they can make more than just owls out of their acorns.
4. acorn wreath. I think this wreath would look just as cute unpainted, which will make it a lot easier to compost when you’re through with it.
5. apple centerpiece. Sometimes the best decorations are the simplest.
6. apple print. Autumn is THE time for apple prints!
7. clove apple. This method will preserve the apple and keep it smelling sweet.
8. dried apple wreath. Here’s another wreath that’s simple to compost after the holidays!
9. gourd bracelet. A dried gourd is the perfect shape to make these stenciled bracelets.
10. leaf chromatography. You probably know by now that I NEVER lose an opportunity for learning! Leaf chromatography is a great science project, and it’s also super fun.
11. leaf mobile. Take your pressed or preserved leaves and turn them into a festive seasonal mobile.
12. wax-preserved leaves. Skip the laminator–you can preserve your autumn leaves completely naturally, using beeswax.
13. paint-dipped leaves. This is an interesting take on colorful autumn leaves–perhaps you’d like to have some blue or purple ones this year!
14. pinecone flowers. I guarantee that this is one pinecone craft that your friends won’t have seen a million times before.
15. punched leaf shapes. Press the leaves first and you won’t have to worry about their color fading.
16. scented pinecones. Pinecones already look like autumn–now you can make them smell like autumn, too!
17. sprouted Indian corn. Take at least one of those lovely dried ears of Indian corn and let your kids watch it grow a whole new crop of corn sprouts.
18. nature crowns. This is a fun project to do on an autumn hike–by the end, you’ll all be royalty!
Do you have favorite fall nature crafts for kids? Share them with me in the comments below!
