Autumn Crafts

The colder weather is here and the nights are drawing in. So it’s time to take advantage of those crisp autumn days. Get the kids outside to gather some fallen leaves and conkers and prepare to get crafty. Here, Brigid Bassingdale (Herts North NCT) shares her autumn craft ideas, just in time for half-term.

Bark rubbing

Arm yourself with some paper and crayons and head for the garden or the woods for some bark rubbing. Tip: peel the paper off the crayon so you can use the whole length of the crayon.  It’s much quicker and easier that way.

Leaf pictures

Collect fallen leaves to make collages or paint them to make leaf print pictures. 

Leaf face masks

Take a paper plate or circle of card and cut holes for eyes and mouth.  Stick leaves around the top of the face for hair and get your child to colour in the face.

Leaf shadow painting

Take fallen leaves or cut out paper leaf shapes and blu-tack to a piece of paper or card.  Encourage your child to paint over and around the leaves.  When the paint is dry, remove the leaves to reveal the shapes underneath. Tip: you can try a splatter paint version of this.  Fill a small spray bottle with diluted paint and get your child to spray the picture.

Leaf bracelets

Wrap a piece of masking tape, sticky side out, round your child’s wrist.  Go on a nature walk and get your child to collect different leaves and stick them onto the bracelet.

Leaf necklace

Cut out small leaf shapes from card.  Get your child to decorate in autumn colours.  Punch a hole in each leaf and your child can thread them on to a string to make a necklace.

Dough prints

Roll out a piece of Play-Doh™ or modelling clay.  Your child can create prints by laying leaves on the Play-Doh™ and rolling over them with a rolling pin.  They can also collect pine cones and roll them over to create a pretty pattern.

Autumn tree

Take a paper plate and decorate with scrunched up paper or tissue in autumn colours for leaves.  Cut slits in the top of a toilet roll or kitchen roll tube and insert the plate (the tube is the trunk and the plate the branches/leaves). Tip: you could decorate the plate with small fallen leaves and use scrunched up red paper as apples.

Hand print tree

On a large piece of paper (A3 size), draw a tree trunk and branches.  Using autumn colours, get your child to put hand print leaves on the branches.  You don’t need to buy expensive art paper.  The back of some left-over wallpaper will do or you could even use a sheet of newspaper.  You could make a smaller version by using the hand print as the tree branches, drawing in the trunk, and having finger print leaves or sticking on pieces of scrunched up paper or tissue. Tip: if your child doesn’t like the messiness of hand and finger painting, draw round their hand instead and get them to fill in the outline with paints or crayons.

Apple printing

Cut an apple in half to make a stamp and print your apple design on anything from cards to wrapping paper. Tip: for variety, try making stamps from pears and mushrooms too.

Conker painting

Collect some conkers.  Take an empty box (such as a shoe box) and tape a piece of paper to the bottom on the inside.  Dip conkers in different coloured paints and put them inside the box.  Put the lid on and shake and roll the box to create a great painting. Tip: you can use marbles if you can’t find any conkers.

Hallowe’en ghosts

Take a white tissue and scrunch it up into a ball.  Wrap a second tissue around the first one, making a ball for the ghost’s head and leaving the tissue trailing for the ghost’s body.  Secure with an elastic band or string.  Draw a face with a black pen. Tip: you can push a lolly stick or pencil up into the balled head to make a ghost puppet.

Hallowe’en cup ghosts

Take a plastic or Styrofoam cup and put a generous amount of glue round the top.  Drape a white paper napkin over the top to form a ghost.  Draw on a ghost face. Tip: pierce a hole in the top of the cup, thread some string through and hang your ghost up as a spooky Hallowe’en mobile.

Hallowe’en hat

Take a sheet of stiff black paper or card and roll into a cone shape. Secure with tape.  Provide your child with   stickers, sequins, glitter and cut-out moons and stars and they can decorate their very own witch or wizard’s hat.  Tip:  add lengths of raffia or wool for hair.

Bonfire night decorations 

Make your own fireworks.  Pipe cleaners can be rolled into Catherine Wheel shapes.  Use the inside of a toilet roll to make a rocket.  Top with a cone made out of cardboard and let your child decorate with glitter and paints. Tip: make a collage of your fireworks, using plenty of glitter for sparks.  Or hang them from the curtain rail so you can admire them as you’re looking out at the real fireworks.

Bulbs for Christmas

Now is the time to plant your hyacinth, daffodil and narcissus bulbs.  Young children love filling the pot with compost.  Get them to decorate the pot too with stickers and paints.  Hyacinths should flower by Christmas, daffodils and narcissi will take a little longer.  Tip: the potted bulbs make great Christmas presents for Grandmas and Aunties.

Tweet