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.
