Fall Crafts for You and the Kids
How many of your friends have said, “I wish I could just keep this weather going for the rest of the year” or something to that effect in the past couple of weeks? It’s hard to beat fall temperatures in Tulsa. And have you seen the sunrises and sunsets lately? Who needs a beach when you have those painting the sky every morning and evening.
Why not take advantage of these gorgeous days and take the kids on a nature walk?
If your kids are like mine were, they’ll probably pick up a few treasures along the way, whether it’s a red leaf or a fading coneflower.
And kids tend to be little hoarders, not wanting to let go of whatever their fabulous collection of the week might be. So, instead of sneaking into your 4-year-old’s room in the middle of the night to get rid of the crumbling fall leaves, you can actually use them to make some crafts.
Here are a couple of fall crafts that will use those fall leaves and flowers you find on your walks.
Three Fall Crafts
Contact Paper Leaves
One of the easiest things to do is to get some clear contact paper (you can buy it in rolls at craft stores) and let your child sandwich leaves in between the paper. Cut a square of contact paper a little bigger than the leaf. Peel off the backing and stick the leaf on the sticky side. Cover with another piece of contact paper (sticky side down) and smooth over the leaf. Cut around the edges of the leaf, and you’ll have a non-crumbly, preserved leaf to use to decorate whatever you can imagine.
Punch a hole in each one, tie strings to them and hang them from a small branch. This makes a great mobile for your child’s room or decoration to hang in a window.
Or use them for centerpieces around candles, or glue or tape them to a grapevine wreath or ribbon-covered circle to hang on your door.
Contact Paper Nature Art
You can also use the same clear contact paper to make nature art. Let your child arrange the leaves, flower pedals, clovers, etc. on the sticky side of a rectangle or circle of contact paper. Put another piece of contact paper the same size over it and smooth out. You could put a frame of construction paper around the rectangle to make a place mat. You could make the art with the circle shape by punching a hole in it and hanging it by a string in front of a window. Use your imagination.
Waxed Leaves
Another way to make those pesky, crumbly leaves a little more permanent is to coat them with wax. Again, you can get clear candle wax at craft stores. Melt some down in a can placed in a saucepan of water. Heat the water to melt the wax. If water gets into the wax, that’s fine, too. Once the wax is melted, you can dip the leaves into it. Place them on waxed paper to cool.
Wax-coated leaves can be used to make leaf garlands, fall centerpieces for the table, wreaths or mobiles, in much the same way you used the leaves preserved in contact paper.
So, get outside! Walking is good for the entire family and, as your children look for items to use in their fall crafts, they’ll be honing their observational skills. We can all benefit from slowing down and really seeing what surrounds us.
