Leaf Rubbings and More Autumn Leaves Fall Craft Ideas for Kids
Want easy, fun fall craft activities for kids? It’s surprisingly quick and effortless to make autumn leaf rubbings and four more educational arts and craft ideas for toddlers, preschoolers and kids of any age - leaf rubbings, painting, DIY salt clay ornaments, ABC nature walk scavenger hunt and more.
Start with an ABC Nature Scavenger Hunt
This entire blog and autumn leave art activity ideas started with an ABC nature scavenger hunt around our neighborhood, past a local pond and through the woods. Whether you live in a city or suburb, beach town or desert, you can take a walk, look out a window or do an indoor scavenger hunt as you try to find as many collectable and observable things as you can that starts with each letter of the alphabet.
Get creative and even silly (ex: goose poop, yucky worm; jumpy toad; zippy fast fly; Xcited dog) to come up with nouns, verbs and adjectives to find at least one thing for each letter of the alphabet.
As you walk and collect, talk about the difference between nouns (people, animals, plants, places or things), verbs (what they are doing, like running, swimming, flying, etc.) and adjectives (words to describe things, like fuzzy, bumpy, rough, smooth, blue, tiny, scary, etc.).
Yo can also talk about what you have seen in the past or would like to see and add them to your list.
See my ABC Nature Scavenger Hunt List for things we collected and observed from afar:
A: Acorn
B: Birch bark, berries, bug, blue sky, birds
C: Crabapple, crow
D: Duck, dog
E: Egg-shaped rock, edible dandelion greens
F: Falling leaves, fern, fort
G: Goose (poop), grass, green leaves
H: Heron, Hydrangea, Herbs
I: Inch worm
J: Juniper berries
K: Keeling over tree, knocked down tree, kindling, kicking duck legs
L: Lichen, lavendar
M: Moss, muskrat, Maple leaf, mourning dove, mushroom, moth
N: Nest, nut
O: Oak leaf, orange leaves, oregano, onion grass
P: Pinecone, pine needle, pond, pussy willow, purple leaves
Q: Quacking Duck
R: Reed, rosemary
S: Seed, stream, spider, sage
T: Tree, twig
U: Unique moth
V: Vegetavle garden
W: Willow tree leaves, wild flowers
X: Xylotomous (bores or cuts into the wood)
Remember, no word is too big or confusing for even the youngest kids!
Use missing letters as a fun introduction to research and dictionary skills.
Look up “X” adjectives, verbs, animals, plants and nouns together and see what you find.
You and your kids will learn so many new words as you foster curiosity and a life-long love of learning.
Y: Yellow flowers and leaves, yapping dog
Z: Zephyr (see below), Zig zag lines, zany zippy cricket, zonked out dog (zero Z words)
Remember, no word is too big or confusing for your young kid!
Not convinced?
When my oldest son was 2.5 years old he corrected me, saying, “That’s not a Triceratops! It’s a Monoclonius!”
He also taught me the difference between a skid steer and a bull dozer, Charmander and Charizard.
Their minds can grasp anything and everything.
If young children can tell the difference between an Allosaurus and a Trex , a front loader and an excavator, Picachu and Pichu, they can understand and remember the difference between cobalt blue and turquoise, a robin and a chickadee, a duck and a goose, a hydrangea and a daffodil...There is no reason to dumb down our language.
Here are some fun words to teach and add to your scavenger hunt list for those tricky to find letters.
Xanthic: Yellowish.
Xavier: New house; bright.
Xylotomous: An insect capable of boring or cutting wood
Zephyr: A gentle breeze; the west wind
Zenith: The "highest" point on the celestial sphere. Ex: The sun reached its zenith in the sky at noon.
Be specific and use the correct words and your kids will likely learn and remember the exciting new vocabulary you use. Even if they don’t, you’ll have fun discovering the infinite possibilities of learning new things on the internet, and the beauty and diversity of language.
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Autumn Leaf Rubbings
Go on a nature walk and collect autumn leaves, pine needles, Maple “helicopter” seeds, grass, bark and more
You can also do this with coins, Legos and other textured indoor objects.
Place leaves flat under paper.
You can arrange many at a time or do one at a time (suggested).
Peel paper off crayon.
Hold paper very firmly and steady down over leaves so paper and leaves do NOT move.
Rub flat slide of crayon gently over paper until lines and edges of leaves and needles appear.
Repeat until complete!
Remember that this is about process, not product!
You will most likely become frustrated if you expect your child to make a frame-able work of art.
Focus on having fun, not creating perfection. This is a valuable skill in-and-of-itself.
Catch yourself if you become frustrated because young children will most likely move the paper or leaves so that their leaf rubbings will be messy and not well-defined. This is OK!
The goal of this autumn leaf rubbing activity is for kids to engage with nature, build creativity, foster sensory observation skills of textures and colors, learn the “science” of how texture rubbings work, discuss the beauty, symmetry and patterns in nature, and, most importantly, to have fun while bonding, connecting and spending quality time with you - even if you just have 5 extra minutes a day!
Extend this activity for more autumn art projects by painting leaves and making leaf prints. Painted leaf prints make beautiful paintings, fall-themed home or classroom decor, greeting cards, thank you cards or educational learning activities to teach color, size, pattern, counting and more!
Leaf Print Painting
Dip a paintbrush in washable acrylic paint.
Paint the textured underside of a leaf, Maple “helicopter” seed, pine needle, dandelion, etc.
Press the painted side of leaf flat on the paper and then lift straight up to avoid smudging.
Children may wiggle and smear the leaf imporession. Don’t worry!
Remember that process matters over product: Joy is more important than perfection.
Make a painting, greeting card or learning activity:
Home or Classroom Decor: Paint different leaves different colors to make a leaf pile or falling leaves work of art.
Greeting Cards: Fold a piece of cardstock in half and press one or more painted leaves onto the front half.
Educational Craft Ideas: Name, sort and/or write the colors; Measure and discuss length and width; Make a pattern based on color, size or type; Count by ones and twos; etc.
Not ready to stop making fall art activities?
Pressed Autumn Leaf and Flower Collage
Make a a pressed autumn leaf (and/or pressed flower) collage by arranging and gluing leaves to paper, cardstock, wood or cardboard.
You can also make a bookmark by cutting cardstock into a slim strip and adding pine needles or small leaves or seeds.
Make autumn leaf stationery or a set of thank you cards by folding a piece of cardstock in half and pressing one or more leaves to it.
Once the glue dries, place the page inside a large, heavy book to flatten and dry the leaves to save a permanent pressed autumn leaves work of art. You can also make pressed flowers with the many autumn flowers still blooming in September and October.
Still want more fall and winter craft activity ideas for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hanukah or Christmas?
Make leaf or pine needle salt clay impression ornament gifts for Christmas, Birthdays, or any holiday craft gifts for friends, teachers and family members.
Scroll down for DIY salt clay ornaments.
DIY Salt Clay Recipe
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour (organic or gluten-free options)
1 cup salt
1 cups warm water
Instructions
Mix salt and flour in large bowl.
Slowly add warm water.
Mix thoroughly with hands or mixing spoon (hands is more fun)!
Add more water or flour until dough feels like play dough, pliable but not sticky.
Roll out salt dough clay on parchment paper and cut into circles or shapes with cookie cutters (stars, hearts, etc.) or a rounded, smooth-edged jar or glass.
Arrange and press one or more nature items (leaf, pine needle, acorn, pine cone, seeds, etc.) into the clay and lift away to reveal indented impression.
Let sit out until dry.
Optional: Use a large paintbrush to paint the entire ornament gold and a fine paintbrush to paint the impression silver, white or dark (forest, hunter, moss) green.
As an alternative DIY ornament, tie a ribbon around the stem of a pine needle sprig, leaf, pinecone or acorn cluster and dip in gold or silver paint. Hang over the kitchen sink faucet or outdoor hanging plant hook to dry or lay flat on parchment paper.
There are so many learning activities you can easily incorporate with these fall leaves.
Here are few nature learning activities:
Trace and cut out along the lines to practice fine motor skills.
Count and sort by type, color, size.
Make patterns based on type, color, size.
See if they sink or float.
Act as a scientist or naturalist by writing their names and attributes.
Go on an ABC nature scavenger hunt (see below).
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