10 Fall Leaf Activities and Crafts for Kids

Here are some of my kids favorite leaf activities and craft projects. The great thing about these projects is that they are all simple to do, using items you likely already have at home, and require minimal setup. I hope this helps get you outdoors more this fall, and having fun with leaves.

Frozen Leaves

Supplies: Water, containers and leaves.

Easy to set up at night so you have an early morning activity/science experiment ready allowing you to drink your coffee hot.

Let your imagination go wild with this. Add baking soda and vinegar to make into a science experiment or a potion. Use a bowl of warm water and a paint brush to uncover the frozen fossils. Throw in the bathtub or take outside into the mud kitchen.

Tip: I used old yogurt containers, mason jar lids, and small bowls to freeze the leaves in water.

Leaf Ghost Window Clings

Supplies: Paint Brush, Elmer's Glue ( we like the big bottle), Dish Soap and leaves.

Add a drop of dish soap to your Elmer's glue and mix. Paint your leaves with a very heavy coat of the glue-soap mixture. I recommend green leaves, as they don't crack or crumble. Allow them to sit and dry, until you can no longer see the leaves (we left ours overnight). Peal the glue off the leaf, add a face before sticking to your windows.

Tip: Pealing the glue off the leaf was a bit hard, I found it easy to begin to make a small tear in the leaf separating the glue from the leaf. Then it is very easy to peal, although peal slowly.

** Don't let dry for too long or the leaves will start to dry and crack, making it very difficult to peal the glue off.

Leaf Cutting Bin

Supplies: Scissors and leaves, plant clippings

I love an easy, and engaging activity that keeps kids engaged for a while... and that is exactly what this activity is.

Fill a bin with leaves, flowers, or grass clippings, and let them cut cut cut.

This is such a great way to help kids practice holding and cutting in a safe controlled way.

Nature Stain Glass

Supplies: Contact paper, nature items, a stick and a string.

After you collect your nature items peal back half of your rectangle of contact paper, placing your stick in the middle. Arrange your items on the sticky side of the contact paper. You'll then wrap the contact paper over the stick and over your items. Tie a string to both ends and hang in the window, or on a wall.

Optional: You can do a smaller version of this without a stick and make a bookmark.

Tip: Make sure to push all the air bubbles out as you fold the contact paper in half.

Leaf Scavenger Hunt

Supplies: NONE :)

Who can find the smallest, largest leaf, reddest leaf, most perfect leaf?

Create your list of categories, and then take off on a leaf hunt.

May sound super simple, but it can be so fun.

Leaf Printing/Painting

Supplies: Paper, Washable Paint and leaves or nature items.

Painting with leaves, or printing/stamping with them, can add such fun patterns. No need for paintbrushes, but if you want, kids can create their own stick paint brushes using items they find.

Here is the link to my favorite roll of paper ( it is actually white butcher paper).

Leaf Caterpillars

Supplies: Cardboard, String & Leaves

Cut the caterpillar's head out of cardboard (don't forget it's antennas). Make a hole in the middle of the caterpillars face and string some kind of string through - I only had old ribbon around but it worked. Tie a knot and then pull it through, allowing the knot to be the nose.

Add as many leaves as you'd like as you build the caterpillar's body.

Optional: Cut the leaf steams off to make a cleaner looking caterpillar body.

Fall Leaf Color Wheel

Supplies: Color Wheel Download & Clipboard (optional but I highly recommend)

A simple activity to take along to the park, on a hike, or when walking the dog. Can be done multiple times during fall, as the leaves and colors change.

Click here for this download that is apart of my fall activity packet free download.

Leaf Pumpkin

Supplies: Paper Plate, Elmer's glue and leaves.

This is such an easy activity, and yet can be fun for multiple different ages. Cover the plate with Elmer's glue and then add your leaves.

** Don't have a paper plate, then just use any old cardboard to make the shape of pumpkin.

Leaf Identification

Click here for this download that is apart of my fall activity packet free download.

As always, make sure you change or amend this to work for your family.

Have fun and get outdoors!