Happy fall, ya’ll! It’s time for cinnamon-y pumpkin spice, fuzzy sweaters, collecting and then jumping in leaf piles, crackling bonfires – the list of everything great about fall is a long one! And with this new season brings some fun activities for the family beyond just carving pumpkins. Here are our favorite five crafts and activities to celebrate the season:
Leaf Rubbings
Collect leaves on your walk to school, at the park or around your neighborhood. Try to find a variety – the more veins and edges they have, the better! Pick out colors of crayons that you like, or look for fall colors like brown, red, yellow and orange. Even metallic colors look great too. Remove the paper from the crayons. Using the long side of the crayon, rub it over the paper directly over where the leaf is on the underside. The result will be a beautiful etching of the leaf’s features! Use one leaf or multiple to create a layered look.
For even more fun and fine motor skill practice, cut out the leaves and hang them in a window. Or create your own wall of falling leaves!
Pumpkin Games
After you’ve selected the perfect gourds, bring them home for some fun! Create relay races with pumpkins, a pumpkin rolling race, or even push your pumpkins with brooms across the finish line. Play pumpkin hide-and-go-seek where one person hides a pumpkin and the other has to find it either with or without clues. Lastly, set up pumpkin bowling using plastic cups to create pins. Even pumpkin boccie ball is fun with smaller picks!
Corn Roller Stamp
Not only is corn on the cob fun to eat, it’s great for art too. You’ll need a shallow dish, long enough for an ear of corn to “roll” in it, corn on the cob, paint and some paper. Smear a small amount of pain in the bottom of the dish, just enough that the dish is coated, but not enough that the corn will sink into the paint. Then roll an ear of corn through the paint and then across a paper. The result will look similar to bubble wrap! Use more than one color to create a fun look or cut out corn shapes from the painted paper to make your own bundle of colorful corn cobs.
Hand Print Leaf Wreath
A classic! Pick your favorite colors of construction paper – use one color or multiple colors. Help your child trace their hand on the paper and then cut out the hand print. Use it as a stencil to create more hand prints on the paper. Work those fine motor skills by having your child cut out the hand prints. Then layer the cut outs in a circular pattern that all face same direction (i.e. fingers overlaying palms), overlapping slightly. Glue together at the overlaps. Add a ribbon to hang it and you have a memory made just for the season!
If cutting isn’t going to cut it, use paint instead. Using an over sized piece of paper, trace a light circle. Have your child stamp their hand along the circle – fingers facing out of the circle makes the hand prints more visible and less messy. Embellish with details like acorns and ribbon!
Apple Stamp
Don’t toss out those bad apples – make a stamp instead! Cut the apple down the middle from top to bottom creating two halves. Using a small amount of paint, smear a half of the apple and then stamp away. Draw a tree that the apples are hanging from or just draw leaves on each one. Use red or green paint – or even orange to create pumpkins instead of apples!
