Easy and Fun Fall Crafts and Activities
We might all be decorating for Christmas, but it’s still fall, y’all, and Thanksgiving is just around the corner!
Fall is my favorite season for so many reasons other than pumpkin spice. We get to celebrate Halloween and Thanksgiving, it’s the time of year work starts becoming less demanding for my husband, days are shorter so our family spends more time at home together, the air is crisper and fresher and it’s a time to start thinking about winding down the year. It’s also the calm before the storm, AKA Christmas. Fall is so beautiful and peaceful (even more so on the mountain!) and it makes me immediately want to sip hot tea by a fire curled up with a book or sit on my front porch swing and just listen to the sounds of fall. But let’s be honest…I have two toddlers and that’s rarely going to happen!
Now that I have kids, fall is all of these things but also so much more! It means being out in nature and teaching my kids about how fall happens, going to fall festivals and pumpkin patches, trick or treating, doing crafts surrounding fall, Halloween and Thanksgiving, decorating with pumpkins everywhere, and baking and cooking seasonal things that do, sometimes, include pumpkin spice. Don’t worry, I’m no Scrooge.
As I mentioned in my last post, I’m an organized person. In keeping with my planning mindset, I have in our weekly schedule to do at least one or two crafts/activities or “science experiments” because my kids enjoy doing them so much. We may incorporate what we’re learning in our preschool curriculum or it may just be something cool I came across. However, my favorite thing to incorporate is the current season or holiday that is approaching.
If you love fall as much as we do and your kids enjoy crafts and activities, here are several great options that we’ve done!
Outdoor Activities
With the colors and cooler temps that usually come with the fall season, it’s such a great time to be outside. Some of the outdoor activities we enjoy doing in the fall are:
Nature Walk – Just walk around, look and talk about what you see! My kids love just going outside and looking around at the trees and wildlife. It’s a good opportunity to talk about what occurs to make fall happen or incorporate learning ideas. Some questions you can ask are:
- What colors do you see?
- Which tree is larger and which is smaller?
- Can you pick up 20 leaves and count them out loud as you go?
Nature Scavenger Hunt – I recently made a fall nature scavenger hunt for my kids to do. Click here for a free printable copy! I suggest taking a container like a bag or egg carton on the hunt so you have somewhere to put the items you find and can keep!
Fall Handprint/Footprint Crafts
When my oldest was born, I accidentally started a tradition with handprint/footprint cards. Each holiday we do a card and send them to family and close friends. They kids have fun painting themselves and I have just as much fun completing the cards with faces and designs. Here are some of the fall and Thanksgiving cards we have done over the past few years.
Crafts with Leaves/Nature
Using nature to craft is a two for one deal! You get the kids outside in nature while they collect their craft items and then they get the fun of crafting with something they put effort into finding. Where we live we have a plethora of nature items we can use for crafts. Here are a few ideas we made using leaves or acorns. Get creative! Sticks, rocks, grass and berries are also good nature items to use. Leaves in fall are a classic and can be used in so many ways. Don’t be afraid to get that paint out and get messy!
Fall Painter’s Tape Crafts
Using painter’s tape is so easy and fun! For fall you can use it to outline a tree, leaf, turkey or an acorn and then paint them with all the fall colors. Here are a couple ideas to get you started.
Decorate Pumpkins
The sky is the limit when it comes to decorating pumpkins. You have a variety of options on the type of pumpkin you buy, like styrofoam or paper mache, and also the type of material you use to cover your pumpkin. We have used paint, stickers, crayons or colored pencils and most recently tissue paper. With tissue paper you can either wad the tissue paper up and glue it on or you can lay it flat and decoupage it on. We did the latter most recently on a paper mache pumpkin and it turned out so cute!
Hopefully these will give you something to do with your kids as we close out the fall and Thanksgiving season and gear up for Christmas!
Happy crafting!