Autumn Art and Crafts

I love autumn! The crisp days, wrapping up warm in a snuggly scarf and admiring the beautiful colours nature brings us.

Leaves are just so luscious at this time of year and I'm always amazed by the range of colours you can see on one tree. From bright oranges to deep reds, there's plenty to inspire you.

A walk through the fallen leaves, listening to them crunch under your boots, is a great way to enjoy the season and an opportunity to collect some specimens for these awesome autumn crafts which explore shape, texture and colour as well as hitting some maths, English and science objectives on the way. 

Leaf Rubbings

I love this tutorial from EDventures!  Create beautiful leaf rubbings which allow you to explore texture, colour and the different parts of a leaf. Dry your leaves, grab some waxed paper and crayons and take beautiful rubbings of your leaves.

Leaf Printing

Once you've taken your rubbings, try your hand at printing with the leaves. Using the different shapes, create patterns. Identify repetition in pattern and colour to create a beautiful work of art. Create a picture where the leaves are printed from smallest to largest or vice versa.

Leaf Bunting

What could look more beautiful than your own autumn leaf bunting? Another opportunity to create patterns with your leaves and to explore repetition through both shape and colour or order your bunting by size or by the number of points on each leaf. 

ArtfulParent writes a great tutorial on how to do this with waxed paper but this would work really well with sticky back plastic or laminating pouches! 

Leaf Identification Book

Create an identification book using the leaves you've collected on your walk. 

For younger children, glue the leaves into the book and record the names of each leaf underneath. Older children can make observed sketches of the leaves, studying them closely, and write a more detailed description of the leaf and the tree from which it came. 

This leaf identifier from the BBC is a great way to get started. 

Have lots of fun exploring these autumn activities and tell me all about them in the comments below or on my Facebook Page!