I adore fall, the colors, the textures and the change of season is so fun and educational for kids. I think it’s a wonderful opportunity to craft with your kids, so here are 10 wonderful ideas:
1. I ran across this fantastic tutorial for fleece scarves for kids. This sewing project is reasonable, fun and practical: http://crafts.kaboose.com/cozy-scarf.html
2. Cute Mason Jar lantern to put orange Halloween candy in: http://familycrafts.about.com/cs/pumpkincraft1/l/blhalptrjar.htm
3. Need a project and some holiday decorations, then here are a few options for construction paper strings:
Leaves: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/thanksgiving/string/
Strings of Jack o Lanterns and Ghosts:
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/halloween/string/
4. This craft is one my kids are really looking forward to; it’s a leaf collection album. Our plan is to collect leaves while walking to and from school and paste them in our album. It includes great printable templates with some leaves all ready to identify, plus some mystery leaves.
http://www.kidzone.ws/plants/collection.htm
With some fun facts about why leaves change colors and photos (to help with identification): http://www.kidzone.ws/plants/index.htm
5. Preserving Autumn Leaves from is from a horticulturist for the Washington State University Cooperative Extension Office: http://archive.tri-cityherald.com/HOME/GARDEN/garden10272.html
6. For your “green bag”, book bag or to go pick from your local orchard, here’s a tutorial on a really cute apple print bag. It’s easy for the kids to do and I like the finished bag enough to do it myself: http://jas.familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts?page=CraftDisplay&craftid;=10422 .
7. Equally as stylish and yet something the kids can help out with are Corn print place mats: http://familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts/season/feature/famf117tabletop/famf117tabletop3.html
8. And wow, again these t-shirts are cool enough to wear as a grown up. Simply buy brightly colored t-shirts, get out a bottle of bleach, collect leaves and go: http://jas.familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts?page=CraftDisplay&craftid;=10018
9. If your kids like to collect items and love bugs, this is the craft for you! You can take found objects and make wonderful bugs to display around the house: http://jas.familyfun.go.com/crafts?page=CraftDisplay&craftid;=12005
10. Then if you all like to look at and identify birds as the days grow colder, attract them with this bird cake: http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/bird_cake.htm . It’s easy to make and should make for some well fed birds!
Well, that should keep you all busy for the fall with some fun, inexpensive (or free) ideas to entertain your kids and decorate in the beauty of fall.