Once upon a time, I wanted to be a kindergarten teacher. I liked the idea of helping young children learn and grown especially using fun and interactive ways like making crafts. While I didn’t end up pursuing that career path, Covid at least offered me a taste of what I was missing when I was quarantined with a 4-year-old and 1-year-old.
Months and months at home with little ones can be challenging. Luckily, I like to craft. By no means am I Martha Stewart, but I do like to make fun and creative projects, just on a simpler scale.
There are so many benefits to crafting with your kids, plus you get to have fun and make festive decorations to put around the house
Since fall arrived, we have been crafting up a storm at my house. From leaves to pumpkins and turkeys, there are just so many ideas and I wanted to share a few of my favorites.
Remember how I said I like to craft on a “simple scale”? Well, these are pretty easy projects and they do not require too many supplies. In fact, you can find some of them around your house.
As an added bonus, the supplies you do need to buy I reuse for multiple craft projects. So you are definitely getting your money’s worth and not having to run to your local craft store all the time.
- Finger Painted Leaves Craft
Supplies: Paper, Acrylic Paints {red, green, yellow, & orange}, Scissors, Leaf Stencils, Pencil, Tape, Fishing Line, Tree Branch
Directions: Let your child finger paint all over the paper. Once it is dry, uses a leaf stencil and trace leaves on the backside of the finger painted paper. Cut out the leaves. Tape leaves to the fishing line and then tie the fishing line to the tree branch.
- Pumpkin Treat Bags Craft
Supplies: Snack Bags, Black Sharpie, Green Ribbon, Goldfish
Directions: Draw pumpkin faces on treat bags with Sharpie. Fill treat bags with Goldfish treat {or any orange-colored snack}. Tie the top of the bag with the green ribbon.
- Cotton Ball Tree Paintings Craft
Supplies: Tree Template, Cotton Balls, Clothes Pins, Acrylic Paints {red, green, yellow, orange, & brown}
Directions: Find any FREE tree template {without leaves} online. Print out template and glue to construction paper. Grab the cotton ball with a clothespin. Dip the cotton ball in various paint colors and dab onto the treetop and branches to make leaves.
- “Boo” Hand Sign Craft
Supplies: Acrylic Paints, Paper
Directions: Paint your child’s hands. Have them place the handprint on the center and right side of the paper. Paint or use Sharpies to make the letter “B” before the handprints. Continue to decorate the paper however you’d like.
- Beaded Pumpkins Craft
Supplies: Pipe Cleaners {orange, green, & brown}, Orange Beads
Directions: Take 2 orange pipe cleaners and twist them together in the middle of both pipe cleaners. Add 2 more pipe cleaners again connecting them at the center. String orange beads on the end of the pipe cleaners and push them toward the center. You may need as many as 15-20 beads on each pipe cleaner. Once all the beads are on, form a circle with the pipe cleaners and gather the ends together. Wrap the ends with the brown pipe cleaner. Tie a small piece of green pipe cleaner around the brown pipe cleaner on top.
- Spider Paintings Craft
Supplies: Orange Construction Paper, Black Acrylic Paints, Small Googley Eyes, Glue, Black Sharpie
Directions: Paint your child’s hand {or hands} with black acrylic paint. Have them place their handprint on the orange construction paper. Let it dry. Once dry, glue on googly eyes. Use the black Sharpie to draw a spider web for the spider.
- Skeletons Q-Ts Craft
Supplies: Pictures of child’s head, Q-Tips, Glue
Directions: Cut out a picture of your child’s head and glue it on to a piece of black construction paper. Cut a handful of Q-Tips in half. Using the glue, place the Q-Tips on the paper as bones in the human body. Make sure to use the fuzzy end of the Q-Tip as joints for your skeleton.
- Mummy Plates Craft
Supplies: Large Googley Eyes, Black Sharpie, Single Hole Puncher, White Yarn
Directions: Draw a mouth for the mummy on the plate with the black Sharpie. Glue the large googly eyes on the plate. Let the glue dry. Using the single hole punch, create holes around the rim of the plate. Cut yarn and knot it on the backside of the plate. String the yarn through the holes. It’s ok to go through the same hole more than once. Make another knot with the yarn on the backside of the plate or tie your yarn tail to the starting point of the yarn.
- Spider Suckers Craft
Supplies: Sucker, Pipe Cleaners {nlack & purple}, Small Googley Eyes, Glue
Directions: Grab 4 pipe cleaners and twist them around the bottom of a candy sucker. Bend the ends of the pipe cleaner down to make their feet. Glue on small googly eyes.
- Popsicle Stick Monsters Craft
Supplies: Popsicle Sticks, Googley Eyes, Puff Balls, Glue, Glitter Glue
Directions: Glue popsicle sticks together side by side {I also glued a popsicle stick diagonally across the back to help hold them together}. Paint the popsicle stick {if they are not already the color you’d like}. Glue on googly eyes. Add glitter or fuzzy puffballs all around the popsicle sticks to make the craziest or scariest monster you can think of.
- Grateful, Thankful, Blessed Canvas Sign Craft
Supplies: Canvas, Acrylic Paints {red, green, yellow, orange, & black}, Paint Brush
Directions: Using your acrylic paints, let your child {or children} finger-paint all over the canvas. Let dry completely. Using your computer, print out the words “Grateful, Thankful, Blessed” in the font of your choosing. Cut out the letters. Tape the paper onto the canvas and paint {a paint pen may work easier for the lettering than a paintbrush}.
- Cotton Ball Turkey Paintings Craft
Supplies: Paper Plate, Cotton Balls, Construction Paper {brown, red, & yellow}
Directions: Dip your cotton ball into the paint and dab it around the paper plate in whatever design you’d like. Let it dry. While drying, use the construction paper and cut out a turkey, head, beak, and gizzard. Once dry, glue on the turkey’s face as well as some googly eyes.
- Turkey Footprints Craft
Supplies: White Cardstock, Construction Paper {red, yellow, & orange}, Brown Acrylic Paint, Googley Eyes, Orange Sharpie
Directions: Paint your child’s foot brown. Have them step on a white piece of cardstock paper, leaving their brown footprint. Let the paper dry completely. While it’s drying, cut out leaves from the construction paper. Once dry, glue on the googly eyes, beak, and leaves for the turkey. Use the orange Sharpie to draw his feet.
