10 Easy Fall Crafts for Kids We Want to Try This Year

Once September rolls around, we’re ready for all things fall. Cooler afternoons, changing leaves, pumpkins on the porch, and a good excuse to pull out the craft supplies.

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We went looking for easy fall crafts for kids that were cute, doable, and didn’t require a cart full of supplies. We found pumpkins, apples, fall trees, and plenty of ways to put all those leaves your kids insist on bringing home to good use.

*One quick note: We tried to be really intentional about finding these projects from real craft bloggers and creators. With so much AI-generated content showing up on Pinterest, we think it’s important to support the people who are coming up with these ideas, making them, photographing them, and teaching the rest of us how to do them. Whenever we can, we want the crafts we share here to send you back to the real creators behind them.

On that note! Here are 10 fall crafts we’re saving to try with our kids this year.

1. Pumpkin Fizzy Art

Part art project, part science experiment, this one is going to be a hit. Kids paint a pumpkin with a baking soda mixture and then use an eyedropper to add colored vinegar. The pumpkin starts fizzing and bubbling as they paint.

We love when an activity sneaks a little science into craft time without the kids even realizing it. CLICK HERE to try it.

2. Tissue Paper Apples

This one uses bleeding tissue paper and water to create a watercolor effect on an apple template. Kids can tear up the tissue paper, arrange the pieces however they want, wet them down, and then peel everything away to reveal the colors underneath.

Such a cute one for September, especially if you’re heading apple picking or learning about apples at home. Try it HERE!

3. Paper Strip Pumpkins

If you have a pile of construction or scrapbook paper sitting around, this is an easy one. Kids cut strips of fall-colored paper and layer them behind a pumpkin-shaped opening to create a colorful patterned pumpkin.

It’s simple enough for younger kids but still turns out cute enough to hang up for fall. CLICK HERE for all the instructions.

4. Patchwork Pumpkins

Another good use for the craft scraps you can never bring yourself to throw away. Gather orange and yellow pieces of paper, fabric, magazine pages, or even junk mail and let the kids glue everything into a big collage. Once it dries, cut the collage into a pumpkin shape and add a stem and vines.

We especially like that there’s no need for anything to match or look perfect. Try it HERE!

5. Q-Tip Fall Tree Painting

Bundle a handful of Q-tips together with an elastic and they become the perfect little paintbrush for making clusters of fall leaves. Kids layer red, orange, yellow, and green paint around the branches to create their own fall tree.

This one is especially pretty when it’s finished, and we love the different texture the Q-tips create. CLICK HERE for all the instructions.

6. Sponge Stamped Fall Trees

Cut an ordinary kitchen sponge into simple leaf shapes, dip them into fall-colored paint, and start stamping. Layering the red, orange, and yellow leaves makes the finished tree look full of fall color.

This is another great one for little hands because the stamping doesn’t need to be precise to look good. CLICK HERE for all the instructions.

7. Marbled Fall Leaves

Shaving cream crafts are always a little messy, but they’re also the kind of thing kids remember.

For this one, you swirl fall-colored paint into shaving cream, press in paper leaves, and scrape away the shaving cream to reveal a marbled design underneath. Every leaf comes out a little different.

Definitely putting down something washable before we start this one, but the finished leaves are worth it. Full blog post HERE!

8. Crayon + Watercolor Leaf Rubbings

Remember making leaf rubbings as a kid? This version makes them even prettier by adding watercolor.

Place a leaf underneath the paper, rub over it with a crayon to reveal all the little veins and details, and then paint over and around the rubbing with watercolor. The finished pieces almost look like little fall prints.

This would be such a fun activity after a walk around the neighborhood collecting favorite leaves.

9. Fall Leaf People

This might be the one our kids would have the most fun with.

Collect colorful leaves outside and turn them into little people using pipe-cleaner arms and legs, googly eyes, and a marker. Let the kids hunt for different shapes and sizes of leaves and see what characters they come up with.

Nature walk + craft in one. We’ll take it.

10. Fall Leaf Spray Art

For this one, real leaves become the stencils. Arrange several leaves face down on cardstock, lightly spray different colors around them, let everything dry, and then pull the leaves away to reveal the silhouettes underneath.

We love that this one uses something the kids can collect outside and turns it into art you might even want to frame. CLICK HERE for all the instructions.

One We Actually Made: Coffee Filter Leaf Garland

Since we put this list together we actually made one of them, and it turned out to be the easiest of the bunch. The kids color white coffee filters with washable markers, you spritz them with a little water, and the colors bleed and blend into something that looks like a real autumn leaf. Trace, cut, string them on twine, and hang the whole thing in a window where the light comes through. We also linked free printable leaf template so nobody has to freehand it. CLICK HERE for the full how-to and the free template.

Save These for a Fall Afternoon

One of our favorite things about seasonal crafts is that they don’t need to become a whole production. Pick one, put some paper down on the kitchen table, and let the kids make a mess for an afternoon.

We’re especially excited to try the fizzy pumpkins, marbled leaves, and leaf people. And if your kids are anything like ours, collecting the leaves might be half the activity.

Save this list of easy fall crafts for kids for the next chilly afternoon when you need something to do together.

And if you have a fall craft your family makes every year, send it our way. We’re always looking for good ideas to pass along to our sisters.

X.o.
The Threads Between Sisters

And if you have fabric scraps left over, our DIY ghost garland is also another fun craft!

We also just added an easy coffee filter apple craft that would fit right in on this list.

One more we loved this year is leaf print painting with real leaves from the yard.

For Halloween, the bubbling cauldron craft was a huge hit with our kids.