Manual activities for children: creative crafts with leaves

Never as in autumn the leaves take on the most disparate colors: from green to yellow, from yellow to red, from red to brown. The variety of colors and the ease with which they can be found in this season, make the leaves one of the most suitable materials for doing many types of creative jobs with children.

I therefore advise you, while the weather is nice, to go with your children to collect leaves and twigs. Have fun taking some leaves from the evergreen trees and lots of yellowed leaves that have fallen to the ground. Make sure to collect a nice variety both in color and shape.

In this way you will have useful material and at no cost for jobs and manual activities to do at home when the days are gloomy.
What to do with the leaves? Here are some nice ideas!

Children’s activities: creative crafts with leaves

Collage with leaves

Collage with leaves is one of the simplest chores you can do with your children. Just a little glue, a sheet of paper and leaves of many shapes and colors to create cute animals and cheerful characters.

Portraits with leaves

If you have paper plates and some glue at home, you can invite your children to choose, arrange and glue the most suitable leaves on the back of the plate. They will be able to create funny portraits and silly faces.

Brush with leaves

Have you ever thought that with leaves you can make many  different brushes for coloring?
Just take a wooden stick (they can also be old pencils) and tie a tuft of leaves to one end. Depending on the type of leaves you tie to the stick, the brush will make a different stroke.

Punch the leaves

The leaves are a material that can be easily cut or pierced. If you have round or differently shaped punchers at home, you can invite the children to punch the leaves to create lots of confetti or beads to thread.

Fine motor skills with leaves

This activity is particularly suitable for younger children and for stimulating fine motor skills . Prepare some wooden sticks, a little string or wool threads and lots of leaves. Then tie the string to the stick and have the children string the leaves along the string to form a long necklace.

Mandala with leaves

Surely you know mandalas as those geometric designs with patterns that are repeated around a center and that can also be colored. But perhaps you have never thought that they can also be made with leaves. To make a
leaves, just have an adhesive paper support and invite children to arrange the leaves symmetrically both in color and shape. You will create evocative images that you can learn at the windows and in the garden. Tutorial → mandalas with leaves →framed mandalas

Molds and drawings with leaves

The leaves are perfect for creating designs and molds. For example, by coloring the back of the leaf with tempera, it is possible to transfer colors and shape of the leaf just like a print. Instead, by placing the leaf on a sheet of paper and passing over the leaf with a pencil, your children will see drawings of leaves appear.

Leaves and modelling pastes

Do you have modeling pastes at home? Well, invite the children to spread them out and press the leaves on top. Then cut out the contours and wait for the dough to harden. You can create with children. Tutorials → Bowls with leaves

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All that remains is for me to wish you good fun, but above all… Good Walks!