40 Best Leaf Crafts for Kids and Adults to DIY This Fall
Easy autumn-inspired arts and craft projects, including garlands, wreaths and puppets, for all ages.
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With autumn comes leaves and other foliage in a spectrum of vibrant colors, so it makes sense that you'd be tempted to find the perfect DIY projects to help you display your bounty. One of our favorite ideas? Leaf crafts and leaf art — add them to the top of your list of fall activities. Incorporating real leaves into creative fall crafts is one of the easiest things to do, especially since the ideas are almost endless. Plus, they're fun for kid and adults alike!
There are leaf butterflies, leaf animals, leaf finger puppets and even the ever-so-popular leaf handprint turkeys. You can choose from spooky ghost leaves, gratitude leaf garlands, stunning leaf centerpieces and leafy cake toppers for fall desserts. Many of our ideas can also be used to decorate your home for fall — think cookie leaf wreaths and leaf gratitude favors, while others help preschoolers and elementary students pass the time (creating leaf people and leaf silhouettes, for example!). And if you're stumped on fall holiday decorating, we have leaf projects for Thanksgiving and Halloween, too.
Moreover, all these leaf crafts can be made with paint, cardstock, glitter, stickers and scrapbook paper. And if you don't have the required materials in your craft box already, you'll be delighted to know that they're inexpensive and can be saved for other crafts you might try throughout the year. So, let's make fall your favorite season with these fantastic projects below. Your crafting skills may surprise you!
Ghost Leaves
Start your Halloween crafts early with these spooky ghost leaves. Collect a few sturdy leaves from the backyard, paint them white, then use a black Sharpie for the eyes and mouths. Boo!
Get the tutorial at Hello Wonderful »
RELATED: Easy and Fun Halloween Crafts for Kids to DIY This Spooky Season
Leaf People
All you need to take leaves from crunchy to incredible is puff paint — just draw adorable faces onto the leaves. Add arms and legs after gluing the creatures to paper or cardstock.
Glue and Chalk Fall Leaf Garland
Glue and chalk come make the perfect pairing for this craft. Place leaves on top of cardstock paper, then outline them with glue. After the glue dries, color the leaves with chalk pastels. Kids will love blending the colors with their fingers and cotton swabs.
Leaf Lion
Gather leaves to create the lion's mane and brown paper for the head. Get creative as you draw the lion's nose and whiskers and use a black marker, a charcoal pencil, or paint for the eyes and pupils.
Gratitude Leaf Garland
No leaves? No problem! Use blogger Laura's leaf template to trace leaves onto cardstock. On the back of the leaves, write a list of things you and your family are grateful for. Then, simply attach them to a woven garland with small clothespins.
Watercolor Leaf Art
Trace leaves onto paper and create your own geometric shapes inside to color. You can use a black crayon or a black oil pastel for the tracing and watercolor paint for the center designs.
Spray Painted Leaf Art
Grab your favorite spray paint colors for this simple art project, which uses leaves as the silhouettes. Just tape the leaves onto paper with masking tape, then mix paint and water in a spray bottle to start spritzing the colors to recreate this look.
Leaf Centerpiece
An eye-catching fall (or Thanksgiving) centerpiece is easy to DIY with an assortment of leaves, pinecones, moss, berries and flowers. Show off your arrangement with a wooden crate or decorative basket.
Glittery Book Page Leaves
Don't toss your old, tattered books just yet. Use the pages to create glittery fall leaves to add personality to your home for the fall season. Place a leaf on top of a page then cut out the design. Add glue around the leaf's outline and sprinkle glitter on top. Once you're done creating a few leaves, attach them to twine with clothespins and wrap the twine around a tree branch for hanging.
Sponge Leaf Tree
With this easy-peasy craft, your kids won't be painting their own leaves. Instead, they'll be stamping them! Have them trace simple leaf shapes onto sponges. Watch as they cut the shapes out. Let them press their leaf sponges in paint before stamping them onto paper and any tree they may have painted to design.
Handprint Leaf Turkey
With fall comes Thanksgiving! Prepare for turkey day with a handprint turkey made with leaves, a paper plate, and red, yellow and brown cardstock.
Leaf Clay Dish
Teens and tweens will enjoy making leaf clay dishes (especially since they make gorgeous jewelry displays). You'll need leaves, air dry clay, acrylic paint and Mod Podge gloss.
Owl Craft
No major instructions need here. Once kids cut out an owl shape using construction paper, they can paste golden leaves on it to create feathers!
Pumpkin Leaf Favors
This is a creative "thank you" note idea for any guests you have over during the autumn months. Your little ones can help by tracing leaves on green cardstock (or any color you prefer).
Cookie Leaf Wreath
Edible crafts might be the best ones. Use sugar-cookie mix or ready-to-bake dough for the wreath and use leaf cutters for the designs.
Leaf Silhouette Art
Younger children can use a painted background for their leaf art, while older ones can use glitter paper or washi tape.
Leaf Garland
Look for vibrant leaves that still have their stems so you can easily tie them with hemp cord to create a seasonal garland. It's definitely one of the most simple crafts on our list.
Watercolor Fall Leaf Wreath
Transform watercolor leaves into a beautiful wreath that'll leave guests with a great first impression. You only need a few materials, including watercolor paint and watercolor paper.
Gold Leaf Place Card
Looking for a unique way to spruce up your dinner table? Paint only one side of the leaves gold, then use a gold Sharpie to write your guests' initials on the original side for a creative and stunning place card.
RELATED: Easy and Fun Fall Crafts for Adults That Capture the Best Parts of the Season
Finger Leaf Puppets
Take your kids on a walk through the park and assign them the task of picking out leaves, pebbles, bark and twigs to use for their finger leaf puppets. Other supplies include cardboard tubes and wiggly eyes.
Marisa Iallonardo is a writer, editor, and communications pro covering health, parenting, lifestyle, and more.
Mariah Thomas (she/her) is an assistant editor for Good Housekeeping, where she covers home and lifestyle content. Mariah has more than four years of editorial experience, having written for TLC, Apartment Therapy, Women's Health and Avocado Magazine. She received her master's degree in journalism at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism and published her first book, Heart and Soul: Poems of Thoughts and Emotions, in 2019. She's also the founder of RTF Community, a platform for creatives of color to connect, learn and showcase their work.
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