Here’s a collection of some of my favorite fall crafts for kids. These would be great to do with your class or your kids at home. Happy fall!
Directions for Paper Roll Pumpkins
Directions for Hand Print Owls
Fall Crafts for Kids
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Tag Archives: Art/Crafts
Tape and Canvas Art Project for Kids
I LOVE this tape and canvas art project for kids. And it turns out SO COOL! Click here for the tutorial.
Recycling Craft
Kids love to create things. Especially when they have a lot of random stuff to work with. One teacher brought in a bunch of recyclables (some parents had been collecting stuff for a week) and let the kids create whatever they wanted using things to be recycled. She also let the kids use googly eyes, markers, glue, etc. and limited each kid to making something that would fit in their backpack (so students could take it home). This art project was preceded by a discussion of what recycling was and how it benefited the environment. Fun fun fun!
Click here for printable word strips to help in your discussion of recycling.
25 Hand Print Art Projects for Kids
I know hand print art can be messy at times, but kids love getting their hand painted and the projects turn out pretty cute. So here are my favorite projects (click on image to see original post):
Hand Print Apple Tree Craft
This idea randomly came to me when I was working with some kindergartners a while back. Some of them turned out better than others, but the kids had fun getting to finger paint! It seems like it would be a fun summer craft too!
Here’s what you do: Paint the child’s hand brown from fingertips to a few inches below the wrist (paint their non-dominant hand).
Have the child press their hand against plain paper (construction paper works best). Then let the child use their dominant hand to finger paint leaves, apples, grass, etc. on the rest of the paper. Ta-da! You’re all done!
Funky Monkey Painting Project
I recently wrote about painting with Q-tips instead of brushes. The following is one of the many Q-tip painting projects I’ve done with lower grade kids. This one we called “funky monkey” because the kids were encouraged to create all aspects of a very unusual monkey. Each kid first got a funky monkey printable (click here: Funky Monkey – printable).
On the back of the page, they wrote their name and the date. Then they wrote key words describing their funky monkey. These key words would be helpful when starting to write about the monkey. Here are some of the questions I asked to help them start thinking about their new character.
- What’s the monkey’s name?
- What’s the monkey’s favorite food?
- What does the monkey do during the day?
- What does the monkey want to be when it’s all grown up?
- What’s the silliest thing about the monkey?
After describing the character, the kids got to paint their monkey using Q-tips. In the white space, the kids could paint anything they wanted about the monkey (paint its favorite food, etc.).
We set the project aside for a few days to let the paint dry. Then chose a writing project from the following options:
- Write a character sketch for the monkey.
- Write a story about the monkey (from the monkey’s childhood, the monkey as a superhero, etc.).
- Write what you and your monkey would do if you could spend a day together.
For the kids who finished painting quickly or wanted a friend for their funky monkey (in their story), they repeated the above steps again with this tiger printable (click here: Tiger – printable).
Finally, the kids got to share their painting along with their writing. We wanted to mount both onto an 11″ x 17″ sheet of construction paper to display them, but we ran out.
Overall, it was a fun and the kids liked using their imagination. You could add variety to this project by giving students more animal options to choose from. To find other printables like these, search “animal coloring pages for kids” (or something similar) on an internet search engine. Choose a coloring page that doesn’t have too much detail (since it’s hard for the kids to paint in).
Solving the Paintbrush Problem
Kids love to paint. But adults hate cleaning paintbrushes.
I recently worked with a school that didn’t have lots of funding for art supplies. But they also didn’t have good facilities with sinks for cleaning brushes. Our solution was Q-tips! At some we were skeptical about the quality of work that could be produced with a Q-tip as opposed to a paintbrush. We were working mostly with kindergartners, so we didn’t really have to worry. They were way better for making dots than paintbrushes. And it was the easiest clean-up ever! So if you’re looking for a low-budget option for paintbrushes, consider Q-tips.
4th of July Crafts for Kids
Here are some of the best 4th of July crafts and activities for children I’ve seen on the internet. Click the image to go to the original website. Happy Fourth!
From the Life of Jennifer Dawn
Fun pin wheel
More great ideas from BHG
Great list of ideas!
Lots of good links on The Crafty Crow
Here’s another great resource: 27 Blogs Featuring Easy 4th of July Crafts You Can Do with Your Kids
Great Quotes about Freedom to Discuss with Kids
Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it. ~Thomas Paine
He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from opposition; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach himself. ~Thomas Paine
This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave. ~Elmer Davis
Where liberty dwells, there is my country. ~Benjamin Franklin
All we have of freedom, all we use or know – This our fathers bought for us long and long ago. ~Rudyard Kipling, The Old Issue, 1899
Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it. ~George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman, “Maxims: Liberty and Equality,” 1905
Squarehead Teachers 