This is one of the best times of the year to get outside in Spokane, and your preschooler can enjoy the season with all their senses. Get yourselves bundled up and go for a nature walk to collect supplies for some fun autumn crafts. Remember to be careful and respectful of plants, animals, and other people!
Leaf Art
- Try the classic crayon rubbing: Find several different types of dry, flat leaves, and spread them out under a piece of paper. Try rubbing with the tip of the crayon and the sides of the crayon, and see what happens when you press harder or more softly.
- Do a collaborative art project: Draw different types of animal faces and let your preschooler glue leaves around them to complete the picture. Try a hedgehog, a lion, a shaggy dog, or make up a leaf monster! Older preschoolers may want to draw their own characters.
- Make a leaf crown: You can use a strip of brown paper cut from a grocery sack as the base; wrap it around your child’s head, and tape it together where it’s comfortably snug. Then help your preschooler glue leaves all around it, however they’d like. Maybe they can make you a matching crown, too!
Pine Cones
- Pine cones can be turned into fun little critters with some glue and any craft supplies you have laying around – paper and fabric scraps, buttons, beads, pipe cleaners.
- Pine cones are fun to paint, especially with GLITTER! If you paint a bunch of them, you can string them down from a couple of tied, crossed sticks for a pretty autumn mobile.
Other Ideas
- Seeds: Collected seeds, acorns, dried flower heads, maple spinners, and other garden or trail remnants can be excellent items for collages and sensory exploration.
- Sticks: You can use sticks and twigs for string art, which is great for your preschooler’s fine motor skill development. They’ll love wrapping sticks in colorful yarn or ribbon, and older preschoolers can create stick sculptures by tying the corners together and weaving between them.
- Play dough: Many fall nature items have amazing textures. Try pressing leaves, sticks or pinecones into a batch of homemade play dough. Toss it out when you’re done playing, or bake and paint to turn it into a keepsake!
Books to check out: