Fall Craft For Kids

Fall seems to come late in Texas and recently my children have begun to ask, “When are the leaves going to change colors, mom?”

While we don’t have the spectacular fall color of the aspens in Colorado or the maples in the Northeast, our neighborhood does have some fun, fall color and we are all enjoying the cooler temperatures. One of my daughter’s and my favorite activities is to take a walk around the neighborhood or a local park and see what we can find that is bright and colorful. There are a couple of pine trees in the neighborhood and over the years, we have collected quite a few pine cones. One year, we decided to make “art” out of what we found. My daughter wanted to make a pine cone princess and what you see in the picture is our creation.

This would make a beautiful and inexpensive fall decoration or part of a center piece for your Thanksgiving table. You could make one for each member of the family and use it as a place holder, too. Every year we also make a cornucopia of fresh gourds and fruit, and we love to include fall leaves, pine cones and acorns as part of our decoration.

Found Object Art

Materials needed:

• Pine cone (you can buy a bag of these at Michael’s or Hobby Lobby if you can’t find a tree in your neighborhood)
• Fall leaves of different sizes, shapes and colors. Magnolia leaves and oak leaves are very sturdy and will last for a while. Leaves that are still slightly green or fresh will work better than leaves that are completely dried out.
• We used a dandelion for the head as they are all over our neighborhood but you could use an acorn, leaf or rock, anything that sparks your child’s imagination.
• Seed pods. Many Texas trees produce seed pods of different kinds, see what you can find. On a recent walk we picked up a mesquite tree bean pod and a few others I am still trying to identify.

Instructions:

1. Hot glue gun.
2. We just stuck the leaves and pieces down into the pine cone but if you want this to last longer or you are adding acorns, stones or other seeds, you can hot glue the different pieces into the pine cone. Let your child decide where to put the different parts.
3. Really, who cares if it has three feet or no hands. This is a great imaginative play activity!

This is a craft that is basically free or cheap to make and just requires time and imagination. What a great way to carve out some quality time with your kids and enjoy the beautiful fall weather. I love crafts that involve things we find. Every summer when we go to Nova Scotia, Canada or to Colorado, we find some many different types of leaves, shells, stones and feathers. Sometimes we forget what interesting discoveries we can make in our own back yard.

Our guest today is Dr. Minette Riordan, an award-winning entrepreneur, speaker and coach. Scissortail Publishing has produced North Texas Kids, a magazine targeting moms in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. In 2011, she launched byDesign: Your Life. Your Business, targeting women business owners. Her passion and joy come from helping others find the information, tools and inspiration they need to succeed. She has been happily married for 15 years and is the proud mother of two amazing kids that always keep her on her toes.