Fall Crafts for Kids

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3 Simple Crafts for Fall:

Here at Eat Play Say, we’ve become known for our craft ideas for little ones. Our Occupational Therapist, Olivia, is great at coming up with simple crafts for kids that work on fine motor skills! 

When we think of crafts, we usually think about older kids. But babies, toddlers, and preschoolers can benefit from engaging in fun crafts, too.

Crafts support many areas of early development. They boost creativity and imagination, provide opportunities to work on fine motor and cognitive skills, and provide language opportunities for little ones. 

All of these cute fall crafts can be done in 15 minutes or less. Better yet, they all require basic materials. We hope you enjoy creating with your child and make memories in the process! 

01. Silly Leaf Person

This is such a fun leaf craft for kids. It gets you outside in nature first! I love this craft because it offers sensory exploration. The finished product is adorable!

Supplies Needed: Leaves, twigs, googly eyes, glue stick, construction paper

Time to Complete: Prep time: 10 minutes; Craft time: 10 minutes

Ages appropriate: 15+ months

Fine motor skills it supports: Pincer grasp, hand-eye coordination, writing utensil grasp (with glue stick)

Directions:

1. Get outside! Find some fun colored leaves (not too crunchy) and twigs.
2. After gathering leaves, head inside and build your leaf person!
3. Glue the leaves and twigs on construction paper, using the leaves as the “body” and the twigs as the “arms” and “legs.”
4. Add those silly googly eyes on top! If your little one isn’t ready to use the glue stick, have them help you by pointing where they want to put the glue.

02. Leaf Wreath

This leaf wreath is a cute fall craft for babies, toddlers, and preschoolers. Tearing tissue paper is great practice for getting the hands moving in different directions to complete tasks. We call this bilateral coordination!

Supplies Needed: Paper plate, scissors, tissue paper, leaves (optional), glue stick

Time to Complete: 10 minutes 

Ages appropriate: 12+ months

Fine motor skills it supports: Pincer grasp, fine motor coordination, hand-eye coordination, writing utensil grasp, cutting (toddlers)

Directions:

1. Get outside and gather some colorful leaves, or stay inside and tear up tissue paper.
2. Tear up some fall-colored tissue paper and set aside.
3. Cut out the center of your paper plate to make an open circle or “wreath” (If you are doing this craft with a toddler, fold the paper plate in half and let them try to cut out the middle section).
4. Help your little one open the glue stick and spread glue all over the wreath to get it nice and sticky.
5. Create your fall wreath by sticking the colored tissue paper (or leaves) onto the plate! Your new fall wreath will look great hanging up in the house or on your little one’s bedroom door!

03. Fingerprint Trees

This toddler craft is simple and sentimental, too. You’ll love the finished product.

Supplies Needed: Construction paper, finger paint, paper plate

Time to Complete: 10 minutes 

Ages appropriate: 12+ months

Fine motor skills it supports: Isolating pointer finger

Directions:

1. Draw a tree trunk with some branches on construction paper.
2. Then squirt some fall colored paint out into trays or a paper plate for your little one.
3. Encourage them to isolate their index finger, dip their finger into the paint, then “poke” around the tree branches to make leaves

Why are crafts beneficial for kids?

Crafts are a fun way to add variety to your days. They support development for babies, toddlers, and preschoolers. 

Crafts Support Sensory Development

When children engage in crafts, they are using multiple senses during hands-on play. Crafts offer a variety of textures – soft, wet, smooth, sticky, crunchy. This builds tactile awareness. Crafts offer visual stimulation with bright colors, shapes, patterns, etc. This supports visual-motor coordination – think about peeling and pressing stickers and gluing pieces. 

Crafts support fine motor development

Crafts support fine motor skills in a fun way. They involve using small muscles in the hands, fingers, and wrists to support everyday activities like eating, dressing, and writing. Crafts work on hand-eye coordination, grasping, bilateral coordination, pre-writing skills, and more.

Spend Your Fall Days Crafting!

When you have a cozy day inside, bring out the crafts! We created our Free Fall Crafts for Babies & Toddlers to help parents find fun and easy activities during the autumn season. You might even get some stunning new home decor from it!

From pumpkin stamps, garlands, and leaf crafts for kids, we’ve got you covered.

These 10 simple fall crafts require 10 supplies or less (that you probably already have at home) and 15 minutes or less!

Click below to download for free!

For all of our other freebies, head to the Freebies Page. Download as many as you’d like! If you need crafts for holidays, fall, winter, and spring, we have those, too!

Be sure to check out our favorite fall toys for baby and toddler. Whether you’re looking for outdoor play ideas or fall-themed toys, we’ve got you covered.