Two years ago, I shared one of my favorite fall crafts on one of my favorite blogs The Happiest Home. To celebrate the beginning of autumn, I thought I'd share it here as well!
It's a GREAT kid's craft with all things kids love - mainly making a "mess" with paint and paper! Only this time, the mess in channeled into an adorable craft!
We’ve all seen various handprint trees on Pinterest. However, on a recent visit to my best friend’s house I noticed a new twist on this old falling leaves craft stuck to her refrigerator door. My friend’s son has special needs and his awesome behavioral therapist Heather had added “falling leaves” (in a clear, sealed plastic bag – no mess!) and taken this traditional tree to a whole new level.
I knew immediately it would be a huge hit with my three-year-old son Griffin and we tackled it as soon as we got home.
First, we painted our hands red, yellow, and orange and made hand prints for the leaves of the trees.
Next up, we made the “falling leaves.” Heather had died pasta red and yellow to create her leaves. However, I am not as creative as Heather (read: I am lazy) and decided to harness my son’s mess-making ability by letting him tear and cut up little pieces of construction to make his leaves.
While he was making the falling leaves, I cut out our handprints and two basic tree trunks out of brown paper. My son helped me glue the handprint leaves to the tree trunk and then we taped them to the front of a clear ziplock bag.
He then put all his “falling leaves” in the bag and VOILA! two beautiful autumn trees with leaves falling down in between.
My son loves making the leaves “fall” over and over. I loved making a fun and easy craft that took less than 30 minutes and required no special supplies!
