10 Fall Leaf Activities

Fall leaves + children = FUN!!! Any kid, parent, or teacher knows this equation. Here are some simple tips for enjoying fall leaves, no matter what your age.

Rake a pile of leaves together and jump in them, or go tromping through the leaves where they are piled the thickest. See who can make the leaves go the highest.

Dance, with or without music, in a swaying motion like you are a leaf ready to drop. Then, depict dropping from the tree to the ground. Especially fun with scarves.

This activity can be done in a variety of ways.

• Brush paint lightly on a leaf and use the leaf to make impressions on a piece of paper
• Look at a leaf and try to paint what you see (or draw what you see)
• Use leaf colors in an imaginative painting
• Paint a tree, then use leaf colors to paint leaves onto it
• Cut out leaf shapes, then use leaf colors to paint them

Find beautiful leaves and make a bouquet of them, then put it in a vase (no water).

Supplies: construction paper in a solid color (white, black, or yellow work best), clear contact paper, a variety of leaves

• Position the leaves on the construction paper, with a dot of glue if necessary
• Fold the contact paper over the front (or both sides, if decorating both sides) and fold the edges down

This is great for Halloween parties, Thanksgiving school dinners, etc.

Put your leaf under a piece of paper (not too dark a color unless you're using a white crayon). Take a peeled crayon and rub over the paper where the leaf is. The raised veins of the leaf will show darker than the flat parts.

This can be done with any of the paper leaf crafts here.

• Do your leaf craft
• Cut it out
• Use a hole punch to punch one hole
• Thread a string through each of the holes in the leaves, tying them on the string with knots
• Attach an unbent clothespin to the end
• Hang your mobile up

You can also add painted straws for more tiers.

While on a walk through a forest of fall leaves, see how many colors you can see, and/or how many color variations.

Even young children can do amazing things with cameras. Get your camera, or a disposable one, and take pictures of the fall leaves you see on your nature walk or just walking around. Then you can make a collage, school bulletin board, photo album, or cards with them.

Gather some leaves, and follow the steps to write a simple "senses" poem about them.

• First line: Name of object/season/etc.
• Second line: Two nouns associated with the first line
• Third line: Three -ing verbs associated with the first line
• Fourth line: Two adjectives associated with the first line
• Fifth line: One synonym of the first line