Archive for the ‘Fun Autumn Activities’ Category

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Autumn Stained Glass Leaves

Friday, November 9th, 2012

 

 

 

 

 

My daughter and I created these fun autumn stained glass leaves! Here is the tutorial for how to make this simple yet beautiful craft:

Materials you will need:

  • black card stock paper
  • colorful tissue paper
  • scissors
  • tape
  • white school glue
  • gold glitter

How to Make Autumn Stained Glass Leaves

To make these autumn stained glass leaves, start with black card stock paper. Draw a maple leaf in pencil. (It is easier if you fold the paper in half so that the sides are symmetrical.) Poke your scissors through the center of the leaf, cutting out the inside.

On the back of the black card stock paper, tape a piece of tissue paper on all four sides. You can choose orange, red, yellow, brown, or green.

Turn the paper right-side up. With white school glue, draw the veins of the leaf. Then outline the leaf on the black edge of the card stock paper.

Shake gold glitter all over the leaf. it should completely cover the glue.

Pick up the paper and allow all the excess glitter to fall off. Your autumn stained glass leaves are finished. Allow them to dry before taping them to a window.

 

Tags:, , , ,
Posted in Art, Fun Autumn Activities | 10 Comments »

Grain Art

Tuesday, November 6th, 2012

grain-art

Grain art is a fun activity to do in the autumn. It has an interesting texture and reminds us of harvest time. I bought dry grains in as many colors as I could find at the grocery store in cheap sealed bags:

  • green dried peas
  • black beans
  • red kidney beans
  • white beans
  • yellow lentils

We started with black card stock paper as the backdrop. If you want, you can sketch a design in pencil first, filling in one area at a time with glue. Then you glue down each grain. It goes faster if you dump the grain on top of the paper, then lift the paper up. It looks neater and more orderly if you place each grain one by one, but this might be tedious for younger children. It depends what kind of look you want.

grain-art-3

You can do symmetrical patterns or a design representing an actual object. My daughter made a star in the center of her paper, spiraling outwards with alternate grains. One of my children chose to make a tree. Another son titled his grain art, “Green Blob with Asteroids.” My oldest son made a spiral ladder leading to nowhere. As you can see, everyone has freedom for their personalities to shine through this art activity!

grain-art-2

grain-art-4

Tags:, , , ,
Posted in Art, Fun Autumn Activities | 6 Comments »

Thankfulness Tree (with Maple Leaf PDF)

Monday, November 5th, 2012

thankfulness-treeI’ve never actually done a thankfulness tree with my kids until this year. What inspired me was the dead tree on my landing that looked so pitiful that it was just begging for some gorgeous autumn-colored leaves to be artificially hung from it. Sure enough, it sprang to life, as if God’s design for this twig was to remind me of all that I have to be thankful for. My children actually thanked God for each other (which I found endearing), and for our warm house and their toys. Because we often forget to be thankful, this thankfulness tree will be a visual reminder during the month of November that I’m thankful for so many things.

I created the maple leaf PDF by drawing the outlines of four maple leaves. I then printed the PDF on card stock paper, two of each of the following colors: yellow, orange, red, and brown. You can cut out the maple leaves, punch a hole through the top of each with a thumb tack, and hang them up with Christmas ornament hooks. My children really enjoyed doing this activity.

Maple Leaf PDF

Tags:, , , , , ,
Posted in Fun Autumn Activities | 8 Comments »

Decorating Walking Sticks

Thursday, November 1st, 2012

decorating-walking-sticksDecorating walking sticks is a fun art activity, especially if your children enjoy nature hikes. Find some walking sticks in a forested area. You can paint the sticks whatever color you want and add embellishments like leather, feathers, twine, ribbon, leaves, and other fun items.

One of my sons painted his stick like a poisonous snake, with red, black, and gold, following the adage “red on yellow, kill a fellow.” He added gold ribbon to jazz up his walking stick.

Another son wanted camouflage, so he painted with two different shades of green, making blobs on the stick. This is easier to do if you paint the stick completely in one color of green, then let it dry. At that point, you can add blobs of another shade of green. This son tied some silk autumn leaves to the top of his walking stick.

My oldest son likes blues and grays, and he did a striped pattern, using leather embellishments along the way. He tied black feathers to the top of his stick.

My daughter loves pink, so she decorated her stick in a girly way. She tied pink and yellow feathers to the top, after having used these colors in her paint and ribbon. We attached most of the items with hot glue.

Watch the video demonstration to get more ideas for decorating walking sticks:

Tags:, , , , ,
Posted in Art, Fun Autumn Activities | 2 Comments »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »