Halloween Paper Plate Mask

Supplies:

Steps:

Paint or color the paper plate orange. Let it dry.
Cut out two eye holes.
Cut out a triangle nose and mouth from black construction paper (or draw them on with marker) and glue them down.
Twist a green pipe cleaner into a curly “pumpkin vine” and tape/glue it to the top of the plate.
(Optional) Tape a popsicle stick to the bottom to hold the mask like a Halloween disguise!

✨ Variation: Instead of a pumpkin, kids can decorate their plate as a black cat, ghost, or Frankenstein using paint and paper shapes.

Watercolor Nature Collage

Here’s a fun and easy fall kids craft using sticks, leaves, and watercolor paints:

🍂 Watercolor Leaf & Stick Collage

Materials Needed:

Directions:

Collect Nature Items
Take a short nature walk and gather colorful fall leaves and sticks. Try to find a variety of leaf shapes.
Paint the Leaves
Use watercolors to paint directly onto the leaves. Kids can make them bright, rainbow-colored, or stay with warm fall tones (reds, oranges, yellows, browns). Let them dry on paper towels.
Paint a Background
On the cardstock or watercolor paper, have kids paint a simple background—a light blue sky, a sunset, or just a splash of blended fall colors. Let dry.
Create a Collage
Once dry, glue the sticks onto the paper to form tree trunks, branches, or fun shapes (like a leaf frame). Then glue the painted leaves onto the branches, or scatter them around like falling leaves.
Optional Details
Kids can add grass at the bottom, draw pumpkins, or flick watered-down paint with the brush for a “fall splatter” effect.

Finished Craft:

You’ll have a colorful 3D fall tree collage where real leaves and sticks mix with watercolor art. Every child’s version will look unique!

Materials Needed

Instructions

Collect Leaves
Take a little nature walk and gather leaves. Try to find round ones (for beetles or ladybugs), long ones (for dragonfly wings), and pointy ones (for antennae or legs).
Create the Bug’s Body
- Use a large oval or round leaf for the bug’s main body.
- Add a smaller leaf on top for the head.
Add Wings & Legs
- Dragonfly: two long skinny leaves on each side.
- Ladybug: one large round leaf, cut down the middle for wings.
- Beetle: oval leaves layered for a hard shell.
Decorate
- Glue on googly eyes or draw them.
- Use markers to add spots, stripes, or antennae.
- Draw extra legs around the leaves to complete the bug.
Make a Bug Collection
Create different bugs on the same paper—a butterfly, beetle, dragonfly, ladybug—turn it into a “Leaf Bug Zoo”!

Extension Ideas

3D Bugs: Glue your leaf bugs onto popsicle sticks to make puppets.
Bug Habitat: Draw grass, flowers, or a tree around them so the bugs have a home.
Learning Twist: Label the bugs with names and fun facts (great for older kids).

Here’s a simple and fun kids’ craft using fall leaves that you can do at home or in the classroom:

🍂 Fall Leaf Animal Craft

Materials:

Directions:

Collect leaves – Take a nature walk with kids and gather colorful leaves. Try to find a variety of shapes (round, pointy, oval).
Choose an animal – Kids can pick a favorite animal (owl, fish, hedgehog, butterfly, or even make up a creature!).
Arrange the leaves – Use the leaves as body parts. For example:
- A big leaf = owl body
- Small leaves = owl wings
- Tiny leaves = ears or feathers
- Long leaf = fish tail
Glue down the design – Once they’re happy with the layout, glue the leaves onto paper.
Add details – Glue on googly eyes or draw eyes, noses, whiskers, etc. with markers.
Display proudly! – Kids can title their leaf animals and hang them up as fall artwork.

🍁 Variation Ideas:

Leaf Collage Tree – Glue a brown paper trunk and add leaves to make a tree.
Leaf Rubbing Art – Place leaves under paper and color with crayons to reveal textures.
Leaf Crown – Tape or staple leaves around a strip of cardstock to make a wearable crown.