10 craft projects made with real leaves

Up here in the northeast U.S., the leaves are just starting to turn. And if you or your kids are like me, you can't help but pick up the finest, most beautifully hued specimens. If you want to make projects with your leaves, and you want them to last more than a day, you need to preserve them somehow. I like to preserve leaves by placing them in between the pages of a heavy book, placing another heavy book on top, and semi-purposefully forgetting about them for months. (It only takes about a week until they're ready to be used.) If you are more careful than I, and have nicer books, sandwich the leaves between two pieces of copy paper before inserting them into the book. This link has 6 ways of preserving autumn leaves, and it seems accurate from my experience, although my book-pressed leaves are still pretty colorful. (The letters spelling "LEAF" in the graphic above were cut, via a craft knife, from a leaf I placed in a book two years ago.)

Don't wanna make crafts with your leaves? I love this simple display idea for your finished leaves, from Art Bar Blog. The post I link to is about the Thanksgiving Day craft on the table, but check out the leaves above — they're just affixed to the wall with bits of washi tape.

Anyway, on with the list! Easiest/youngest-age-suitable crafts first, harder/older kid or teen crafts last, all according to me; your mileage, as they say, may vary.

I like a project that forces you to finally print out a picture from your computer, dammit! (Just me?) Jennifer at Teach Them To Fly photographed her students as they pretended they were the wind blowing the leaves through the air. She printed out the portraits, and had them add real leaves to the scene. Cute!

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Leaf-rubbing is a classic children's craft, and you can do it anywhere, even where the leaves stay green year-round. This photo is from Edventure's exploration of the art of leaf rubbing using different materials. The post includes some handy science facts, too, so you can lay some knowledge on your young subjects as they rub.

This leaf guy from Mrs. Karen's preschool class is the greatest, except for the other ones on her blog, which are also the greatest. (Kid art, man. It just rules.) Pretty self-explanatory idea, here: Glue leaves and other nature-walk bits and bobs to a piece of sturdy paper to form a person.

Look at these sweet leafy hedgehogs from Crafty Morning! Cut out a basic hedgehog body shape, and have kids glue leaves in layers, with the pointy tips all facing up like the spines of a hedgie. Cute!

Hands On As We Grow's sun-chimes are made using summery materials, but they would also look beautiful with colorful autumn leaves.

There are lots of variations of reverse-print leaf artwork to be found online, but this one has a few unique touches — and the finished product looks great. Kids Craft Room made this fall window art using contact paper, leaves and paint. There's a handy how-to, with video, on her blog.

The Artful Parent has a wonderful, inspiring interview with land artist Richard Shilling. It will make you want to go outside right now and make some ephemeral artwork, with kids or without.

Small + Friendly's leaf mask is the autumnal answer to spring's crown of daisies. Make one to discover what transformative effects it might have on its wearer.

I am a huge TinkerLab fan. Here, she sets out an invitation to paint leaves with charming characters. The idea is simple and quick to set up, but you can take as long (or as short) as you want with it.

Wallflower Girl makes fall leaves glow by attaching them to fairy lights (what I usually call Christmas lights) with glue. She preserves her leaves using the waxed paper/ironing method, and they look great. (She doesn't mention it, but always put paper between your iron and the waxed paper, or you'll wreck your iron.) I like projects that involve illumination during the time of year in which the days are getting shorter. 

Will you and your family collect leaves this year? Let me know what you end up doing with them! Me, I've got my eye on another book to fill...
xo