Scientists are still learning about how engaging with arts and crafts affects child development. The skills of fine motor movement, color awareness, composition, storytelling, and sequential thinking are all engaged when kids start experimenting with art supplies. While most kids are content to draw, color, and paint without any direction, it can be fun to involve them in intentional crafts that expand their skills and development.. If you’re seeking a few fun crafts to help usher in autumn, try these with your preschooler. You’ll have seasonal decorations to warm up your space just as the leaves begin to fall.
1. Pick a Pumpkin
If your family celebrates Halloween but your kids are too young to help carve a pumpkin, there are many different methods of pumpkin decorating that even little ones can enjoy. Kids can use rickrack and glue, construction paper, acrylic or tempera paint to draw faces on pumpkins big or small. Multicolored washi tape is also a wonderful material for decorating gourds. It’s removable, which makes it easy for kids to change up their design at any time.
2. Use Fall Leaves
Nature’s color palette in the fall is absolutely gorgeous, and fallen leaves are the perfect material for autumnal crafts. You can also use art projects made with natural materials as a a way to make art that is kind to the earth. One classic fall craft is creating leaf rubbings by placing a piece of paper over a leaf and rubbing it with a crayon. Through this method, kids can see the unique patterns that make up each type of leaf. These leaf rubbings can be cut out and arranged into a beautiful fall wreath.
That’s not the only way to use fall leaves! With paint and some googly eyes, you can make silly autumn leaf monsters to welcome in fall. These leaf-based art projects are the perfect accompaniment to a S.T.E.A.M. lesson on trees.
3. Make an Autumn Salt Dough Garland
Salt dough is pliable, safe, and fun for little hands to squish and shape. For a fall craft with salt dough, mix up a batch with your preschoolers, and then provide them with cookie cutters in fall shapes. Once the shapes are baked and cooled, use orange, yellow, and red acrylic paint to decorate the ornaments. After the paint has dried, string the finished art on a garland to hang on your mantle or front door.
4. Paint Pine Cones
You may notice your preschooler collecting acorns, leaves, and pine needles while you walk in your neighborhood. On one of your walks, consider bringing along a basket to hold any fallen pine cones your child sees. Back at home, use non-toxic paints to color every bumpy edge. You can even add glitter or feathers to your pine cone creations, or grab some contrasting yarn to weave between each pine cone scale. Pine cones can also be turned into many different animals and objects, so check out these ideas if you want to level up. For a pine cone craft that’s (literally) for the birds, roll a pine cone in peanut butter and then dip it in a bowl of birdseed. When it’s hung from a nearby tree, it will attract overwintering songbirds and squirrels as well.
The Gardner School Cultivates Creativity
Encouraging kids to create helps make new connections in their developing brains. The Gardner School makes it a priority to provide opportunities for arts education through our S.T.E.A.M-based curriculum. For daily care that inspires kids to explore, contact us today to learn more, or check out our virtual tours on our website for The Gardner School nearest you. You’ll quickly see why parents choose The Gardner School!