33 Easy Fall craft ideas for kids

With a little help from your arts and crafts cupboard, you’ll be surprised at what you can create with things you can find in your garden. When you can’t fill your pockets with materials, don’t you worry, we’ve got you covered with some fun and easy craft kits.

Crafting is known to improve coordination and make children more creative and productive. Fall is the perfect time to develop those skills because it offers up a whole new supply of items to get arty with. Time to encourage kids to pick up all those things you don’t normally want to take home as acorns, stones and leaves are great for these cheap fall craft ideas we’ve gathered!

Use these ideas to keep children creative throughout Fall and all the way into the holiday season. We've included lots of fun ideas in this round up that can also easily be adapted to celebrate Thanksgiving and Halloween. For more creative projects, check out our easy Halloween crafts for kids and round-up of the best Thanksgiving craft ideas.

We've included ideas for a range of age groups in this article, but if you have younger children at home and some of the fall craft ideas in this article are a big advanced for your budding artists (let's face it, with younger kids half the joy is in the getting messy, rather than the results), then our crafts for toddlers round-up will keep you busy. Or for those a bit older check out our favourite craft ideas for teens and tweens. Looking for more ways to keep your little ones busy this fall? Check out our best art sets for kids.

Main image: ©Liliya Filakhtova

1. Shape a mini woodland out of play dough

Play dough is a great activity to do at home so use our Best easy play dough recipe or alternatively, we’ve found this kit from Sweet Pea Sensory Play (Etsy, £20) for a woodland play dough craft that will last your kids for years to come. During Fall, as the nights get darker you’ll be on the hunt for more and more indoor crafts to try, so check out our 50 Fun art and craft ideas for kids to make at home.

2. Magic up Fairy leaf puppets

Willowday have created these magical stick puppets and we think they’re too adorable to not include in this round up. For younger children they have provided free printable fairies but why not have a go at designing your own. Got a kid’s birthday coming up? Use this fall party craft idea and guests will be chanting ‘I do believe in fairies, I do, I do’ in no time!

3. Turn conkers into snails!

Few kids can resist the lure of making their own DIY snail shapes – they're one of the first shapes many children mould out of play dough. We love this twist on the idea from 5 Minute Fun – try their Unbeatable conker crafts for kids.

4. Make Egg carton turkeys

If turkeys don’t scream fall, then we don’t know what else does. Children will love getting in the spirit of Thanksgiving by making their own brightly coloured turkey buddy. Reusing old egg cartons makes this cheap craft environmentally friendly and teaches kids about the importance of reuse, reduce and recycle! Check out the instructions for this project at STEAMsational.

5. Press leaves and flowers

These pressed leaves bookmarks by Buggy and Buddy are so pretty you’ll want to make one for yourself – it’s the perfect craft for both kids and adults! This rainy-day activity is a great excuse to encourage your children to spend some time reading. Once you’ve added your flowers and leaves, why not use some pens and decorate it even more, then take your bookmark and cosy up with a book and blanket this fall.

6. Grow Paper pumpkins

Add some decoration to your dinner table this fall with these easy paper pumpkins, here's one from DIY Inspired. Try using multicoloured paper or adding some googly eyes to bring this craft to life or even turning the pumpkins into bunting for Halloween. Use this step by step guide if you want to learn How to make Halloween bunting.

7. Play with salt dough leaf impressions

All you need is flour, salt and water to make salt dough, just have some pens and pencils to hand and a collection of leaves of your choice for this craft. Use our easy salt dough recipe to recreate this idea by The Imagination Tree that we just love. You can use these impressions to teach willing kids all about different kinds of trees.

8. Toilet roll monster mobile

Want to save all the cardboard from toilet rolls but don’t know what to do with them? Try creating a monster mobile just in time for the spooky season. This idea by the Happy Holligans suggest using wrapping paper or aluminium foil/plastic wrap rolls if you’ve thrown all your toilet rolls away!

9. Woodland animal cards

Using our free woodland animal printables for those fall birthdays and get-togethers will make them even more special. They’re easily customisable with wreaths, woodland backgrounds and all the animals you’d expect to see this season.

10. DIY bird feeders

Bring some wildlife into your garden with some homemade bird feeders. CBeebies have some great examples varying in difficulty so kids of all ages can get involved. Or make use of those cups and vases sitting in the back of your cupboard with our upcycled bird feeder. Then once you’ve made your feeder, sit back and do some bird watching. Why not draw all the kinds of birds you see?

11. Try nature rubbing collages

Time to round up all those broken crayons for this really simple project. Leaf etchings are great for kids to see the more intricate side to nature. Mama Papa Bubba say to place your leaves in between two sides of paper in order to make the designs clearest as possible. You could even start gluing your nature pickings down to create a 3D collage. We suggest using all kinds of pens, pencils and paints.

12. Woodland animal masks

Planning a woodland themed party? Well, dressing up isn’t just for Halloween, a party is just as good of an excuse to get imaginative. All you need for these animal masks is to cut out some cardboard in the shape of your choice and then add some string. Use these templates from First Palette – we think the bear, fox and owl are the best for fall! Baker Ross have some great pre-printed masks if you’re running low on time.

13. Decorate pine cone friends

Pinecones are everywhere in fall and there are lots of different ways to use them in your craft projects. The spikes make turning them into hedgehogs ideal so even if you and your kids don’t have that much experience with craft, you’ll still be able to make some easily recognisable pinecone friends. These multi-coloured animals are by Parents.

14. Cereal box notebook

We absolutely love this project, not only does it upcycle old cardboard but it’s a craft that keeps on giving. After the initial creation, a notebook can allow for endless activities. Kids can use it as a diary, a scrapbook and maybe even use it to collect things they find on their walks in the woods this fall. Happy Deal Happy Day have come up with a great functional notebook that still loo

15. Weave conker spider webs

You may need to start this craft off and handle the wooden skewers but once that’s set this is a great independent activity for your kids. Using different threads and yarns will make these conker spider webs even prettier. You’ll definitely want to crack on with this craft as conkers will even keep those spiders away! Learn how to make your own with this tutorial by Babyccino.

16. Decorated leaf wall hanging

We think this is a great way to reuse all those leaves from previous crafts, just dry them out and get painting! Using red, browns, oranges and other fall colours will make it the perfect window display for Thanksgiving. Try using this really useful step by step guide by ARTBAR.

17. Easy Fall painting projects

From leaf skeleton printing to finger print trees – 5 minute fun have got a great collection of Easy Fall Painting ideas for children

18. Play natural noughts and crosses

Noughts and crosses is a universally loved game and its simplicity isn’t lost in this next craft. Creating a natural noughts and crosses board is really cheap and easy. Grab some sticks, stones and string and you have endless games to play without ever needing to find a pen that actually works! If you need a hand with making this, check out this by Growing Family.

19. Brew magic potions and more

Fall is a magical season so here are some enchanting projects for your kids to discover with this blog post by the Woodland Trust. What interesting things can your kids scavenge for some magic potions? Can you decorate your fairy door with some moss and flowers? Where is the best place to hide away your elf house?

20. Dress up a wooden spoon scarecrow

Your kids will have so much fun customising this craft. Use them for decoration or better yet, put on a puppet show! We found this one over at The Best Ideas for Kids.

21. Light up with a toadstool lantern

Don’t be fooled, this one looks harder than it really is! Moms & Crafters have put together a fun and easy craft idea for kids, check it out so you can make your own lantern for the darker nights this fall.

22. Swirly Paper plate trees

For those seasoned crafters among you, we are sure you’ll have all the supplies needed for this already but for those who aren’t it’s still a great cheap fall craft idea. We like the suggestion by Red Ted Art to add some thankful messages to your whirligigs at Thanksgiving. Have fun watching these paper plate trees spin from your ceiling!

23. Paint an owl pebble family

After a spot of moonlit birdwatching come home and paint what owls you saw on some pebbles. Add some varnish and they’ll be ready to be used as figurines for your kids playtime. Use this DIY by Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls to create your bird family and if you want to make them into keepsakes, check out our guide on How to make pebble magnets.

24. Monster pals

No sewing is needed for this fun and easy crafting kit. Buy them on Etsy just in time for Halloween or even save this idea for a gift, it’s also a great party favour. Create storylines by customising your monsters faces or glue them down to have monster puppet pals.

25. Get messy with paper mache candy bowls

We’ve got a three activities in one with our paper mache bowls. Activity one, make your paper mache mould. Activity two, decorate with spooky colours and designs. Activity three, fill with candy and everyone in the family can enjoy!

26. Have fun with a woodland animals craft kit

Use the fact cards that come with this adorable kit on Etsy to teach your kids about the woodland animals their creating. Can you make a quiz out of what they learn?

27. Thanksgiving napkin rings

Stressed about Thanksgiving dinner? Give your kids this napkin ring activity and you can cook in peace while they get busy creating personal table decorations for all the family! This DIY from Crafts by Amanda goes into great detail on how to recreate her designs exactly.

28. Thread an acorn necklace

This super fun homemade necklace by Baker Ross can be painted any way to create unique and colourful designs. With just some acorns, thread and glue they have autumnal themed jewellery to gift to friends or even keep to wear themselves. Why not use reds and oranges to make it even more seasonal? You can even use this method to make bracelets!

29. Popsicle stick fox

After the summer months you probably have lots of popsicle sticks stored up ready to reuse in your craft projects so we have 51 popsicle stick crafts ideas for you to explore. We think this fox creation by Glued to My Crafts is a great way to bring summer lollies into fall.

30. Pumpkin patch marble maze

We absolutely love the idea of a being able to make a pumpkin patch marble maze with a paper plate, some paper and pom poms. Buggy and Buddy provide you with the super fun craft idea, great for any Halloween parties – they even have a DIY for your own pumpkin marble!

31. Paper bowl scarecrow

Hang these paper bowl or plate scarecrows in your garden and scare away all those pesky birds. The tutorial by I Heart Crafty Things has a scarecrow template to print out, but we think you could cut those shapes out of paper yourself if your printer is broken!

32. Papercraft a thanksgiving wreath

Your kids will love to help you hang our gorgeous Thanksgiving paper wreath that’s perfect not only for the holidays but for all of fall. This activity is as simple as sticking down your flowers and leaves on an embroidery hoop and then using a pen to add some more detail. If you don’t have an embroidery hoop then you could buy an affordable cardboard base like this one from Baker Ross.

33. Forage a photo frame!

Pop on your wellies and go exploring! Collect sticks and twigs from a woodland walk and then turn them into this fun DIY Photo Frame from BBC Good Food.

We hope you’ve enjoyed our easy fall crafts round up for kids, try more fun crafts with our how to make loom bands guide. Now it’s time to get crafting! You can share your creations with us over on social media by following the links below. Don’t forget to check out our daily free craft patterns and the latest craft trends so you can enjoy the wonderful world of craft as much as your little ones. If you really want to impress them, head over to our how to make balloon animals for beginners guide here on Gathered.