31 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.

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.

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, 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.

Main image: ©Liliya Filakhtova

31 fall craft ideas for kids

1. 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?

2. 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.

3. 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.

Add leaves and flowers, then draw extra decorations using pens. Once you've finished, take your bookmark and cosy up with a book and blanket for story time.

4. 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. You can even turning the pumpkins into bunting for Halloween.

5. 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 kids all about different kinds of trees.

6. 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 spooky season.

This idea by the Happy Holligans suggests using wrapping paper or aluminium foil/plastic wrap rolls if you’ve thrown all your toilet rolls away!

7. 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.

8. 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.

You could also make use of those cups and vases sitting in the back of your cupboard with our upcycled bird feeder tutorial.

Once you’ve made your feeder, sit back and do some bird watching. Why not draw all the kinds of birds you see?

9. 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 of nature. Mama Papa Bubba says to place your leaves in between two sides of paper in order to make the designs as clear as possible.

You could even start gluing your leaves down to create a 3D collage!

10. 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 you can make some easily recognisable pinecone friends. These multi-coloured animals are by Parents.

11. Cereal box notebook

We absolutely love this project as a notebook can allow for endless creative activities. Kids can use it as a diary, a scrapbook or to collect things they find on their walks in the woods this fall.

Happy Deal Happy Day have come up with a functional notebook that looks very cool.

12. 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 older 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 keep those spiders away! Learn how to make your own with this tutorial by Babyccino.

13. 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.

14. 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.

15. 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?

16. 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.

17. 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.

18. 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!

19. 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.

20. Get messy with paper mache candy bowls

We’ve got 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!

21. 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.

22. 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.

23. 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!

24. 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 you don't have a printer.

25. Papercraft a Thanksgiving wreath

Your kids will love to help you hang our gorgeous Thanksgiving paper wreath that’s perfect for the holidays and all of fall. Stick down your flowers and leaves on an embroidery hoop, then simply use a pen to add some more detail.

26. 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.

27. Foraged leaf collage

Gather up a bag of fallen leaves and use them to create beautiful collages. Have a go at making your own adorable autumn hedgehog like this one – simply cut out a paper base and glue leaves on top.

28. Origami pumpkins

Introduce your child to the art of paper folding with this easy origami pumpkin tutorial by Holly Spanner. Make it spooky for Halloween by adding a scary face!

29. Fluffy slime

Give your children a ghoulish treat for Halloween by making this incredible fluffy slime for them to play with.

This is a really fun sensory play activity for kids to enjoy (the eyes are optional!).

30. Fairy houses

Spark your child's imagination with our DIY fairy garden ideas. This is an enchanting activity to enjoy together – you can craft fairy scenes for your child to play with or paint your own charming fairy doors.

31. Halloween paper crafts

Prepare for Halloween by making some creepy paper projects! Our Halloween paper crafts round-up features over 50 bewitching paper craft ideas for kids, including these toilet roll ghosts!

Keep children amused with easy fall craft ideas for kids

Fall is a great time of year to get kids involved in creative activities, whether they're gathering leaves in the woods to make inventive collages with fallen leaves or painting fairy doors.

Many of the fall craft ideas for kids that we've chosen are easy and affordable – and you're likely to have many of the ingredients already in your home.

It's a real opportunity to make memories with your child that they'll treasure for years to come.

Make spooktacularly easy Halloween crafts for kids

If your kids love spooky season, make this October extra special with Gathered's easy Halloween crafts for kids.

There are so many fun ideas to try, from egg box bats to scary spider bowls – they're in for a treat!