🍂 20 DIY Fall Crafts for Homeschool Families
These crafts use inexpensive or recycled materials and naturally lend themselves to lessons in science, art, literacy, or fine motor skills.
🍁 Nature Crafts
1. Leaf Rubbings
Materials: Leaves, white paper, crayons
Learn: Leaf veins, tree identification
2. Pressed Leaf Bookmarks
Materials: Pressed leaves, cardstock, contact paper
Learn: Botany & preserving nature
3. Nature Weaving
Materials: Sticks, yarn, grasses, leaves
Learn: Patterns and textures
4. Leaf Crowns
Materials: Cardstock strip, tape, collected leaves
Learn: Seasons & creative expression
5. Pinecone Bird Feeders
Materials: Pinecones, sunflower seed butter (or allergy-safe alternative), birdseed
Learn: Backyard birds & ecosystems
Pumpkin & Harvest Crafts 🎃
6. Paper Plate Pumpkin
Paint a paper plate orange and add a green stem.
7. Accordion Paper Pumpkins
Fold orange paper into fans to create 3D pumpkins.
8. Pumpkin Seed Mosaic
Dye pumpkin seeds and glue them into colorful designs.
9. Tissue Paper Pumpkin Suncatcher
Contact paper + orange tissue paper for a window decoration.
🦉 Woodland Animal Crafts (my daughter’s fav)
10. Toilet Paper Roll Owls
Paint cardboard tubes and add paper wings.
11. Pinecone Hedgehogs
Pinecone body with felt face.
12. Leaf Foxes
Arrange colorful leaves into woodland animals.
13. Paper Bag Scarecrow Puppets
Great for storytelling afterward.
🌾 Farm & Autumn Decor
14. Gratitude Tree
Draw a tree and add paper leaves with thankful thoughts.
15. Corn Mosaic
Create pictures using dried popcorn kernels.
16. Stick Picture Frames
Glue twigs around recycled cardboard.
🎨 Process Art
17. Apple Stamp Painting
Cut apples in half and stamp with washable paint.
18. Fall Nature Collage
Glue leaves, seeds, grasses, bark, and flowers together.
19. Coffee Filter Leaves
Color coffee filters with washable markers and spray lightly with water.
20. Homemade Nature Journal
Fold printer paper together and decorate the cover with pressed leaves.
📚 Collect Supplies Before Fall
Paper plates
Construction paper
Cardboard tubes
Brown paper bags
Washable paint
Glue sticks
Child-safe scissors
Twine or yarn
Contact paper
Crayons and markers
Pinecones, leaves, acorns, sticks, and seed pods collected during nature walks
These crafts pair especially well with autumn read-alouds, nature walks, and seasonal science lessons, making them easy additions to a relaxed homeschool rhythm.