30 Fall Crafts for Kids

Harvest happiness this year with our favorite kid-friendly fall crafts and creative seasonal treats for the whole family.

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Celebrate the Season With Kid-Friendly Fall Crafts

Pile on the fall fun this year while making lifetime memories with your little ones. Treat your kiddos to our favorite fall craft and recipe ideas for tots, teens and kids any age in between. The best part? All of these ideas are tech-free. Read on to find the best 30 fall crafts for your kiddo, including thumbprint artwork, pumpkin carving, stamped leaf napkins, paper straw necklaces, gobble-worthy treats and more.

Get More Ideas: 90+ Fall DIY & Craft Projects for All Ages

Make a Flock of Foam + Straw Turkeys

It’s never too early to enlist your kiddos to make some charming, homemade Thanksgiving decorations. This festive foam-and-straw table turkey is the perfect project to work on together while watching your favorite fall flicks. All you need to get started are foam balls, paint, seasonal striped paper straws and googly eyes aplenty. Check out the link below for the materials list, plus easy-to-follow instructions to use at home.

Get the How-To: Thanksgiving Kids' Craft: Foam Turkeys

From: Kim Stoegbauer

Turn Trash Into Treasure-Worthy Pumpkins

It’s true what they say: One kid’s trash is another kid’s pumpkin. Gather your crafty kids or tweens to create a patch of pumpkins using trash and paper you have on hand. A word to the wise? Forage their bedroom for supplies — you’ll never come up short there. Cram their bounty of spare paper into a plastic shopping bag until it creates a plump pumpkin shape; follow our step-by-step tutorial below to transform the surface into a farmhouse-inspired pumpkin with paper mache pulp and a few coats of paint.

Get the How-To: DIY Trash Pumpkin: Turn Your Garbage Into This Unique Farmhouse-Style Decoration

Treat Feathered Friends to Festive Birdseed Hangers

Falling leaves and visible tree limbs make autumn one of the best seasons to make feathered friends. Invite your craft-loving kiddo into the kitchen and make these delicious DIY birdseed hangers for the cardinals, blue jays and finches in your neighborhood. Follow our trusty seed recipe, then cut the mixture into festive shapes like maple leaves or pumpkins with seasonal cookie cutters.

Get the How-To: Kids' Craft: Bird Seed Christmas Ornaments

From: Marian Parsons

Carve Pumpkins (+ Roast the Seeds!)

Few fall crafts compare to this tried-and-true autumn pastime: pumpkin carving. Gather warty gourds and plump pumpkins in various hues, then use our free printable stencils, linked below, to create a haunting, happy or creep-tastic carving template for you and your kiddo. Pro tip: Save all the pumpkin seeds and make our delicious roasted brown sugar and cinnamon pumpkin seed recipe with your little one after completing the carving.

Get More Ideas: Beginner Halloween Pumpkin-Carving Ideas With Templates

Make Homegrown Paper Dahlias

Celebrate the colorful days of autumn with these fun and festive DIY dahlia blooms. The vibrant posies are the perfect fall touch to perk up your kiddo’s bedroom or family room for the season. Get started with a cardboard cake circle, double-sided tape and 60 precut, 4-inch scrapbook paper squares in trademark autumn hues. From there, throw on your favorite funky tunes and chit-chat with your kiddos while you all make paper cone petals. Follow the rest of our step-by-step instructions in the link below to bring your dreamy dahlias to fruition.

Get the How-To: Easy DIY Craft: Paper Dahlias

Decorate Darling Deer Cookies

Host your favorite kiddos for a fall cookie decorating party so you have an excuse to recreate these perky pretzel antler deer treats. These cuties are much easier to make than you expect and taste doubly delicious. Bonus? Switch the deers' noses from black to red and just like that, you're ready for Christmas. Get the 411 on how to make these festive fall deer cookies in the link below.

Get the Recipe: Holidays Made Easy: Delish Deer Cookies

Create Fall Greeting Cards

Treat family and friends to a happy mail day with a homemade greeting card from their favorite kid. Recreate these enchanting cards with creamy white construction paper and a pile of paper-punched leaves in various autumn colors. Give your kiddo glue sticks and encourage them to paste the leaves to their card in whatever festive fashion they see fit. Provide crayons or colored pencils so they can add illustrations or write a heartfelt note.

Make Paint Chip Pumpkin Garland

Wrap your staircase or mantel in seasonal hues and sentimental feelings with this (basically free!) fall craft: a paint chip pumpkin garland. Gather a mix of orange, marigold and yellow paint chips from your local home improvement store and trace each chip with a pumpkin cookie cutter to achieve polished results. You can precut the pumpkins or, depending on their age, use this craft as an opportunity to improve your little one’s cutting skills with your supervision. Decorate the gourds with faces or phrases, and voila!

Get the How-To: How to Make a Paint Chip Pumpkin Garland

Forage Foliage for a Leaf Collage

If you’re searching for a fall craft to keep your kids occupied for a few hours, you’ve found it. This leaf collage activity combines fresh air and creativity for an afternoon of fun. To start the project, ask your kids to forage the backyard or local park for fallen leaves and flower petals in many shapes, sizes and colors. Once they’ve collected a variety, invite them indoors and use their findings to illustrate their favorite animals or fall motifs on paper.

Get the How-To: Fall Leaf Collage How-To

Make a Stick Pile Pumpkin

There's no need to wait until October to perch this pumpkin on your front porch. This kid-friendly stick pumpkin will add autumnal charm to your stoop from September through the end of the season and evoke happy memories for years to come. Ask your little one to collect a pile of sticks and twigs in various lengths from your yard and paste their findings onto a precut plywood pumpkin using wood glue. Apply evenly distributed weight to the pumpkin to set for a day, then trim the edges for a polished silhouette before adding a ribbon of their choice to the stem.

Make the Ultimate Caramel-Candy Apples

Nothing spells fall like a caramel-dipped apple covered in colorful Halloween candy. Set your little ones up for a Saturday afternoon of fun with skewered apples, caramel sauces and a station of festive fall treats. Give them the green light to pile their apples with all the sweet toppings they see fit and compete for the best-decorated apple at the end of the activity.

Get the Recipe: How to Make Caramel Apples Dipped in Halloween Candy

Paint Pet Pumpkins

Give your old faux pumpkins a furry (or feathery!) facelift with a little bit of paint and a lot of imagination. This no-carve pumpkin craft is perfect for kids of all ages and fun for parents too! Get the full step-by-step tutorial for the black cat, fuzzy chick and snowy-toed bunny pumpkin in the link below.

Get the How-To: Halloween Kids’ Craft: Adorable Pet Pumpkins

Craft Your Own Candy Tote

Host your kids' friends for a fun-filled candy tote craft night. Provide the group with plain fabric totes from your local craft store, fabric paint, brushes, glitter and a few different Halloween stencils to help them get started. And don't forget a spread of crowd-pleasing treats like a skeleton cookie charcuterie board or pumpkin maple cupcakes.

Get More Ideas: Host a Kids' Craft Party for Halloween

From: Kim Stoegbauer

Get Crafty in the Kitchen With Sunflower Cupcakes

Fall crafts are doubly fun when you can eat the final product. Luckily for all of us, these cheerful sunflower cupcakes check out. Follow our recipe below; make a batch from scratch with your kiddos and stick them in pint-sized terra-cotta pots. Have a blast competing for who pipes the best petals.

Get the How-To: How to Make Potted Sunflower Cupcakes for Fall

Make Festive Fall Leaf Print Napkins

Dress up your fall kids’ table with napkins they craft themselves. These happy harvest leaf napkins are simple to make and won’t break the budget. Plus, the little ones will love admiring their handiwork when it’s time to eat. Check out the block printing tutorial below to craft these cuties before your next autumn event.

Get the How-To: How to Block-Print Napkins With Simple DIY Stamps

DIY Apple Picking Tote

If the block-printed leaf napkins were a hit with your kids, rest assured they'll love this adorable apple picking tote craft just as much. The simple activity calls for apples, a fabric tote bag and red and green paint from your local craft store. Follow our step-by-step guide to gear up for trips to the apple orchard all autumn long.

Get the How-To: DIY Apple-Picking Tote Bag

DIY a Mini Gingerbread Heart Necklace for Oktoberfest

Make sure your little one celebrates Oktoberfest in style with our adorable (non-edible) lebkuchen-inspired heart necklace craft. Our sweet design draws inspiration from the iconic, iced-heart gingerbread necklaces synonymous with the festival and serves as the perfect finishing touch to any kiddo’s Bavarian ensemble. Get the materials list and a step-by-step guide to make your own in the link below.

Get the How-To: Oktoberfest Kids' Craft: Make Mini Gingerbread Heart Necklaces

Make Owl-Mazing No-Bake Treats

Festive fall desserts provide failproof entertainment for kids and teens alike. These no-bake owl cookie treats will keep your kids' crew entertained and satisfy their sugar cravings in one fell swoop. Some notable ingredients include banana snack cakes, chocolate cream-filled cookies and caramel sauce. Suddenly hungry? Give the treats a test drive before your kiddos with our step-by-step recipe guide below.

Get the Recipe: No-Bake Owl Snack Cakes

Create a Fall Garden Memory Game

Spend the afternoon crafting our DIY memory game with your kiddo. The garden-themed game involves foraged twigs and custom card sets with your favorite seasonal leaves, trees, blooms and festive phrases. The best part? Our step-by-step tutorial ensures the cards are sturdy enough to play with indoors or out.

Get the How-To: Make a Garden Memory Game

Thumbprint Turkey Art

There’s no age requirement on this adorable Thanksgiving craft. Help your tot create a custom fingerprint turkey using their thumbprint and five paint colors: gold, burnt orange, cognac brown, rust and mocha. Press their thumb in the mocha paint and transfer it onto your surface of choice to create the turkey face; use the remaining colors to create the iconic fanned turkey tail. Wield a black paint pen to add two eyes and a detail brush to add a red triangle beak.

Get the How-To: Thanksgiving Kids' Craft: Fingerprint Turkey

Paint Farmhouse-Inspired Wood Rounds

Swap simple stretch canvases for a fall-friendly painting surface like wood rounds to add instant autumn flair to any of your kids’ craft projects. Follow our lead; paint the wood surface white to create a crisp backdrop for your child’s fall musing. Invite them to trace and paint classic fall motifs like a cat silhouette, a maple leaf or a smiling jack-o'-lantern.

Get More Ideas: 5 Farmhouse Halloween Decor DIYs

Turn a Canister Into a Haunted Terrarium

Add gloom to your kitchen counters and get your kids into the spirit of Halloween in one fell swoop with our haunted cookie jar terrarium. Fill a transparent canister with a layer of moss and layer in some spirited accessories like a shadowy house, a broken fence and a floating tissue ghost.

Get the How-To: How to Make a Haunted Terrarium for Halloween

Create a Cast of Playful Leaf People

Let your little one’s imagination run wild with our playful leaf people craft project. This smiling crew consists of wooden clothespins, acrylic paint pens, felt, miniature pumpkins, pipe cleaners and silk autumn leaves. Find a step-by-step guide and inspirational photos to create the cast of leaf-clad characters in the link below.

Get the How-To: A Fall Kid's Craft: Leaf People

Decorate Gobble-Worthy Cupcakes

Equal parts tasty and cute, this turkey cupcake will be a hit at any fall fete, sleepover or play date. Gather your little ones around the kitchen table with a platter of cooled chocolate cupcakes and a spread of toppings: chocolate and vanilla frosting, yellow round candies, candy corn, butterscotch chips and an edible ink marker. Follow our step-by-step guide below to direct your decorators to produce delicious, darling results.

Get the Recipe: Thanksgiving Kids' Craft: Turkey Cupcakes

From: Kim Stoegbauer

Make DIY Seasonal Scented Soaps

Prepare to impress your tween or teenager with this fall craft project: autumn leaf soap. Pair the spa-inspired activity with the latest rom-com and some sugary snacks, or throw on their go-to playlist and order pizza while they make some sudsy magic around the kitchen table.

Get the How-To: How to Make Scented Autumn Leaf Soaps

Paint Your Pumpkins

Put your pint-sized Picasso to the test; ask them to pretty up faux pumpkins with a fresh coat of paint. There are endless ways to paint a pumpkin, but this floral design is undoubtedly one of the best. Help your older kiddo create a festive floral motif with chalk paint for a farmhouse look. Opt for other painted pumpkin ideas like candy corn or a black cat for a creepy-cute Halloween flair.

Get the How-To: Paint Farmhouse Pumpkins With Homemade Chalk-Style Paint

DIY Thankfulness Tree

Create a new family tradition with a DIY thankfulness tree. Make the base out of foraged twigs and branches arranged in a fall-inspired vase. From there, ask your little ones to help you cut out fall leaves from red, yellow, brown and orange construction paper. Invite them to decorate one leaf and write what they are grateful for before adding it to one of the empty branches. By the end of the season, your tree will be full of gratitude and sentimental charm.

Get the How-To: New Thanksgiving Tradition: Create a Thankful Tree

DIY Pumpkin Can Toss

Give some soon-to-be-forgotten tin cans a festive facelift with this easy-peasy DIY pumpkin can toss craft. Work alongside your kids to wrap 10 cans in orange cardstock paper and secure them with glue. Have the children decorate the cardstock with a black marker to give each can a personal touch with a crooked, creepy or kind smile. Another idea? If you want to work on their cutting skills, invite them to help you cut out jack-o'-lantern expressions from black construction paper and apply with glue instead.

Get More Ideas: 31 Fun Halloween Party Games for Kids and Adults

Make Thanksgiving Paper Straw Necklaces

Help the kids in your life celebrate Thanksgiving in style with this fashionable DIY accessory. These lively straw necklaces provide failproof fun and a creative outlet for kids during the fall holidays while parents are hard at work in the kitchen. Find our easy-to-follow instructions and free printable template in the link below.

Get the How-To: Thanksgiving Kids' Craft: Paper Straw Necklaces

From: Kim Stoegbauer

Kids' Table Coloring Project

When in doubt, a pail of crayons and a printed coloring page will always be a winning fall craft idea for entertaining kids during the fall. Pile your family table or the kids' table on Thanksgiving with a few festive coloring books and supply plenty of crayons and colored pencils to help them create a fall masterpiece. Another good idea? Invite them to write a list of things they're grateful for each day when working on their coloring project.

From: Marian Parsons

30 Fall Crafts for Kids

Related To:

Shop This Look

Celebrate the Season With Kid-Friendly Fall Crafts

Make a Flock of Foam + Straw Turkeys

Turn Trash Into Treasure-Worthy Pumpkins

Treat Feathered Friends to Festive Birdseed Hangers

Carve Pumpkins (+ Roast the Seeds!)

Make Homegrown Paper Dahlias

Decorate Darling Deer Cookies

Create Fall Greeting Cards

Make Paint Chip Pumpkin Garland

Forage Foliage for a Leaf Collage

Make a Stick Pile Pumpkin

Make the Ultimate Caramel-Candy Apples

Paint Pet Pumpkins

Craft Your Own Candy Tote

Get Crafty in the Kitchen With Sunflower Cupcakes

Make Festive Fall Leaf Print Napkins

DIY Apple Picking Tote

DIY a Mini Gingerbread Heart Necklace for Oktoberfest

Make Owl-Mazing No-Bake Treats

Create a Fall Garden Memory Game

Thumbprint Turkey Art

Paint Farmhouse-Inspired Wood Rounds

Turn a Canister Into a Haunted Terrarium

Create a Cast of Playful Leaf People

Decorate Gobble-Worthy Cupcakes

Make DIY Seasonal Scented Soaps

Paint Your Pumpkins

DIY Thankfulness Tree

DIY Pumpkin Can Toss

Make Thanksgiving Paper Straw Necklaces

Kids' Table Coloring Project

DIY Craft for Kids: Leaf People 12 Photos

Make a Felt Garland for Fall

A Fall Kid's Craft: Leaf People

30 Designer-Approved Thanksgiving Decorating Ideas 31 Photos

Oktoberfest Kids' Craft: Make Mini Gingerbread Heart Necklaces

DIY Thanksgiving Decor: Tree Trivets for the Thanksgiving Table 7 Photos

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