This simple Fall Leaf Face Craft is designed to inspire kids to create face shapes and playful self-portraits with Autumn Leaves!
Starting with a fun woodland walk – it’s the perfect craft to encourage preschoolers and young children to get hands-on with nature and explore the bounty of Autumnal colors, shapes and textures on offer.
As they arrange leaves and various natural materials like bark, seeds and twigs into faces and self-portraits, children are encouraged to think creatively and use their imaginations to the fullest.
This process involves thoughtful planning and experimentation to construct facial shapes, features, and expressions.
Materials for the Leaf Craft:
- Assorted leaves and various nature materials (different shapes, sizes, and colors)
- Glue or Mod Podge
- Paper or cardboard as a base
- Optional: googly eyes, colored paper and a black marker pen.
How to Make the Fall Leaf Face Craft
Step 1: Gather the nature materials
To get started, grab a bucket and take the kids for an outdoor walk in an area where they’ll find an abundance of different natural materials.
Encourage them to collect items of different colors, sizes and shapes that are of particular interest to them.
Step 2: Prepare the leaves and workspace.
If the leaves are dirty and wet, dry and clean them.
Next, ask the Arty Crafty Kids to arrange the materials by color, size and type.
Step 3: Optional – Start with a prompt.
Preschoolers and young children may benefit from a small prompt. If this is the case, use a black marker pen to draw a pair of simple sleepy eyes and a smile onto a piece of paper or card.
Alternatively, ask the Arty Crafty Kids to draw their own!
Step 4: Begin making the Fall leaf face craft!
Lay out the leaves and let the children experiment with arranging them in different ways to create facial shapes.
Encourage them to plan the layout of the face by visualizing where each leaf will go.
Think about the hair.
Perhaps use bark, seeds or twigs for the nose.
And outline the face with leaves!
Step 5: Experiment with detailing.
Explore using additional natural materials like twigs for eyebrows, seeds for freckles, bark for hair, or moss for facial hair. Experiment to create unique and detailed features.
Step 6: Affix the leaves to base.
Once your Arty Crafty Kids are happy with their Fall Leaf Face Craft arrangement, simply glue to the pieces to their chosen base.
More Arts and Crafts with Fall Leaves
If your Arty Crafty Kids have any nature materials left over, why not have a go at our sponge painted fall leaf art idea – a lovely way to explore and try to recreate the colors of Autumn!
Or use the leaves to print the spikes of a hedgehog or use all the natural materials to build a hedgehog!
