The Great Big Family Fall List

By Rachelle 2 Comments

The air is getting crisp in Northern California, and it’s finally feeling like Autumn. This of course prompted me to pull this big ol’ list of family fun for fall together. We made a similar family fall bucket list a few years ago. Furthermore, after trying so many fall activities with my kids over the years it seemed like a good time to update the original with more of our seasonal favorites.

Some of the items on this list are TinkerLab projects or projects from well-loved blogs. I’ll add links to those below. Most of all, if you like having a handy list for the fridge, you can download this list as a printable PDF (totally free). Scroll on down for that…

The Great Big Family Fall List of 50 Activities

Fall List Activity Links

Make Cinnamon Play Dough: Recipe for Pumpkin Pie Playdough

Paint a Pumpkin: If you’d like to do something with a pumpkin besides carve it, try painting a pumpkin in any color. Be sure to use the paint recommended in this recipe!

Pop Corn from a Cob: While we all know how to pop corn in a bag, have you ever tried popping a cob? It can be done! How to Make Popcorn from a Cob. So easy!

Create a Leaf Craft: There are so many fall leaf crafts! For example, Make Leaf Critters or try Coffee Filter Leaf Sun Catchers

Make Apple Prints: How to Set up an Apple Printing Station

Try making an Acorn Craft: Make Acorn Animals

Set up a Leaf Collage Project for your Preschooler: I have two really easy projects for you that you can do right away. Try the Tree Trunk Leaf Collage or Contact Paper Autumn Collage.

Roast Pumpkin Seeds: Because you’re cooking pumpkin anyway, you really can’t go wrong with roasting up the seeds.

Make Glycerin Leaves: It can be hard to keep treasured leaves around for too long due to them turning brittle in days. Try this recipe to preserve your leaves in glycerin.

Create a Thankful List: Here’s a fun example of how my little one dictated her gratitude to me while I typed it up on the typewriter!

Construct an Autumn Wreath: Leaves and permanent markers help this pretty wreath come together.

Make a Pie: Try this Freezer-ready Chicken Pot Pie

Would you like a printable version of this list? Click here to download the PDF 😉

How to Make Marigolds for Day of the Dead

By Rachelle 2 Comments

Today we’re going to make easy tissue paper flowers that are wonderful for Day of the Dead.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Day of the Dead, or Dia de los Muertos, played a big cultural role in my childhood. You might know the holiday’s symbols of colorful skulls and skeletons, altars to ancestors with offerings (ofrendas) such as candles, photographs of loved ones, and the bright marigold flowers (cempazuchitl) that are known in Mexico as the flower of the dead.

The marigold flowers decorate altars and graves, often elaborately.

Today I’m sharing a simple way to make your own tissue paper flowers to decorate your home or altar for Dia de los Muertos. These pretty flowers can be made in any color, and you could easily apply this same technique for building a bursting Mother’s Day or birthday flower bouquet.

The materials are inexpensive and the flowers take minutes to make!

Paper Flower Supplies

This will make two paper marigolds

1 sheet of gift-wrapping tissue paper, approximately 20″ x 26″. If you’re buying enough paper for a large quantity of dark yellow flowers, this is a good deal (affiliate), and I also like this multi-colored pack.
2 green pipe cleaners (affiliate)
scissors

Step 1: Cut the Paper

Cut the tissue paper in half so that you now have two sheets: 13″ x 20″ each
Cut each of those pieces in half. You will now have four sheets that are about 10 ” x 13″ each
Cut each of those pieces in half. You will now have eight sheets of paper that are about 7.5″ x 10″

Note: You could make these any size! Please take these dimensions as a starting point.

Step 2: Fold and Cut the Paper

Stack four sheets of paper.
Pleat the paper in an accordion fold.
Cut a half-circle shape from the each end. (You could also cut a point or zig-zag)
Wrap a pipe cleaner around the middle of the paper to hold it in place. This will also act as the stem.

Step 3: Fan out the Flowers

Fan out the paper.
Gently separate the first layer of paper from the rest, and move it up to form the top layer of petals.
Gently separate the rest of the paper layers.
Fluff out your flower.
Repeat with the other stack of four papers.

Experiment

Try making those with tiny sheets of paper
Make gigantic flowers
Make multi-colored flowers with different colors of tissue paper
Cut different shapes off the edges of your petals
Make a stack of more pieces of paper for a fuller flower

Step 4: Display your Marigolds!

More Day of the Dead Ideas

Mexican Tin Painting for Kids: TinkerLab

Make Day of the Dead Play Dough Cookies: TinkerLab

How to Make a Mexican Sugar Scull: Mexican Sugar Skull.com

How to Make a Skull Paper Snowflake: Crafty Lady Abby

Gallon Milk Jug Sugar Skull: YouTube

Halloween Crafts for Kids

By Rachelle 9 Comments

Here comes Halloween! I scoured some of my favorite kid-friendly sites and found this awesome selection of Halloween Crafts for Kids. I think you’ll love them.

What does this Halloween Crafts for Kids roundup include?

Ghosts, pumpkins, spider webs, mummies, monsters, and skeletons.
Activities for toddlers, preschoolers, and school age kids.
Crafts that kids can actually do. Some with a little adult assistance.
Projects that use easy-to-find household materials such as spaghetti, cardboard rolls, candy, paint, string, jars, egg cartons, gauze, and cotton balls.
Sixteen projects to keep us busy for a while!

Halloween Crafts for Kids

Let’s get started…

Even little kids can get in on the Halloween action with this festive Cotton Ball Ghost for Toddlers: No Time for Flash Cards

This Pumpkin Mummy Family is not messy to make and beyond cute: Hands on as we Grow

Build fine-motor skills with this simple Marshmallow Skull Craft: No Time for Flash Cards

I would have to give in to my kids’ begging to eat the candy corn while making this Candy Corn Monster but it would be worth it: Crafty Morning

These Marble + Paint Spider Webs are toddler-friendly. Making these is soooo addictive : TinkerLab

The tutorial for these Handmade Spider Sacks is wonderful! : Modern Parents Messy Kids

Cut up some circles and then invite your child to decorate for this Easy DIY Halloween Garland: TinkerLab

Add a little holiday glow to a dark patio or room with these Halloween Lantern Jars: Red Ted Art

Use cardboard rolls as the base for a Monster Mobiles, and let your child have fun decorating: Happy Hooligans

Got K-cups? Save them for a Recycled K-cup Recycled Lantern: Handmade Kids Art

These Glowing Pumpkin and Monster Jars are dipped in colored salt! What a cool texture: Fantastic Fun and Learning

Make a handprint spider and practice lacing in this Handprint Spider in a Spider Web: Mom Endeavors

Before making a Spaghetti Spider Web, build memories by inviting a child to play with slimy, green spaghetti: Hands on as we Grow

Fun! With the addition of a rubber band, make this Easy Halloween Craft Bouncy Spider: Kids Activities Blog

Invite your child to cover paper with masking tape, and then cut out a Masking Tape Mummy: No Time for Flash Cards

Save those egg cartons for this simple Egg Carton Bat: Crafty Morning

More Halloween Ideas

If you enjoyed this post, you have to check out 50 Simple Halloween Ideas for Kids.

Join the TinkerLab Community

And, you might enjoy signing up for the weekly TinkerLab newsletter. It’s free and we often send exclusive content and opportunities that are only available to our subscribers.

In case you blinked and missed it, TinkerLab rounds up all the great stuff on the internets on keeping you and your critters creative and wraps it up for you in a tidy newsletter! (And throws in some secret giveaways for good measure!) – Yuliya P., San Francisco, CA

Join our community and you’ll learn:

How to simplify your life and make more room for creativity
How to make hands-on making a part of your everyday life
Easy, actionable ways to raise creative kids

Fall Craft Ideas: Leaf Drawing

By Rachelle 2 Comments

This fall craft idea is also a simple creative invitation that doesn’t require a lot of fancy tools and won’t come with a big mess. If you’re new to the idea of creative invitations, this article has all the details you’ll need to get started.

Supplies for Fall Leaf Drawing

Leaves
Colored pencils or your favorite mark-making tool
Paper

My 4-year old and I took a bike ride and she chose this selection of leaves. We arranged them on the table and she added a crystal. Because, you know, it looks better that way.

We marveled at all the colors in the leaves and then I invited her to draw them. We used Lyra Ferby colored pencils (affiliate link) for the task. I love these crayon/pencils for little kids because they’re a bit fatter than standard colored pencils (with a 6.25 mm lead core), and they come with a triangle grip that makes them easy to hold.

My daughter still insists on holding her pencil with her pinky and seems quite comfortable with this grip. And I’m still working on helping her shift to a better grip! If this is something that your child struggles with, this post has some great tips in the comments.

The Fall Leaf Drawing Set-up

Set up a large sheet of drawing paper, scatter a few leaves around, and place freshly sharpened colored pencils on the table.

Invite your child to look closely at the leaves and notice the variety of colors and shapes, and then discuss what you see.

Some questions to ask:

What colors do you notice?
Do any of the colors surprise you?
How many points does this leaf have? Let’s count them together.
Which of these leaves could have come from the same tree?
Do you have a favorite leaf in this collection? What makes it your favorite?

Experiments in Drawing Fall Leaves

I sat across the table from my daughter and we drew leaves together. I always encourage my kids to experiment, and one way to do that is by modeling. As I colored my leaves in I layered one color on top of another. I noted that the red blended into green on one of the leaves, and tried to replicate that in my sketch.

My 4-year old payed attention to that and then pushed it one step further as she colored one of her leaves blue and purple, and gave another blue veins…because she liked the way it looked. Rock on! If you child goes for the unexpected, encourage him or her to go for it. The goal is to use the leaves as a starting point, and then layer that with interpretation and imagination.

More Leaf Projects

Make adorable Leaf Critters by painting directly on leaves with acrylic paint.

Preserve your Fall leaves in glycerin

Make coffee filter suncatchers in leaf shapes

Is this your first time here?

Join the Tinkerlab network and be the first to know about simple art + science projects for kids, creativity tips, and simple ideas that will make your life more creative. Sign up for our newsletter.

In case you blinked and missed it, TinkerLab rounds up all the great stuff on the internets on keeping you and your critters creative and wraps it up for you in a tidy newsletter! (And throws in some secret giveaways for good measure!) – Yuliya P., San Francisco, CA

Join our community and you’ll learn:

How to simplify your life and make more room for creativity
How to make hands-on making a part of your everyday life
Easy, actionable ways to raise creative kids

Fall Craft Ideas: Paint Coffee Filter Suncatchers

By Rachelle 1 Comment

If you’re interested in ways to bring the Fall season to life, today I’m sharing fall craft idea that encourages children to be inventive and think independently.

Present the Supplies as an Art Invitation

If you follow TinkerLab, you know that I appreciate projects that encourage children to think for themselves and come up with their own unique spin on the materials. Like so many of our projects, I present the supplies to my children as an art invitation. Once the supplies are in front of my kids, they are free to use the materials in any way the please.

So, what will we need?

The supplies for this project are so easy!

Here’s the set-up…

Pre-cut coffee filters into leaf shapes. As you can see in the first image in this post, there were a few requests for hearts too. Related to that, this is by no means an exclusive-to-Autumn activity. Cut out hearts, moons, trees, flowers, or even shamrocks. Have fun with this!

Place the cut-out shapes on a tray. We used an art tray, but a cookie sheet with a rim will work equally well. You’ll want the tray because this project can get drippy, and all that liquid will be nicely contained in this walled-off area. I found our art trays at Michaels and spotted something similar over on Amazon (affiliate link).

For two children, you can have them share a bowl of water as I did, or give them each their own water (they would appreciate that, I’m sure!).

At ages three and six, my kids had very different approaches to this task.

As you can see from the dot-covered table, my three-year old had a GREAT time exploring dot-making on the table. My older daughter experimented with drawing veins and rainbow effects, and her little sister soon got on board with similar tasks.

It’s always interesting to see how artists influence each other, and I’m 100% okay with copying as it’s a way of learning.

Kids also like to experiment with different paintbrushes (flat, round, fan, skinny, and fat) to achieve a variety of textures and lines. If you have a collection of paintbrushes, this is a great project to bring them out for.

Drying the Coffee Filters

If your child gets into this project, you will have A LOT of painted coffee filters to contend with. As such, you’ll need to set up a space to dry these gorgeous leaves.

Roll out a large sheet of paper or lay down newspaper, and then place the painted cut-outs on the paper until dry. Because the paper is so thin, they tend to dry incredibly fast!

Once dry, hang the shapes in a window with a bit of transparent tape. Admire the colors as the sun shines through them.

More Fall Craft Ideas

Make a shimmering Fall Lantern

This easy Sticky Autumn Collage is perfect for toddlers and preschoolers

Preserve your leaves in glycerin with Glycerin Leaves

This is our favorite play dough recipe, with a fall scent: DIY Pumpkin Pie Playdough

Make Leaf Sun Prints as a way to preserve leaf shapes on fabric.

And for a whole slew of Autumn ideas, check out the fun Fall Bucket List

Is this your first time here?

Join the Tinkerlab network and be the first to know about simple art + science projects for kids, creativity tips, and simple ideas that will make your life more creative. Sign up for our newsletter.

In case you blinked and missed it, TinkerLab rounds up all the great stuff on the internets on keeping you and your critters creative and wraps it up for you in a tidy newsletter! (And throws in some secret giveaways for good measure!) – Yuliya P., San Francisco, CA

Join our community and you’ll learn:

How to simplify your life and make more room for creativity
How to make hands-on making a part of your everyday life
Easy, actionable ways to raise creative kids

Fall Craft Ideas | Leaf Critters

By Rachelle 4 Comments

My little one and I have been taking bike rides while her sister is at school, and have had a wonderful time collecting fallen leaves. If you’re looking for fall craft ideas (for kids or adults), today’s simple painted leaf tutorial is a keeper. When autumn hits, this is a fun way to acknowledge the seasonal shift.

Begin by collecting an assortment of leaves. Choose leaves that have already fallen, when possible. And then collect the rest of your supplies. I recommend acrylic paint because it has the best staying power.

Supplies

Some of the supplies listed are affiliate links.

Leaves
Acrylic Paint. This set of 2 oz. bottles of paint , in 18 colors, is an excellent place to begin if you don’t already have paint.
Small + thin paintbrushes. I love this inexpensive set.
White glue
Bowl of water to wash brushes
Marker. I happen to love Sharpies. At the time of this post, grab this multi-pack of Sharpies and the pens are under $0.50 each!
Rag to dry brush
Cardstock paper (optional)

Steps: Painted Fall Leaf Critters

Before you start painting, take a look at the leaf and try to figure out what kind of critter you want it to be. Will it be a fish, octopus, or monster? Paint eyes on with acrylic paint.

Layer on some details…

And then, if you like, glue it to a sheet of paper and add more details with marker.

And there you have it: a fun and simple way to celebrate Fall.

p.s. There’s no wrong way to do this. You could even forget the “critter” idea altogether and simply paint abstract shapes all over your leaves.

More Fall Craft Ideas with Leaves

There are two blogs that you HAVE to check out…

The Artful Parent may be the first place I saw the idea to paint on leaves. Leaf drawing and doodling is lovely for little kids who aren’t yet drawing things that are realistic and Leaf Peepers is the predecessor to our Leaf Critters.

14 Ways to Paint Leaves ArtBarBlog pulls some of the best painted leaf posts together in one place. Be sure to check this out for lots of ways to turn those leaves into works of art.

Make it a Party!

Gather some friends together, ask them to bring a small collection of fresh leaves, set up all the materials ahead of time, and serve hot apple cider.

Is this your first time here?

Join the Tinkerlab network and be the first to know about simple art + science projects for kids, creativity tips, and simple ideas that will make your life more creative. Sign up for our newsletter.

In case you blinked and missed it, Tinkerlab rounds up all the great stuff on the internets on keeping you and your critters creative and wraps it up for you in a tidy newsletter! (And throws in some secret giveaways for good measure!) – Yuliya P., San Francisco, CA

Join our community and you’ll learn:

How to simplify your life and make more room for creativity
How to make hands-on making a part of your everyday life
Easy, actionable ways to raise creative kids