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Bring the beauty of fall leaves inside with these homemade jelly decorations.

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Gather your materials.

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Pour 2 tbsp of clear glue into a cupcake liner.

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Add ½ tsp of liquid dish soap.

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Add a drop of red food coloring.

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Stir until combined.

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Make yellow and orange versions.

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Place leaf coloring page inside a plastic bag.

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Paint glue over the leaf shapes.

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Allow painted leaves to dry fully over a few hours.

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Carefully peel dried leaves off plastic.

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Stick leaves on a window or any smooth surface.

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Admire your Jelly Leaves.

We’ve recreated the colors of fall with food coloring, but what do actual leaves use? During the spring and summer, leaves are full of a bright green pigment called chlorophyll, which acts like a tiny solar panel to turn sunlight into food for the tree. But as days grow shorter and nights get chilly in the fall, the tree starts getting ready to sleep for the winter and stops making chlorophyll. As the green chlorophyll breaks down and fades away, hidden pigments called carotenoids—which were inside the leaf all summer long—finally get their chance to shine, revealing brilliant shades of yellow and orange! Some trees even trap extra sugars in their leaves to produce brand-new pigments called anthocyanins, painting the autumn trees in vivid reds and purples.

clear glue

dish soap

food coloring

cupcake liners

stirring stick

paintbrushes

leaf coloring page

plastic gallon bag / large ziplock bag

Jelly Leaves

nature walk

nature

summer crafts

summer fun

art project

homemade craft

Gather up some green leaves and use a roller or press to create natural stamp art. Follow these steps to stamp on canvas, or use the same technique to print lovely leafy cards.&nbsp;

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Gather the materials to make your DIY banner. 

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Start by collecting some of your favorite leaves. Look around your house or campsite to find some different shaped leaves. Remember not to pick them off of trees, only off the ground!

Don't pick the ones that are completely dried out as they will crumble as you try to paint them.

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Cut out several canvas squares, large enough to fit your leaves. You can also try different shapes, such as triangles or a flag shape like we did.

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You may want to cover your work surface for the next few steps. Squeeze some paint into your paint cups or paper plate. Using the spouncer, cover a leaf with an even layer of paint.

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Press the leaf, paint side down, onto the canvas. 

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Lay another piece of scrap canvas over the leaf and use the paint roller to roll over the leaf and transfer the paint. The extra layer of canvas helps to keep the leaf flat and in place as you roll over it.

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Carefully lift the canvas and the leaf. You should have a cool leaf imprint on the flag! If the imprint looks faint, you can experiment with adding a thicker layer of paint or pressing down harder with the roller. Getting the perfect imprint will take a couple tries.Repeat steps 4–6 until you finish all the flags for your banner.

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Once your paint is dry, use glue or tape to attach your flags onto a piece of ribbon. Now you can hang your leaf stamping art anywhere you and enjoy your nature-themed decoration! 

paint

canvas (or cloth)

Scissors

ribbon

hot glue/hot glue gun (or fabric glue)

paint roller

paint cup (or paper plate)

spouncer

Leaf Stamping

indoor project

Thanksgiving crafts

Thanksgiving

household craft

easy craft

This year we wanted to make our family's place card holders for Thanksgiving feel festive and fun. Using a folding technique, we were able to create beautiful leaves and created a colorful and unique place card holder for everyone.

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Leaves: First, fold your paper in half vertically, and cut a "U" shape.

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Then accordion fold your paper upwards, and with every fold cut the end with your scissor. 

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Once you are finished folding your paper, open it back up, and cut down the center line. 

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Accordion fold the two pieces of paper up, and glue together to make a leaf shape. You can finesse the shape by creating a mini fan. Tie and glue a piece of string at the bottom of the leaf to create a stem. 

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Stands: Glue one cork to one block. Let it dry. Once dry, paint the cork gold, and the wooden block brown.

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Then glue a paper leaf onto one side of the wooden block. 

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Wire: If you are using wire, ask a grown-up assistant to use wire cutters to cut a 5-inch long strand. Poke the wire or paper clip into the cork. Curl one end into a circle. This will be where you place your notecard.

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Display! Write down the names of the guests at your Thanksgiving table and set up the cardholders.

string

Glue

cork

paint brush

colored paper

Leaf Place Card Holders

quick craft

With fall around the corner and brisk air upon us, we decided to create nature-inspired paintbrushes! All you need are some leaves, twigs, twine, and your creativity.

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Take a walk outside and find different kinds of branches / leaves to make your paint brushes.

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Bundle the leaves to wrap around one end of a branch. 

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Hold the bundle of leaves and the branch with one hand, and wrap your string to secure the leaves onto the branch. 

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Securely tie the string with a double knot! We created an assortment of leaves with findings from different trees.

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Once you have made all your leaf paintbrushes, test them out with some paint! What kinds of textures do they create? Which type of brush is your favorite? 

branches

string / twine

cup (for water)

watercolor paper

Leaf Paintbrushes

We loved the idea of preserving leaves so much, we decided to try our hand at another technique! With leaves about to turn all shades of greens, reds, and yellows, we thought it would be fun to pick a shade of colors to preserve. We used glycerin to save our leaves and create a whimsical hanging mobile. You can also combine a fun mix of colors to make it really pop. Pick up some fresh leaves on your way out of your house, and try your hand at this amazing leaf preservation technique!

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Gather a collection of fall leaves. In this project, we created a mobile out of our findings, so keep that in mind as you hunt for leaves! Once you have your leaves, place them in a container. Mix 2 cups of water and 1 cup of glycerin and pour the mixture into the container. Stack the second container on top of the first container to keep the leaves submerged in the mixture. Let the leaves soak for at least 3 days.

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When the leaves have soaked for 3 days, carefully take them out and pat them dry between sheets of paper towels. Your leaves are now preserved and the amazing part of this method is that the leaves should maintain their flexibility! What's going on? When you preserve a leaf with glycerin, you're replacing some of the water in the leaf with the glycerin solution. As the leaf dries, the water evaporates but the glycerin remains behind. This helps to maintain the leaf's texture and flexibility, so you can display it for a lot longer!

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To create a leaf mobile, we used an embroidery hoop as the mobile base. Cut a long piece of string and tie each string end to opposite ends of the hoop with double knots. This is how your mobile will hang, so adjust the length of the string as needed and trim any excess. If needed, add some glue on the knots to secure the ends and let the knots dry. For faster results, have an adult help put hot glue on the knots. 

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Cut a few strings of the same length and tie one end onto each individual leaf. We cut our string to about 12 inches in length.

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Secure the loose string ends onto the embroidery hoop! Make sure to space them out evenly so that your mobile doesn't tilt as you hang it. How did your leaf mobiles turn out? What other projects can you think of with your preserved leaves?

water

glycerin (available in the first aid area of your local drug store)

2 containers that can stack on top of each other

embroidery hoop

different kinds of string 

Leaf Preserved Mobile

handmade cards

Did you know the art of skeletonizing leaves was practiced by the Chinese during the Ming Dynasty? As a nature lover, I decided to challenge myself with this ancient practice right in my kitchen! Skeletonizing leaves took a bit of patience and time, but watching the leaves transform was worth the effort! I created fall-inspired cards with my project. What will you do with yours?

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Before you begin, take note that an adult should supervise all activities involving the stove! Pour the water and washing soda into your pot, mix the two ingredients, and bring the water to a boil.

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After the water has reached a boil, lower the heat to a simmer, and add 1-2 of your leaves. Simmer the leaves in water for 2-3 hours, then remove the pot from the heat. The water will be brown and murky, which is a good indication that your leaves are ready.

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Use tongs to transfer the leaves to a colander. 

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Discard the water and rinse the pot. Add ½ cup of bleach to the pot, then soak your leaves in the bleach for 30 minutes. This will help break down your green leaf tissue.

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Wearing rubber gloves, gently take a leaf out of the pot. Carefully rinse it under a faucet. Use your fingers to gently rub away the green leaf tissue. As you rub your fingers toward the ends of the outer edges of the leaf, you'll start to see the colored leaf tissue wash away leaving a clearer, translucent layer.

Use a paintbrush or toothbrush to gently brush away the green leaf tissue.

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Once you have the green leaf tissue rubbed off, you are left with a clearer leaf. We decided to take a step further, and remove the rest of the tissue by gently peeling it from the veins of the leaf.

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Let your bare leaf skeleton fully dry and glue it on a piece of cardstock to make your own card! What else can you make with your leaf skeleton?

What is it?&nbsp;
The part of the leaf you're looking at now is the complex system of veins, which makes up the leaf skeleton. The leaf skeleton is a part of a transportation system that delivers nutrients from the tree trunk and moves nutrients throughout the leaf.

26 cool leaves projects for kids

Screen-free fun!