The leaves are starting to change. Golds, fiery oranges, and deep reds once again paint the trees. All too soon this beautiful display of Mother Nature’s will come to an end. So we decided to capture a little of this magic with a simple fall craft.
I had the inner circle of the paper plates cut out and the yellow tissue paper glued to the plate’s back, trimmed up and ready for little ones to decorate before I even called the kids to the table. The tissue paper pieces had been ripped up ahead of time, too, by little hands that needed something to do one day.
We used paint brushes to glue the ripped up tissue paper pieces to the yellow backing, mimicking the mosaic of colors on the fall trees. 
Then we glued our paper leaves around the plate’s edge. With older kids you might suggest doing this is a pattern. The leaves could be put on facing a variety of directions, like they’ve been blown in the wind, or with each stem facing inward for consistency.
When they were finished, we had a little bit of fall’s beauty, right there in our kitchen windows.
This is a super simple fall craft for toddlers and preschoolers.
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Lisa @ Two Bears Farm says
What a great craft – it turned out so cute!
OneMommy says
Thanks — and it was easy, which is always a plus when working with 2 little ones!
Crystal @ Simply Being Mommy says
What a fun craft. Thanks for sharing.
OneMommy says
The kids are super proud of their sun catchers… Thanks for stopping by!
Susie @ Homemaker-mom.com says
That is so cute! Love it!
OneMommy says
Thank you! I think my youngest’s idea of sticking a real leaf to it was a neat idea…. Wondering how all real leaves would work on it.
Mary says
Sweet. My favorite when I was a girl was my mom and I saving leaves I’d picked up on our walks by her ironing them with them with a sheet of wax paper on both the top and bottom of the leaf. I have a strong memory of her at the ironing board doing that and the smell of the wax. We’d hang up the leaves in the window for decoration for a while. I hope your children have good memories of your crafts, too!
OneMommy says
What a neat idea! I admit it, the only time my iron has been used is for crafts…. I think we might even have some wax paper around here to give that a try!
Kristen says
Our temps are starting to cool and the leaves are just starting to give way to autumn. We’ll start to decorate this weekend and I can’t wait!
OneMommy says
I got out the Halloween stuff yesterday and the kids had a blast just going through it all! Hope you goes have fun decorating!
Ginny Marie says
That is so cute! I have some old and yellowing paper plates that would be perfect for this activity! (I certainly don’t want to put food on them. ;))
OneMommy says
No, I wouldn’t want to put food on them, either, but paper plates are always good to keep for craft time!
Mine made a couple extra to give to the grandparents as well.
Donna DM Yates says
I LOVE this idea. It’s a fun craft no matter the age.
OneMommy says
Thanks. I thought it was fun – started one myself but didn’t finish it yet.
OneMommy says
I hope he has as much fun with it as my own little crafters did! (They made extras to give the grandparents even.)