Kid Talk Tuesday: Fun Fall Crafts with author Karen Whiting!

In need of new fall activities to do with your kids? Look no further! Check out these fantastic fall craft ideas from author Karen Whiting! We can’t wait to try them out ourselves!

Autumn fills the world with bright colors and provides wonderful opportunities for crafts. It’s fun to stroll outdoors and check out the colors, visit a pumpkin patch or apple orchard and pick fruit. Capture the fun with photos. At home, extend the fun with art activities that reinforce what you discovered in nature. Here are some of my favorites:

• Apple picking is plentiful in most states since they grow every state. Once you pick apples, use a few for stamping. Cut an apple crosswise and look at how the seeds inside form a star. Read Psalm 139 and talk about how God put star qualities indie each person. The dip the apple halves into a stamp pad or thin layer of paint and press them onto paper to make apple prints.

-Autumn colors

Make crayon melt leaves. Take a walk to check out leaf colors and shapes. Bring a few home to use as patterns. Use a potato peeler to shave a few autumn colored crayons. Lay a layer of paper from a brown paper grocery bag on a surface on which you can iron. Lay a sheet of wax paper on the brown paper. Let your young artist sprinkle the shavings on the paper. Top it with another layer of wax paper and then a final layer of brown paper. Set iron to a low temperature. Lift and press the iron until you cover the entire paper with heat. Peek to be sure the crayon is melting. This will melt the wax. Removed the brown paper layers and you’ll have a melted wax design. Let your child place a leaf on top of a favorite section. Trace the shape and cut it out.

-Fall centerpieces

Collect some leaves on branches, acorns, pinecones, and other natural findings to make a centerpiece. Place an orange or brown paper or placemat on the table and start adding the nature objects to create a pleasing decoration.

-Autumn trees

Cover a tube (paper towel roll, empty chip can, or toilet paper roll) with brown paper. Let the paper be longer than the tube to extend the trunk at one end. Cut slits into the excess paper so the trunk can stand. It may need a little weight, like some pebbles. Take short tree branches with leaves and stick them into the opening. As the leaves dry up replace them with paper ones. Add these to a centerpiece.

-Yummy Art Cookies

Add a teaspoon of water to an egg yolk. Divide the mix into a few cups. Add food coloring. This makes an edible paint for cookies. Make sugar cookies and cut autumn shapes. Paint the cookies by using an eyedropper or paintbrush (lightly brush cookie). Sprinkle with sugar. Bake and watch the colors blend.

-Autumn Bag Scene

Cut a window on one side of a gift bag, an inch from the bottom. A pumpkin or leaf cutout gives an autumn look. Cut and place a piece of Styrofoam in the bottom of the bag. Glue or stick on decorations to make a scene. Use tiny scraps of tissue or small artificial leaves to cover the base. Add orange beads for pumpkins with chenille stem tops. Poke red beaded straight pins into a cork to look like a basket of apples. Cut a paper scarecrow and use gold chenille stems to form bundles of dried corn stalks. Slide a piece of blue paper as a backdrop.

-Pinecone Leaf Turkey

Use a pinecone on its side for a turkey body. Use small colorful leaves for the turkey feathers and glue to one end. Add a paper turkey head to the other end.

Karen Whiting is an author and speaker with thirteen published books, and hundreds of articles and short pieces for over four dozen publishers including Focus on the Family Magazine and Christian Parenting Today . Whiting has a heart for families and encourages families to connect and live more fully for God. For more on Whiting, please visit: http://www.karenwhiting.com/ . You can also follow Karen on Facebook and Twitter .