DIY Fall Leaf Crown: A Simple Autumn Craft for Kids

Nov 1

Fall Leaf Crown Tutorial

Collecting colorful fall leaves during nature hikes is a favorite activity for my children in Autumn. Finding those perfect flawless bright yellow ash or deep, ruby-red maple leaves seems like a treasure hunt.

So what do you do with all these lovely leaves you’ve collected? An ideal fall leaf craft activity for kids to pair with a crisp, fall hike is creating nature leaf crowns.

As a busy mom, simple crafts, without any mess or supplies needed, are my favorite. These no mess leaf crowns are a simple fall leaf craft that can also be done with toddlers, with just a little variation. So follow along for this easy DIY fall leaf crown tutorial. I’ve also included a simple lesson for children about the science of why leaves change colors.

Supplies Needed

Colorful Fall Leaves with the Stems (yes, that’s it)

Optional

Brown Bag, Stapler (a variation for younger children is detailed below)

Directions

1. Choose various colored fall leaves in good condition without holes or rips. Preferably ones with long stems.

2. Remove stems by carefully pinching off at the base of the leaf with your fingers.

3. Select two leaves and use the sharper, pinched off side of the stem to weave through the leaves, linking them together.

4. Continue weaving additional leaves until you have a long train of leaves. To reinforce the leaf crown we layered the leaves and wove multiple stems connecting each of the leaves.

Leaf Crown Variation for Younger Children

If your children are younger and weaving the stems through the leaves is too challenging for chubby little fingers, you can grab a large brown bag, cut a thin strip and staple the leaves onto the crown for a simple variation.

1. First measure your child’s head to the correct length, leaving an extra inch for overlap to staple together later.

TIP use a piece of string to measure your child’s head circumference, then cut the brown bag to correct length.

2. Cut brown bag into a long thin strip.

3. Allow children to staple leaves to the strip, overlapping leaves as you go.

4. Place on your child’s head and staple ends together.

Preserving Fall Leaves with Glycerin

If you want to extend the life of your glorious fall crowns try preserving them. Follow this tutorial to keep those beautiful jeweled tones longer by preserving leaves in glycerin.

Science Explanation: Why Do Leaves Change Colors?

Where do these beautiful jewel tones in leaves come from? Here is a quick lesson to share with your children.

Inside each leaf various pigments or colors can be found.

Green is chlorophyll.

Yellow is xanthophyll.

Orange is carotene.

During the spring and summer the green chlorophyll pigment hides the other colors within the leaves since trees are working hard collecting sunlight and converting it into energy. Additionally, trees are busy converting carbon dioxide in the air and water from the ground into glucose (sugar), which is food for the tree.

As Autumn nears, the weather grows colder and the days provide fewer hours of sunlight for trees. These are signals to trees to stop producing chlorophyll and begin preparation for winter. Trees cease collecting water and begin to grow cell membranes (thin coverings) over the (veins) tubes that carry water. The green chlorophyll starts to reduce, which allows the other colors to be visible in the leaves. The leaves have always had these beautiful rich colors, it takes the cooler weather to help them appear.

Fall leaves can also be purple and red, occasionally when the membranes close off, sap (sugars) becomes trapped inside the tubes. Those sugars then produce the red and purple colors. Now the next time someone asks you why leaves change, you can share a little knowledge with them.

Closing Thoughts

I’m delighted you stopped by Discovering Anew today! Don’t forget to save and pin for later to help plan your fall bucket list. Follow Discovering Anew on Facebook for more US family travel ideas and outdoor family crafts and activities.

Hopefully you can intentionally carve time out this Autumn season to hike and marvel at the beauty of the changing seasons. There are a plethora of health benefits associated with time spent outdoors, by slowing down and tapping into these amazing natural aids your overall well-being will improve.

As fall inevitably turns into winter, it can be more challenging to motivate kids to get outside due to colder temperatures; do yourself a favor and check out these Christmas Gift Ideas to Get your Kids Outdoors.