We made a Leaf Placemat Craft recently for a play date craft. This was so much fun that when we came home from the play group, the kids wanted to make more! Our dining room table is looking pretty festive with our leaf place mats. We enjoyed going out on a nature hunt to collect lots of leaves of different size and color from the yard. And now, it’s nice to see them every day at every meal! This was such an easy craft for younger kids and a hit at the play group. One day, I was able to set up a little after-nap snack and book time, using our leaf place mats and a few new favorite books from the library. 123 We read the books and had a little Cheerio snack on our easy leaf placemats. Read more below to see what we did and our book recommendations:
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Leaves Craft
We started by collecting different colored leaves from around the yard in lots of colors and sizes. Luckily (or unluckily, depending on who is working the rake…) we have a bunch of HUGE trees and loads of leaves to jump in, play with, and collect. We put our leaves in big trays to dry and take to our play group.
The craft was SO easy and perfect for toddlers. We cut sheets of Clear Contact Paper
into large sheets that would be able to fold over to placemat size. This was definitely NOT accurate or precise. Each of our placemats are slightly different sizes and as unique as the child making them!
into large sheets that would be able to fold over to placemat size. This was definitely NOT accurate or precise. Each of our placemats are slightly different sizes and as unique as the child making them!
Be sure to grab the clear contact paper and not the one with a white backing so the leaves will show through both sides.
This was fun for the kids to scatter leaves around on the contact paper. Big Sister made a few shapes and pictures with her leaves. (Perfect for one of the books we read!)
Fall Leaf Books
The books we had from the library were fun fall books, just right for a leaf placemat snack!
Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert is such a fun book, showing leaves as they move across the land in the breeze. They pictures of the leaves change forms as the book progresses and Big Sister really like pointing out the man, or cow, or bird made from leaves on each page. This book was perfect for our leaf craft project!
Leaves
by David Ezra Stein is such a cute story about a bear who is surprised about the falling leaves. This book was fun for us because we enjoy seeing the leaves fall from our trees and we love to try to catch them as they fall.
Autumn Orange (Know Your Colors)
by Christianne C. Jones was a good book for us and a fun read. Especially Baby Girl liked this one (who is just learning her colors and thinks every color is purple 🙂 !
It’s not too late to grab up a few fall themed books and create a leaf craft before the craziness of the Christmas season is on us! What are your favorite fall books?
