Crafts & Activities / 10 August, 2020 / Nanny Anita

Autumn Leaf Sun Catchers

I have had these defusing papers in my art supply cupboard for over a year and have done nothing with them, so I finally decided to take them out and turn them into Autumn leaf sun catchers.  It is very unlikely that you will probably have this type of paper as these came from amazon.com, but luckily you can substitute them for coffee filters.

We made our beautiful autumn leaves during a playdate that EC had, and this makes a great craft to do if little ones start to get bored.  It is very quick to set up and even the youngest child can get involved with it.

Make sure you follow my autumn craft board on Pinterest for more ideas.  Pin for later. 

You will need:

• Coffee filters
• Felt tip pens
• Water spritzer
• Hair dryer – optional
• Pencil
• Scissors

An invitation to create

I set out an invitation to create with everything that we would need and then let their natural curiosity take over.

Get them to colour in the whole filter with lots of different colours. This doesn’t need to be neat colouring.

YC giving a helping hand with the colouring

Spray the filter with water to make the colours run, be careful that if you spray it too much the water will drip off the page and create wonderful coloured pools, therefore make sure you protect your surfaces.

The pump was too stiff for YC, so she did it using my hand to help

To speed up the drying process use a hair dryer.

Once the filter is dry, draw your leaf onto the filter and cut it out.

Use some rolled up tape to stick your leaves to the window to make a lovely autumn window to brighten up these rainy days.

This craft went down a real treat and EC’s friend went home with lots of spare pieces of paper so that he could create more at home.

Now that the leaves are up, they look truly amazing when the sunshines on them, they literally seem to glow.

This craft may help development of:

• Fine motor skills – drawing leaves and cutting out
• Colours – through watching the colours mix together and make new colours.
• Experimentation of using new materials
• Learning about leaves – which shaped leaves come from which tree

Pin for later:

How To Create A Fairy-Themed Bedroom

How To Talk To Your Child About Racism