Suitable natural materials for autumn crafting

In autumn nature becomes really colorful: The leaves turn red and yellow, chestnuts, acorns and pine cones fall from the trees. In this special season you'll find craft materials in abundance in nature. The perfect time for a cozy crafting afternoon with your children.

Plan your crafting fun right after your next walk in the woods or park: Collect the materials you need with your children and decide together, which beautiful natural materials are suitable for autumn decorations. This way your children are already eagerly involved while collecting and you can then let your creativity run free.

Look out for the following natural materials:

• Chestnuts

• Acorns

• Autumn leaves

• Pine cones

• Pumpkins

• Branches

• Flowers

• Moss

Tip: If you decide to craft spontaneously, you'll find plenty of craft materials for lovely autumn crafts and autumn decorations. So head outside and the fun can begin.

Why is crafting with children in autumn so special?

Autumn crafting with colorful natural materials is great fun and simultaneously promotes the creativity and dexterity of the little hobby artists. When collecting natural materials, you spend valuable family time in the fresh air, explore nature together, and your children discover what special things await them outside. The subsequent crafting with natural materials stimulates the imagination and lets your children touch, feel, and smell nature. Cutting, gluing, and folding promote their fine motor skills and tactile sensitivity.

Quick autumn craft guides for children of all ages

Now quickly unpack the craft supplies and off you go. We've put together great autumn craft ideas assembled, with something for every age and taste:

Make a small pumpkin lantern

Materials needed:

• Electric tealight

• small pumpkin

• kitchen knife

• tablespoon

• craft knife

• apple corer

How to:

1. For the lid, cut off the top third of a small pumpkin straight with a kitchen knife.

2. Scoop out the insides of both pieces with a tablespoon.

3. Cut triangles into the lid with a craft knife and remove them.

4. Use an apple corer to make holes all around the lower half.

5. Clean the inner base and scrape the walls clean with the spoon.

6. Place a tealight inside and put the lid on after lighting it.

DIY nature weaving frame

A weaving frame can be 'played' with again and again and never gets boring. In every season and for every celebration there is something new in nature to be found that can be woven in. In autumn it becomes especially colorful:

Materials needed:

• 2 equally long wooden stakes

• 2 equally long branches

• kitchen twine

• nails & hammer or screws & cordless drill

• any imaginable (natural) materials for weaving

How to:

1. Drive the two wooden stakes into the ground. Choose the distance between the stakes so that the branches can be attached well and overhang a bit on both sides.

2. Fasten the branches securely to the stakes - if you like with nails or screws. It's also possible to attach the branches crosswise with twine.

3. Stretch the warp threads between the two branches with kitchen twine and tie them tight. The more threads you stretch, the more options children have to weave.

4. Collect grasses, ferns, leaves, long-stemmed flowers, feathers - whatever your heart desires and whatever the eagle eye spots...

5. Now the big weaving can begin. Gradually your children thread all the collected treasures onto the cords until a small nature artwork has emerged.

Make leaf pictures

Materials needed:

• lots of colorful autumn leaves

• colored construction paper

• glue

• pens/markers

• craft scissors

• watercolors or colored pencils

Here's how:

1. Collect lots of colorful autumn leaves outside. The more varied the leaves are, the more creative your pictures will be.

2. Cut several ovals and the lion's head from the construction paper according to the instructions.

3. Paint the head however you like with watercolors or pens/markers.

4. Now glue on your autumn leaves and decorate the lion alternately with the oval construction paper and the leaves. Your fearsome lion is ready - grrrrr!

Make potato prints

Potatoes taste delicious and are perfect for making imaginative stamps. We'll show you how you can conjure up great prints and pictures with homemade potato stamps.

Materials needed:

• potatoes

• knife

• marker

• small cutting board

• paper

• watercolors or colorful finger paints

Here's how:

1. Cut the potatoes in half with a knife. Important: Always together with an adult!

2. Think of nice shapes like stars, hearts or triangles and draw them on the halved potatoes. Then carefully cut away the edges together so that only the desired shape remains.

3. Now the little ones can get started even without help. Simply dip the potato stamps into the paint and start stamping.

Make lanterns

When St. Martin is around the corner, lantern-making begins everywhere. Do you also want to make a colorful lantern at home? We'll show you how to do it.

Materials needed:

• balloon

• wallpaper paste

• translucent paper

• scissors

• optional: autumn leaves

• a bowl of water

• brush

Here's how:

1. Pump up the balloon until it reaches the desired size and tie it off. Your lantern will be as big as the balloon you inflated.

2. Stir a few teaspoons of paste into the bowl of water. Let the mixture sit for a while until it thickens.

3. Tear the translucent paper into pieces of any size by hand.

4. Brush the balloon well with paste and stick small pieces of translucent paper or colorful leaves onto it.

5. Glue on several layers of paper or leaves so the lantern becomes as sturdy as possible. When everything is covered, hang the balloon up and let it dry - this can take several days.

6. When the lantern is dry, carefully pierce the balloon with the scissors and let it burst. Then carefully pull it off the paper so the lantern doesn't tear. Cut an opening in the top of the lantern in the desired size and drill two holes at the top through which you thread a wire. Now just hang it on the glow stick and off you go!

Autumn Diary

A diary is a great way to to record exciting adventures and special experiences forever. We will show you how you can make a very personal autumn diary with your children.

Materials needed:

• sturdy paper

• pens

• scissors

• ruler

• pencil

• hole punch

• string

• stickers or glitter (optional)

• glue

How to do it:

• Cut the sturdy paper to the size you want the diary to be.

• Take as many pages as you think you can fill. Stack all the pages and punch holes along the edge.

• The first page is your cover – decorate it individually with stickers, glitter, or autumn leaves.

• Tie all the pages together with string.

• Use a pencil and ruler to draw fine lines so your entries look neat, because it's easier to write on lines.

• Take a moment each evening to write your experiences in your diary. Glue in photos too, so you can remember the lovely moments even better later.

Herbarium of autumn plants and flowers

In a herbarium you'll place autumn flowers and leaves that you collected together with your children. This way you create a beautiful keepsake of autumn that you can browse through and reminisce about even next year.

Materials needed

• various leaves and autumn flowers

• A4 cardboard

• hole punch

• glue

• pens

• scissors

• string

• paper towels

• a heavy book (e.g., an encyclopedia)

Here's how to do it!

1. Choose the most beautiful flowers and leaves that you want to glue into your herbarium. Place them to dry between two sheets of paper towel in the middle of a heavy book. Now a little patience is required: it takes 1-2 weeks for the materials to dry and be ready for gluing.

2. Arrange the flowers and leaves on the cardboard pages. If you like the positioning, fix them in place with craft glue.

3. Now label each autumn specimen by its species. If you like, also add pleasant memories: where did you find the leaf or what else happened that day?

4. Now stack all the cardboard pages and punch holes along one side. Tie all the pages together with a string – and your personal autumn herbarium is ready.

Make lanterns

For atmospheric lanterns you need only a few materials. In no time you'll have a great autumn decoration that makes autumn evenings at home even cozier.

Materials needed:

• old jars or mason jars

• wallpaper paste

• colored tissue paper in autumn tones

• a glass of cold water

• brush

How to do it:

1. Place the cleaned and dried jars on the table in front of you.

2. Add a heaping teaspoon of wallpaper paste to the glass of water and stir the mixture well until there are no more lumps. Let the mixture sit for a few minutes until the paste thickens.

3. Now tear the tissue paper into many small pieces.

4. Apply the paste to the jars with a brush.

5. Stick the tissue paper pieces on as you like. A mosaic-like arrangement is possible as well as creating specific figures or shapes.

6. Let your lanterns dry thoroughly, preferably overnight.

7. Place an electric tealight in the jar: your homemade lantern is ready!

Up into the skies: Kite making made easy

The autumn wind is perfect for flying colorful kites. Whether on the meadow, in the park or in the garden – children are amazed every time a kite takes to the air. The spectacle is even more beautiful when you have made the kite yourself. We'll show you what to consider when building a kite and how you can make a flyable model with your children.

Carving spooky pumpkins

On Halloween, the spookiness takes center stage (and of course collecting candy!). With a self-carved pumpkin will make the spooky decoration perfect. The funny pumpkin faces look especially good as autumnal decoration on the windowsill or in the stairwell. On this page, we show you how to carve spooky faces out of pumpkins.

Image credits:

Chestnuts, pine cones, acorns © Otto - stock.adobe.com

Colorful potato stamp print © okunsto - stock.adobe.com

Child crafting a lantern over a blue bowl © Ina - stock.adobe.com

Various lanterns for the St. Martin's parade © Marina Lohrbach - stock.adobe.com

Child holds a kite in the air © DREAM INSPIRATION - stock.adobe.com

Autumn craft idea: painted pine cones © Animaflora PicsStock - stock.adobe.com

Monster made from a toilet paper roll - Adobe Stock 281258910