Autumn Crafts with dried leaves
by Floris Books • 11 September 2025 • Crafts & Activities • 0 Comments
Autumn leaves look lovely as they change colour and fall to the ground but did you know that you can turn them into beautiful decorations? Get children involved with celebrating the changing season by making toys and decorations at home. Read on for two fun and simple autumn crafts using dried leaves: harvest transparencies and leaf postcards and notepaper, plus tips on how to dry leaves.
Crafts Through the Year by Thomas and Petra Berger is packed with enjoyable projects for parents and teachers to do with children. Enjoy making seasonal items from straw and origami animals, to autumn garlands, lanterns, festive wreaths and paper window stars with detailed instructions, diagrams and colour photographs.
Drying Leaves
First, you will need to dry your leaves. The simplest way of drying leaves is to lay them in a heavy book, and leave them for about a week. Put some books or bricks on top of the book to press the leaves flat. A flower or leaf press is also useful. You can make a leaf and flower press using plywood and cardboard: find the instructions in Crafts Through the Year!
Not all leaves lend themselves to being dried; some leaves, such as birch for example, lose their colour during the drying process and become quite brown. Other leaves, such as chestnut, are best picked off the tree while the inside of the leaf is still green and a little yellow-brownish edge appears round it. Store dried leaves according to their kind, colour or size, in large envelopes. The leaves must be thoroughly dry beforehand to prevent them going mouldy.
For more ideas with dried leaves, why not try these Michaelmas crafts also from Crafts Through the Year?
Harvest Transparency
- Cut out a frame from the cardboard. The form can be rectangular, circular or oval as desired
- Draw the outline of the frame again on the tracing paper.
- Select some good leaves and/or grasses. Stick these with as little glue as possible to the tracing paper.
- Finally stick the cardboard frame onto it and dry the whole thing under a weight.
Leaf Postcards and Notepaper
You can decorate cards and notepaper simply with leaves. Often, you only need one beautifully shaped leaf, or you can decorate a whole side to make your own leafy postcard.
Stick the dried leaves on to the paper or card and allow them to dry under a weight.
With a picture postcard, it is better to cover the leaves with a sheet of sticky-back plastic.
More autumn crafts and activities
Autumn and Winter Nature Activities for Waldorf Kindergartens by Irmgard Kutsch and Brigitte Walden is a wonderful resource book for any Waldorf or Waldorf-inspired kindergarten. It is full of engaging and educational nature activities to help children connect with the seasons alongside valuable background reading and advice for educators.
