Toddler Fall Leaf Banner

Although the calendar says it is officially fall, we are still waiting down south for crisp, cool mornings and perfect fall afternoons. Yesterday we finally saw the highs dip below 90 degrees, so we are headed in the right direction. Just because it doesn’t feel like fall outside, doesn’t mean we can’t make it feel like fall inside. Around our house we are doing just that by breaking our all of our Auburn football, pumpkin & fall leaf decor!

The kids helped make a new banner for our bay window last week during Teach It Tuesday. We talked about how leaves change colors (check out this video or for a simple song about leaf colors, this one). Then we choose our favorite fall colors to make changing leaves of our own. The kids picked out green, brown, orange, red and purple paint to use. We use paint from this crayola pack my uncle & aunt gave them two Christmases ago. It lasts forever!

First, they cut the paper (hamburger style) in half. Then we accordion folded them & used a hole punch to make a hole at one end.

After flattening them back out slightly I folded each piece in half and cutting on the end opposite the holes and towards the fold I cut a leaf like jagged pattern.

Now it’s time to paint! We paint a lot and I love seeing the kids having fun being creative. I usually have them wear the long sleeve bibs from IKEA as painting smocks if they are wearing something I would rather not get paint on. However, this paint is washable so it is not always necessary!

After they dry, fold them back in the accordion style and tape over the hole. We used washi tape which is pretty thin and so we were able to use a pencil to poke the hole back open. Then fan out the bottom to give the leaf look.