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[Autumn Activities] Nature Play and Craft Ideas for Fall to Incorporate into Childcare!
Autumn is a season full of nature that can be put to good use in childcare.
It’s also a time when we can really feel children’s growth, isn’t it?
As it becomes more comfortable to spend time outdoors, many preschools and kindergartens likely enjoy activities like collecting nuts and gathering fallen leaves.
You want to introduce lots of new activities but can’t find any ideas…
For those with that concern, we’ve gathered recommended nature play and craft ideas for autumn.
Enjoy them together with the children and savor the fruitful season.
The experiences they have at your center will become precious memories for them.
Autumn Activities: Fall Nature Play and Craft Ideas to Incorporate into Childcare! (1–10)
Dragonfly’s glasses
How about making colorful, cute dragonfly glasses as a craft activity at daycare? You can use colored clear file folders from the 100-yen shop for the wings and colored cellophane for the lenses.
It’s fun to let the kids draw patterns on the wings with permanent markers or decorate them with sparkly stickers to create designs they like! The feel of cutting a clear file—something they don’t usually handle—might also feel fresh and interesting to them.
And after making them, they can have lots of fun playing with the see-through dragonfly glasses toy!
Bagworm Kendama
Bagworms are often seen in autumn.
Let’s make a kendama shaped like a bagworm! Before the kids start crafting, we recommend that teachers or parents prepare leaf-shaped and eye-shaped pieces of construction paper, plus about 30 cm of string.
First, have the children draw lines on the leaves and color the eyes.
Then, stick the leaves onto a paper cup and attach the eyes around the rim of the cup.
Next, crumple some newspaper into a small ball and secure it with vinyl tape.
Finally, attach the string to both the newspaper ball and the bottom of the paper cup, and you’re done.
Since the target is wider than a regular kendama, it’s easy to play!
Wreath of nuts and berries
Let’s make a wreath—often seen around Christmas—using autumn nuts and plants! Besides the nuts and plants you want to decorate with, you’ll need a wreath base and a hot glue gun.
Once you’ve gathered your favorite natural materials, simply keep attaching them to the wreath base with the glue gun.
It’s recommended to start by arranging pieces that still have branches attached.
For those with branches, you can even wrap them directly around the wreath base without using the glue gun.
When using the glue gun, hold pieces in place for a while after attaching to let them set.
You can finish your wreath by taking inspiration from various photos and videos, or create your own original design—it’ll make for a wonderful memory!
Potato edition
Let’s try making a potato stamp using autumn’s tasty sweet potatoes! First, cut the sweet potato.
It’s hard, so be careful when cutting.
On the yellow cut surface, draw the design you want to turn into a stamp.
Once you’ve drawn it, use a carving knife or similar tool to carve away the parts you want to remain white (the areas that won’t get ink).
When you’re done carving, your sweet potato stamp is complete! Dab stamp ink or paint on it and press it where you like.
It’s a fun stamping activity with the cute, unique shape of sweet potatoes.
Acorn pouch
Let’s use an ordinary empty tissue box to craft a cute-looking acorn pochette.
There are lots of steps—cutting the box, painting it, folding origami acorns, punching out your favorite shapes with a craft punch, attaching a string to the tissue box—so kids can enjoy the process without getting bored! After you finish, put on your acorn pochette and head to the park to look for fallen leaves and acorns.
Hope you discover lots of signs of autumn!
acorn maracas
Speaking of autumn, it’s the season when acorns ripen! Picking up acorns is fun, but how about making maracas with the ones you collect? You can easily craft them using familiar materials like plastic bottles or paper cups, so even small children can enjoy making them.
Decorate with cute patterned masking tape, and you’ll have a one-of-a-kind maraca! The sound changes depending on the amount and size of the acorns, so experimenting can be fun too.
Highly recommended for anyone who wants to enjoy activities that connect children with nature!
Fallen Leaves Cake
Autumn parks are full of fallen leaves and acorns, and you can really feel the season, can’t you? Kids tend to play at the park more in autumn, so why not use the leaves and acorns you find there to make a “fallen-leaf cake” craft? First, prepare a three-tier cake base out of cardboard.
Have the children color some drawing paper and paste it onto the base, then let them decorate it with the fallen leaves and acorns.
The sticking and pasting are easy even for little kids, so it’s a simple way to enjoy an art experience!
Dangling bagworm
Let’s make a paper-cup “bagworm” that dangles and sways from a tree! First, punch a single hole in the center of the bottom of a paper cup to thread a string through.
Pass the string through the hole, attach a short piece of straw to the end inside the cup, and secure it so the string won’t slip back out.
Next, prepare about three sheets of origami paper in your favorite colors and crumple them up.
Unfold the papers, tear them vertically into several strips, and paste them onto the cup.
Finally, add eyes and optional patterns with more origami paper.
Your colorful bagworm is complete!
Fingerplay ‘Pine Cone’
This is a hand-play song about pinecones that you find all over the ground in autumn! Match the lyrics by puffing up both hands and putting them together to make a pinecone shape.
You can also make a “mountain” over your head where pinecones are falling.
Show pinecones rolling down by whirling your arms in circles.
At the end, act like a monkey to show the pinecone getting eaten! With its fun rhythm and gestures, even infants can enjoy it.
After the hand-play song, it’s a great idea to observe real pinecones too.
Autumn Origami: Acorns, Mushrooms, and Fallen Leaves
We’ll make classic autumn items—acorns, mushrooms, and fallen leaves—out of origami! For the acorn, first fold the paper into a triangle twice, then unfold.
Fold one corner toward the center twice.
Flip it over and fold both sides in so they go a little past the center line.
Fold the bottom corner up slightly, and it’s done! Next, for the mushroom, fold the paper into a square twice, then unfold and fold one edge up to the center.
Flip it over and fold both sides toward the center, then fold the bottom up, leaving about 1 cm uncreased at the bottom edge to create a flap.
Fold the corners of that flap inward and open them, then fold all four outer corners in; the mushroom is complete! For the fallen leaf, fold once into a triangle, then make accordion folds from one end and unfold.
Lightly fold along the initial triangle’s crease at a slight diagonal.
Open it up while keeping the diagonal fold section, then round off the corners with small folds; your leaf is finished!