[For 3-year-olds] Perfect for September! A Collection of Craft Ideas to Enjoy Autumn Nature
September makes craft time with children even more fun.
Here, we’ll introduce craft ideas for three-year-olds using seasonal themes like moon-viewing, mushrooms, and cosmos flowers.
Let’s enjoy autumn crafts together using stamp daubers, origami, and everyday materials.
Through activities that highlight each child’s individuality, their interest in autumn’s nature will grow.
You’ll find plenty of tips everyone can enjoy together, so please use them as a reference.
Because we emphasize ideas that harness children’s free imagination to create works, in the main text we use the term “seisaku” (制作, creation/production) rather than “seisaku” (製作, craft-making).
- September: Autumn crafts! Ideas you can use in childcare
- [Childcare] Recommended for 3-year-olds! Craft activity ideas
- [November] Enjoy with 3-year-olds! Craft activity ideas recommended for autumn
- [Crafts for 3-Year-Olds] A Collection of Fun Ideas for Autumn! Let's Incorporate Seasonal Motifs
- Irresistible for 3-year-olds! A collection of fun Halloween craft ideas to make
- [Preschool] Recommended for 3-year-olds! Easy-to-make fall origami craft ideas
- Exciting September crafts for 4-year-olds! A special collection of fun ideas with autumn-themed motifs
- [Childcare] Autumn craft ideas
- Recommended for 5-year-olds’ September crafts! A collection of ideas to enjoy autumn
- [October] Craft ideas for fall you can use in childcare
- [Nursery/Kindergarten] Crafts you can play with after making them
- Enjoy the season with September origami! Idea collection for preschoolers
- September crafts for 2-year-olds! A collection of make-and-play ideas to enjoy autumn
[Age 3] Perfect for September! A collection of craft ideas (71–80) to enjoy autumn nature
Mushroom with a balloon stamp
Would you like to try making mushrooms by stamping with balloons? Have an adult inflate the balloons.
The key is to blow them up a bit smaller so they’re easy for children to hold.
Dip the balloon in paint and stamp it onto construction paper in the color of your choice.
It’s more fun if you use several colors of paint.
Finally, attach the stem pieces and your mushroom is complete.
You can draw patterns on the stem or add a face to create a unique mushroom all your own.
Perfect for autumn wall decorations, too.
Autumn fruits with balloon stamps
Let’s use balloons like stamps to make delicious autumn fruits! On white drawing paper, dab paint onto the paper using a paint-covered balloon.
Once the paint dries, cut the paper into the shapes of your favorite fruits to match the paint colors.
Prepare separate paper to make stems and leaves, then combine them with the fruit shapes to finish! Have the children do the balloon stamping, and let the teacher handle any tasks that involve using scissors.
Grandparents’ Day Portrait Origami
This portrait origami is perfect for making crafts for Respect for the Aged Day in September.
Try creating designs inspired by grandpa’s and grandma’s faces! It also makes a great handmade present from children to their grandparents, so why not introduce it in childcare settings? The trickiest part when making the face is the ears.
Since they require some fine folding, take your time and make firm creases.
You can also tear a separate sheet of origami paper and paste it on for the hairstyle.
Finish by drawing in the facial features, and you’re done.
If you’re unsure what to make for Respect for the Aged Day, this easy, approachable portrait origami is highly recommended.
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!
Moon Art
This is a fun moon-viewing craft using paint.
Beforehand, prepare a black backing sheet with pre-attached parts of a rabbit, pampas grass, and rice dumplings.
Put a white sheet of drawing paper into a bag, drop a few colors of paint onto it, and seal the bag.
Have the children spread the paint by using their hands and fingers on top of the bag.
Because the paper is inside the bag, their hands, clothes, and surroundings won’t get dirty, so even one-year-olds can work safely.
Once the paint has spread, take the paper out of the bag, let it dry, and cut it into a circle like a full moon.
Finally, stick it onto the backing sheet to finish!
Painting of a fox and wild grapes
Let’s enjoy creating a painting with an autumn feel, using foxes and wild grapes as motifs! The grapes are made with finger stamping, and the fox is expressed with origami.
While it’s suitable for five-year-olds, why not start each child from the steps they can manage? Using pipe cleaners for the grape vines gives a realistic look, so definitely give it a try.
Through this activity, children can not only experience the season, but also learn about wild grapes in nature, which are a bit different from regular grapes!
Tear and stick! Potato pretend play
Here’s a craft idea perfect for October as autumn deepens, using sweet potatoes as the motif.
Children can tear colored paper—browns and purples that evoke sweet potato hues—and have fun with it.
Next, have them paste the torn pieces onto drawing paper while imagining the shape of a sweet potato.
It’s fine for the teacher to lightly sketch the sweet potato shape beforehand.
Adding leaves or the children’s self-portraits at the end makes it even nicer! Torn-paper collage is also great for developing children’s fine motor skills, so why not give it a try?