All it takes is a little embroidery floss or a marker to turn fresh fall leaves into a fun project for you and the little one(s)!

It’s time to head outside and hunt for inter­est­ing leaves! Here are two great ideas for using fresh leaves as a canvas for embroidery or press them and draw fun animal friends!

Get creative and let your child make their favorite animals from fall leaves! Gather together outside and try some of these other Fun Fall Activities.

Drawing on Leaves
Leaves are great for drawing animals with ears, like foxes, cats, and owls. Chipper rec­om­mends using leaves from tulip and maple trees or from a common grapevine.

What You Need

• Leaves, pressed in a heavy, thick book for a couple of days

• Markers, black and white

Take a look at the shape and color of your leaf—there is definitely an animal in there! You can even frame the finished project. This little owl is framed in a painted cheese plate. Plastic tops make great frames for lots of projects so don’t throw them away.

Stitching On The Leaves
Have you ever tried to embroider a fresh leaf? It’s easy and fun! Find some fresh, tough leaves and get your nee­dle and floss ready!

What You Need

• Fresh leaves work bet­ter than dry ones: I used leaves from a grapevine and wal­nut tree

• Blunt nee­dle

• Scis­sors

• Embroi­dery floss

Take your leaf, thread your nee­dle, and start sewing!

You might want to press the fin­ished leaf in a book.

Eagle Owl Sewing Card
For lit­tle hands, make a sewing card for the eagle owl on a tulip tree leaf.

What You Need

• Print­able eagle owl sewing card tem­plate (down­load here)

• A4 printer paper 90-120g

• Blunt nee­dle

• Scis­sors

• Embroi­dery floss

Step 1
Down­load the print­able sewing card tem­plate and print it.

Step 2
Take the blunt nee­dle and care­fully punch holes at the ends of the white lines.

Step 3
Cut out the tem­plate cards along the dot­ted line.

Step 4
Thread your nee­dle and start sewing!

That’s all there is to it! Now you’re set with a cou­ple of fun fall activ­i­ties that will keep you and the lit­tle ones busy on a crisp, rainy afternoon!