Fall Tree with Clay Leaves

 

I’d been thinking about a way for E to create a fall tree, and I was inspired by Twodaloo’s Clay Smooshing activity to try something similar with pieces of tougher, fall colored clay.

 

Simple fall tree craft with kid-made clay leaves.

(E was 33 months old.)

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You’ll need:

  • Modeling clay.
  • Paper.
  • Marker (or other means of creating the tree trunk).
  • Knife.

 

 

I cut orange, red, yellow and brown clay into little pieces, drew a tree trunk on a piece of paper {I’m not an artist but it did just fine 😉 } and explained to E how she could push the clay down on the paper to make leaves.

E got to work right away. 

Simple fall tree craft with kid-made clay leaves.

 

She used different techniques to smoosh the bits of clay down, trying with more and less force to make her leaves stick. 

Simple fall tree craft with kid-made clay leaves.

 

Simple fall tree craft with kid-made clay leaves.

 

After a while and with a bunch of leaves down, E suddenly ran off and returned with a sheet of Easter stickers. Clearly, every fall tree needs some spring cheer 😉

Simple fall tree craft with kid-made clay leaves.

 

Some more experimentation – this time with both hands and several pieces of clay at a time.

Simple fall tree craft with kid-made clay leaves.

 

Simple fall tree craft with kid-made clay leaves.

 

Finally, E decided to cover the Easter stickers with yellow clay leaves.

Simple fall tree craft with kid-made clay leaves.

 

Simple fall tree craft with kid-made clay leaves.

 

For a little alphabet break, E pulled out “Dr. Seuss’ ABC” – that’s just how she rolls these days 😉

Simple fall tree craft with kid-made clay leaves.

 

Afterwards, she put the finishing touches on her fall tree

Simple fall tree craft with kid-made clay leaves.

 

before getting out some of our homemade play dough, asking me to roll it into a snake, and cutting it into little pieces, just like I’d done with the clay 😉 I thought she was planning on making some play dough leaves but she didn’t go back to her tree and was content just chopping up the play dough.

Simple fall tree craft with kid-made clay leaves.

 

 

 

Additional suggestions:

  • You can cut out a tree trunk from construction paper or create one from twigs rather than draw it on.
  • Let your child draw the tree trunk.
  • If you don’t have modeling clay, use play dough. Modeling clay is tougher and gives a greater workout for the fingers, though.

 

 

Has your child created fall trees? Tell me about them in the comments! Feel free to leave a link if you’ve posted about it.

 

 

 

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8 Comments

  1. I’m not sure my last comment saved.

    Just letting you know I featured this on The Sunday Showcase

    1. Not sure what happened to your other comment, thanks for trying again! And thank you so much for the feature!

  2. Love this! We’re featuring your post on Share It Saturday this week over at Sugar Aunts! Thanks for linking up 🙂