One of my favorite crafts to do with my kids when they were little was to make homemade fall leaf placemats. Thanksgiving was at hosted at my house and I loved showing off my little geniuses artwork. I also let everyone take the original piece of art home as a parting gift. The guests were grandparents, aunts, and uncles so they wanted artwork from the kids, I didn’t force friends to take it even though I knew they were masterpieces… I get it.
How To Make Homemade Leaf Placemats
So how do we create these amazing pieces?
- Send the kids outside to collect colored leaves. If you don’t live in the north, go to your local craft store and buy a small bag of fake colored leaves, these will work too.
- Shave crayons. You can use a knife but adults need to do this part. Shave the crayons into a paper plate and try to keep the colors separated
- Cut wax paper about 12-18 inches. This depends on the size you’d like your placemats. You’ll need 2 pieces for each placemat cut approximately the same length.
- Place one sheet of wax paper down and have the kids place their colored leaves on it. The leaves should not overlap and there should be at least 2 inches all around the edge that do not have leaves.
- Sprinkle shaved crayon in between the leaves on the wax paper
- Place 2nd piece of wax paper directly on top of the leaves and crayons, trying to line it up with the bottom piece
- An adult will then place a dishtowel over the wax paper and iron it making the 2 pieces melt together as well as the wax from the crayons
- Once totally secure to each other, trim all sides to make them even. You can use pinking shears if you’d like to get fancy
**To make the process easier. Have a towel down for each child’s work area and you can simply have the child move to you can go in and iron. Then nobody gets burned!
For more fun fall DIY’s, visit a few of my favorite bloggers:
- Pumpkin quilling pattern for place card by Confessions of an Overworked Mom
- How to make homemade fall leaf placemats by Tools 2 Tiaras
- How to make pressed leaves by Life with Lisa
- Celebrity Costume Hacks by Champagne Living
- Carving Pumpkins by Controlled Confusion
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Those glasses, I know that style all so well.. I love how the placemats look
This is such a great activity to do with the kids and perfect decorations for your table!
This is so cute. What a great way to teach kids about nature.
Oh I like the idea of putting crayon shavings in there!