Leaf Banner

Capture a bit of fall and make a beautiful banner to display in your home. Have your child practice drawing familiar leaf shapes, cutting and threading to create a colorful, fiber arts banner. This project is a great way to practice creating consistent-sized shapes, while fine-tuning motor skills. Take a trip outside with your child and observe the fall surroundings while you collect fallen leaves in preparation for this fun nature craft.

What You Need:

• Multi-colored sheets of felt, cut in half
• Scissors
• Pencil
• Hole punch
• Yarn, cut in a 3' length
• Yarn, cut into 4" pieces (one for each leaf)
• Paper tape

What You Do:

1. With a pencil, have your child draw a different leaf on each piece of felt. Encourage him to make the leaves as large as possible to cover the majority of the area of the felt.
2. Encourage him to cut out each leaf.
3. Help him punch holes at the top of the cut-out felt leaves.
4. Tape one of the ends of the yarn into a tip to help it go through the felt holes more easily.
5. Have him thread the yarn through the felt leaves, then cut off the taped tip of the yarn.
6. Tape the banner in place and spread the leaves out so they are spaced equally across the string.
7. To help keep the leaves where you want them, thread a 4" piece of yarn through the hole in the first leaf, tie it around the yarn holding up the banner and make a bow. Repeat this action for each leaf.
8. Hang in a place of prominence to celebrate the season!

You and your child can make as many of these leaf banners as you like! They're easy to make and they'll look great hanging up in your home.