How to Accessorize a Witch Hat (for a Particularly Fashionable Girl)

I got pretty lucky this year in that I didn't have to spend very much money to come up with Halloween costumes that made the kids quite happy. Mia wore a cute black and orange witch dress that my mom had found at a garage sale. She paired that with sparkly black tights (which she already owned), a long-sleeve black shirt (new, but very practical, so worth a few dollars investment), black shoes (which she already owned), and a black flower belt (also new, but again, she has already worn it several times, so totally worth a few dollars), which helped with fit since the dress was a teensy bit large. She also accessorized with a charming little broom that we had found at a garage sale for 75 cents.

The only thing I had to recently purchase specifically for costume wear was a witch hat. (I had actually gotten one at that same garage sale where we found the broom -- 50 cents. However, when we got it out and examined it, we found that it was a) falling apart and b) much too big. The redeeming quality is that it had some black sequined trim on the brim, which having been sloppily hot glued, was easy to remove.) I bought a new hat for her at Dollar Tree. It was orange with a spider web lace all over it and it fit her well. The only problem was that she felt it was a bit on the plain side.

{BEFORE}

I decided that it would be easy enough to trim it out and make it more acceptable to my little fashionista. We already had the black sequined trim, which laid nicely along the brim, making it simple to adhere with hot glue. Unfortunately, it only went around half of the hat, and left the rest looking very unfinished. I ended up buying a roll of black tulle at Walmart for about $3. (Ironically, this trim item was the single most expensive thing I purchased for either of the kids' Halloween costumes this year!) I bunched it up and applied it along the rest of the brim using my hot glue gun.

Then, we went through our craft stash and selected other items to accessorize the hat: three black feathers, a small scrap of orange tulle, a black and orange star-shaped button, and some ribbon that said "Trick or Treat" with candy corn on it. To complete the hat, I layered on some embellishments starting with the black tulle, making two lengths that hang down, and affixed them with hot glue. On top of the tulle, I placed the decorative ribbon, again with two lengths. Next, I fanned out the three black feathers and adhered them. I followed that with a little "flower" that I made by pinching the orange tulle into a round shape. After it was glued down, I added the button for the center, and voila -- an adorable witch hat for my sweet little witch!

{AFTER}

While I wasn't originally planning to spend anything more than the cost of the hat, I think this impromptu project made a big impact. With a bit of my time and some hot glue, I was able to transform that witch hat from drab to fab for just a few dollars. This project cost me about $4.50 -- $1 for the hat, $3 for the black tulle, and 50 cents for that sequined trim that I got from the discarded hat. It was completely worth it to see my little girl's big smile when she tried on her newly accessorized hat!

{My sweet little witch}

Marble-Painted Spider Web Craft

Here's yet another fun holiday craft idea from our fantastic story time lady, Mrs. D! My little man (who I have mentioned is not hugely into crafts like his big sister) really had a great time creating this project, and I can't blame him. Who doesn't love fun ways of painting? And painting with marbles is definitely fun!

He enjoyed adding the foam spider sticker at the end, but you make a spider from a pom pom and some pipe cleaners like we did here. Or you can just add a plastic spider ring in its place. I'm thinking you could either cut off the plastic ring part and then glue it on, or if that doesn't work, make a slit in the paper, and poke the ring part through and tape it to the back side of the paper.

I'm also feeling inspired to do a string-painting version of this spider web craft... So many spooky possibilities!

{Spider-in-a-Web by Logan, Age 4}

Materials:

• round cake pan or pie tin
• black construction paper
• pencil
• scissors
• white tempera paint (and small bowl/cup to hold it)
• marble/s
• spoon 
• adhesive foam spider sticker (optional)

Directions:

1. Place a piece of black construction paper inside your cake pan or pie tin. Using a pencil, trace around the inside and cut out the paper circle.
2. Lay the construction paper inside the cake pan or pie tin.
3. Place some white paint in a cup or bowl along with a marble or two. Help your child coat the marble/s with paint, using a spoon. Again, using the spoon, help your child place a marble on top of the paper.
4. Have your child gently roll the marble around to make a "web" pattern on the black paper. If desired, put the marble back in the paint to re-coat it.
5. Have your child place a spider sticker in the web and then allow the paint to dry completely before displaying his artwork.

Easiest Ever Pumpkin Craft

I recently learned how to make these at our local library, and I am very pleased with how mine turned out. Really! I am not making this up. This is the easiest pumpkin craft ever, and you need absolutely NO craft skills to pull it off. Also, you barely need any materials, and these pumpkins are really quick to craft. So, it's basically a perfect craft, even for beginners.

If I had any complaint, it would be that this is a little bit more expensive up-front than many other craft projects that I have made. That said, you will have plenty of duct tape left over, so it is really just a general craft investment. (And for the record, I can't complain, because all of my materials were provided by the library. Love!) I am sure I will be making more cool duct tape pumpkins... as soon as the faux pumpkins start going on clearance at the craft stores.

{Happy Halloween Crafting!}

Materials:

• foam pumpkin (I recently saw some small ones at Dollar Tree!)
• 1-2 rolls of decorative duct tape (I have found small rolls in the dollar section of Target.)
• scissors (optional)

Directions:

1. If using more than one roll of decorative duct tape, decide which design/solid color will be used for your stem and which will be used for the body of the pumpkin. Tear (or cut, but honestly, I found it easier to just tear it with my hands) off small sections and cover the stem. You can even tear the tape in half to have easier to work with strips if you stem is on the small side. Don't worry if the base looks messy because you will end up covering it later. Tip: If your stem is too long or awkward to work with, cut it with your scissors. I found this to be really helpful!
2. Now, cover the base of the pumpkin with strips of duct tape. The best way to do this is to start at the top near the stem and then slowly smooth the tape down along the pumpkin. You will want to leave space in between each strip of tape, and then come back later and fill in the gaps. Tip: I decided to tear off several strips and lay them along the edge of the table to make the process go more smoothly. I just eyeballed them to see that they were the approximate length that I needed. Tip: Don't worry about making your pattern (if your tape has one) line up perfectly! I could have made myself insane trying to get those chevron stripes to line up just so, but I saved myself the worry, and it came out fine. The eye just tells me that it lines up (for the most part) even if it really doesn't.
3. Find a place to display your spooktacular pumpkin craft. See, I told you that was easy, right?

Paperback Pumpkins, Apples, and Pears

I learned how to make paperback pumpkins at our local library recently, and I was so excited by the first one that I quickly returned to buy a stack of books to make more pumpkins. Once I knew the basic steps, I was also able to make apples and pears so now I have a total of 7 fruit shapes on top of my kitchen cabinets. They are very festive for fall.

{The paperback pumpkin that started it all...}

 Materials: 

{Paperback Apple}

• paperback books
• scratch paper
• pencil
• scissors
• sponge (I used an old kitchen sponge cut in half.)
• acrylic paint (I used orange, yellow, red, and green.)
• tray/plate to hold paint
• cup of water
• sticks/twigs
• curling ribbon, twine, or other ribbon
• hot glue gun
• newspaper to protect work surface

Directions: 

1.) Gather some old paperback books, the more beat up the better.

{These teen books were just ten cents each at our library.}

2.) Decide which shape you want to make (apple, pear, pumpkin). Fold a piece of paper in half like a hamburger. (I re-used some printer paper for this.) Draw your shape on one half, cut it out, and unfold it. Make sure it looks the way you want, or make changes if desired. (Note: Definitely be sure that your template will fit the pages of your book.) Now is also a good time to warm up your glue gun.

{Some of the titles are pretty funny: Help! I'm Trapped in My Gym Teacher's Body.}

3.) Tear off the front cover and then begin tracing the template onto the first page using a pencil. Cut out a small section (say 20 pages or so, depending on the sharpness of your scissors and how many pages you can comfortably cut). Continue tracing and cutting small sections until the entire book has been done. Tear off the back cover and any remaining parts of the cover on the spine. (Note: I would start cutting at the bottom, work my way up to the top, and once I got close enough, just tear off the remaining section to the point where it meets the spine, which saves some cutting.)

{Tracing my first pear...}

{Cutting out a pumpkin}

4.) Now for painting. This step takes the longest. First, protect your work surface with newspaper. You may also want to wear old clothes since acrylic paint will stain. Pour some paint onto a tray or plate (I used old Styrofoam meat packaging at home and a paper plate when I made my first one at the library.) Dip you sponge into the cup of water, then dip it into the paint, and dab it onto your tray/plate so that you are applying thin coats only. Sponge paint both sides of each page. I did just outside edges, leaving white space in the centers of each pear, apple, or pumpkin shape. (Note: Thin coats of paint work best because it dries faster and the pages are less likely to stick together. On my first apple, I experimented with a sponge brush in place of a sponge. It worked, but the paint went on much, much wetter and took forever to dry -- over 24 hours and that was with the help of a hair dryer -- so I don't recommend this method because once you start, you want to finish.)

{Sponge painting the pear}

{This apple I painted with a sponge brush, but it was not my preferred method.}

5.) Use a generous amount of hot glue along the spine of the book and then fold the book backward pressing the spine together. The pages should now fan out. Fold parts or individual pages back and forth as needed to get the look you want. (Note: As I made more of these, I just started folding the book back and forth along the binding before even starting the paint process because looser bindings seem to be easier to work with. Sometimes you just have to keep playing with it until it looks the way you want. If it isn't perfect, that's okay, the final step really makes it look finished. Plus, if there are sections pages that lay open and don't look the way you want them to, you can just point this toward the back of your display, unless it is your table centerpiece.) 

 

{A Finished Pear}

6.) Put the finishing touches on your pumpkin, apple, or pear. Add a stick to the center (or wherever you can get it to fit) using hot glue. If needed, glue a page or two around it. Green curling ribbon looks nice for a pumpkin and really makes it look special and finished. I had some wide sparkly green ribbon that I thought would make nice "leaves" for my apples so I just tied that around the stem and cut each end on an angle to resemble stylized leaves (without trying to make them really look like leaves). For my pears, I tied bows with cute green and brown pear ribbon that I happened to have. I thought they turned out cute. For one pumpkin, I used twine instead of curling ribbon to give it a more authentic look. I am not sure if I love it, but it is one option and something different. (Note: My first pumpkin would not stand up straight so I tried trimming the bottom of the pages to make them flatter. When that did not do the trick, I added some cardboard to the bottom, which stabilized it.)

{My First Finished Apple}

{Finished Pumpkin with Wider Curling Ribbon}

{Finished Pumpkin with Twine}

{My Finished Fall Display!}

A Super Simple Pumpkin Craft!

{The "Finished" Results}

 One thing I love about my new MOPS group is that I always get to do a craft project at the end. (Bonus: I don't even have to come up with it or find the materials to create.) At the last meeting we made this really, really easy pumpkin out of a roll of toilet paper and a piece of fabric. (Yes, you read that correctly. It's a roll of actual toilet paper, not just the cardboard tube. That's a new one, right?) There was batting available for making a fuller pumpkin, but I decided to go with the basic pumpkin. This is so simple even a crafting novice can do it. Put your roll of TP down on your fabric and then bring up all the edges and stuff them into the center of the tube at the top. There were paper leaf shapes available, and we stuck them into the top and called it done. (See photo below.) After a few days of looking at this and thinking it didn't look quite "finished," I decided to add a stick from the yard to make a stem for my pumpkin. I hot glued the paper leaf to it because it kept falling out of my pumpkin. Lastly, I tied a bow with some twine. Raffia would have worked for the country cute look, too, but I had twine so that is what I used. I am happy with how it turned out. This is sitting up high on top of a green glass candle holder atop my kitchen cabinets with my other fall display items (cornucopia, pumpkins, apples, gourds, leaves) and looking just right for fall, however, I know where to look if we are ever running low on toilet paper...

{Before adding the stick and twine... It's just missing a little "something."}

Halloween Craft Reboot

If you have been reading for awhile, you may remember our milk jug ghosts from a couple of years back, when it ended up being a project for me, and not really for kids. Well, I decided to try again this year now that Mia is a bit older and the thought of handing her a permanent marker wasn't quite so scary. 

This project was an ideal way for me to practice letting go, because my five-year-old's ghost jugs don't look the way I would have made them. I would have made sure the eyes and mouths were larger, and I definitely would not have thought to include teeth the way she did. I sat back and let her do her thing and I even tried really, really hard not to cringe when she dropped that Sharpie. (Note: I do recommend old clothes if you are feeling brave enough to let your kids try this.) The results are great, even if they aren't what I would have created. 

Mia was very proud of being able to do it herself. (My contributions were to wash the jugs, cut out the openings in the backs, and put the string of Christmas lights into the openings.) One little change we made this year was to use half-gallon jugs as well as gallon jugs (from milk and cider), mostly because this is what was available and not already crushed and placed in the recycling bin. I think having the different sizes of ghosts makes for a nice display.

{Ghost Jugs by Mia, Age 5}

{A Proud and Happy Girl!}

No Tricks, Just a Healthier Halloween Treat

Finding a healthy Halloween treat for Mia's class party turned out to be a tricky proposition. I thought if I just turned to the trusty Internet, I would find TONS of great ideas. Not so, but I did eventually come across this idea for mandarin orange cups made to look like jack-o'-lanterns, which I decided I needed to borrow. It really was the only remotely healthy snack idea I could find. Normally, we don't buy a lot of canned fruits because it is tricky to find them in juice or water instead of syrup, but I decided this was still better than cookies, candies, cupcakes, and so on. I am sure the kids are going to get plenty of those treats on Halloween. Before shopping, I saved all the coupons I could find and then ended up purchasing the Kroger store brand with my catalina coupon since it was the best deal. The best part about this craft is that it's very simple because all you need are mandarin orange cups and a black Sharpie marker. If you can draw a basic jack-o'-lantern face, you can do this project. If you are feeling creative, you can even make different faces for all the mandarin orange cups. If I weren't worried about costs, or if I knew we would have very few trick-or-treaters, I would even consider making these to pass out for Halloween treats. For now, though, I hope Mia's kindergarten friends enjoy their healthier classroom treat.

{I am excited for my healthy and cute classroom treat!}

Jar-o'-Lanterns

I love these cute glass jack-o'-lanterns from Disney FamilyFun Magazine so much that I wish I had thought of them myself. Here's why: 1) They are quick and easy to make. 2) It's a nice way to re-purpose something that might otherwise get thrown away. 3) If you like to do crafts, you probably have the materials on hand already (glass jars, masking tape, scissors, paintbrush, orange acrylic paint-- or blend your own with yellow and red if you don't have orange). 4) The end result is super cute. (Obviously, this is the most important thing in a craft project.) You and your kids can whip up several of these in time for Halloween.

We attempted fancier faces than the directions suggested, and I think they came out fine. You, of course, can stick with simple triangles if you prefer. Mia told me what she wanted and I did my best to cut the shapes out of masking tape. I think having a variety of sizes and types of jars makes a nice little display, just like real pumpkins (although we haven't even carved ours yet). Not having any of those flameless tea lights available, I used regular tea lights. While the fake kind would probably be safer since they aren't a fire hazard and they wouldn't make the jars get hot, the way I see it, these are glass jars, and I don't plan to keep them where kids can get at them anyway. (This is really my only complaint with this craft; it's intended for small children, and realistically, glass isn't an ideal material for little ones to work with. That said, I know Mia well enough to know she could handle it at age 4 1/2 so I wasn't concerned.) So, for the photo, I took them out to the porch and then put them back on the counter where they have been since Mia made them a few days ago.

Paper Owl Craft

The inspiration for this craft came to me in a somewhat odd fashion. My husband removed the plastic rings holding together a twin-pack of jelly jars (from Sam's Club) and I looked at it and said, "That would make perfect owl eyes!" Of course, he gave me a look that said, "You're nuts. Only you would look at plastic packaging and proclaim it to be perfect owl eyes," but any creative types reading this can totally relate (unless it's just me and I really am nuts). Either way, these owls are a "hoot" for fall, if I do say so myself.

{Owl by Mia, Age 4}

{Owl by Logan, Age 2}

Materials:

• construction paper 
• pencil 
• scissors 
• cardboard (optional) 
• Bingo markers 
• feathers 
• glue 
• wiggly eyes 
• plastic rings from packaging (optional) 
• other materials: pom poms, craft foam, buttons, pipe cleaners, yarn, sequins, etc. (optional)

Directions:

1. Draw or trace an owl onto a piece of construction paper. My kids chose purple. Any color would work. Tip: If you plan to make several owls, consider using templates. I made owl templates by drawing outlines onto paperboard (cereal box sides) from the recycling bin. Here is a template you could use, if desired. Then, just trace the owl onto construction paper.
2. Cut out owl shape/s.
3. Decorate the owls. We used Bingo markers for chest feathers and Mia glued on colored feathers for the wings and above the eyes. Both kids glued on wiggly eyes. (Logan's is more abstract.) I helped Mia cut small circles of construction paper to go behind her wiggly eyes, which are framed by those plastic rings that started this whole project idea. The owls don't have beaks because their attention waned by that time, but simple paper diamonds would work. You could also try pom poms, pipe cleaners, craft foam, buttons, yarn, or sequins for decorations.
4. Allow all glue to dry before displaying your owl craft.

Coffee Filter Leaves

Here is a cute, simple craft that Mia learned at preschool. You can make several of these leaves to decorate your windows for fall. Or perhaps you could try making them into a mobile. Either way, this project is great for little hands and doesn't require very much adult preparation.

{Leaves by Mia, Age 4}

Materials:

• real leaves
• coffee filters
• pencil/pen
• scissors
• Bingo markers
• newspaper/paper towel
• spray bottle with water

Directions:

1. Trace your leaf onto a coffee filter and cut out the leaf shape.
2. Lay the coffee filter leaf onto a few layers of newspaper or paper towel.
3. Spray the leaf with water.
4. Dot the leaf with Bingo markers.
5. Spray with water a second time to get the colors to blend somewhat. (Don't spray too much water or you will wash away most of the colors.)



{Leaves by Logan, Age 2}

6. Lay wet leaf shape on paper towel to dry.

Other Options:

• If you can't find actual leaves, draw some freehand or use a template like this or this.
• If you don't have Bingo markers, try using washable markers or watercolor paints. If you use watercolors, you won't need a spray bottle.
• If you don't have coffee filters, you can also use paper towels or watercolor paper.

Falling Leaves Decoration

This idea was inspired by Disney FamilyFun Magazine's Leaf Mobile craft. We changed it a bit to hang from our dining room light fixture instead of branches since it was rainy, and Mia wasn't interested in using branches, anyway. The end result is festive and I love how the leaves sway gently whenever someone walks by. It's a beautiful way to keep the best part of fall around just a little while longer, even though the trees are rapidly becoming bare.

Materials:

• actual leaves
• heavy book/s (for pressing leaves)
• clear contact paper
• hole punch
• scissors
• fishing line
• paper trimmer (optional)

Directions:

1. Collect colorful fall leaves and press them between the pages of a heavy book (we used two) for a day or two.*
2. Using a paper trimmer or scissors, cut various sizes of squares and rectangles of clear contact paper that are about an inch wider than the leaves. You will need two identical contact paper squares per leaf.
3. Peel the backing off of one contact paper square and place sticky side up. Lay a leaf on top and press down gently. Peel the backing off of the second contact paper square and place sticky side down on top of the first square, lining them up as best you can.
4. Punch a hole for hanging, and then trim away excess contact paper, leaving about 1/4" border all the way around the leaf.
5. Cut lengths of fishing line and tie one to each leaf. Tie the leaves to your light fixture (or branches if you prefer.)

*Note: Yesterday I read in the paper that you can preserve fallen leaves using glycerin. It is supposed to help them retain their colors and not become as brittle. I have not tried this before, but I am curious about it. If you have experience with this technique, I would love to hear about it. Martha Stewart says that you should do the following to preserve your fall leaves:

1. Wipe away dirt or moisture.
2. Mix two-parts water with one-part glycerin.
3. Layer the leaves in a pan and pour the solution over them so that they are completely immersed.
4. Use a plate to weight the leaves down and keep them covered for 4-5 days.
5. Remove leaves and wipe clean with a soft, dry cloth.

TP Tube Indian Corn Craft

Once again, we have a supply of toilet paper tubes and I thought that they could be made into an Indian corn craft. I was thinking that these would look nice as either napkin holders or as place cards for a fall table setting. This craft is quick, easy, and only requires a few materials. You could substitute paint for the Bingo markers and paper bag for the raffia if you don't have those items on hand.

{By Mia, Age 4}

Materials:

• toilet paper tube
• Bingo markers
• raffia
• glue

Directions:

1. Use Bingo markers to dot color onto an empty toilet paper tube to look like Indian corn kernels. We used red, orange, and purple Bingo markers from Dollar Tree. Allow ink to dry.
2. Unroll a piece of raffia (ours was the handle from a paper shopping bag) and tear it into strips.
3. Glue the strips of raffia to the inside of the toilet paper tube to make the corn husks.
4. Once glue is dry you can place a napkin inside the tube or take a marker and add a name to the outside to make a place card holder for your fall table.

Bubble Wrap Indian Corn Print Making

I am not sure where I came up with this idea originally. In looking for pictures, I discovered that there are several versions posted online already. I will share how we did this project. This was fun, but kind of messy.

{Indian Corn Craft by Mia, Age 4}

Materials:

{By Logan, Age 2}

• yellow construction paper
• paint (we used orange, yellow-orange, brown, white, and blue)
• paint brush
• tray/plate for paint
• newspaper
• bubble wrap
• scissors
• paper bag
• glue

Directions:

1. Cut bubble wrap into the shape of an ear of corn.
2. Protect work surface with newspaper. Pour some paint onto a Styrofoam tray (leftover from meat packaging) or a plate. Paint the bubble wrap in various colors of Indian corn. My kids used big foam paintbrushes, but if you have older kids, they could paint each individual bubble a different color with a smaller paintbrush.
3. Press bubble wrap paint-side down onto a piece of yellow construction paper. Allow paint to dry.
4. Once paint is dried, cut out your ear of corn.
5. Crumple up a paper bag. We used a grocery bag, but a paper lunch sack would also work. Tear the bag into strips and glue the strips to the backside of your paper to make the corn husks.
6. After glue is dried you can display your bubble wrap printed Indian corn craft.

Beaded Indian Corn Mosaic Craft

Here is another variation of an Indian corn craft that we made using leftover dyed pasta beads and some cardboard from the recycling bin.

{Indian Corn Mosaic By Mia, Age 4}

{Mia's Work in Progress}

Materials:

• cardboard
• pencil
• scissors
• dyed pasta beads (or plastic beads)
• tacky glue
• green crepe paper (optional)
• hole punch (optional)
• yarn, ribbon, or string for hanging (optional)

Directions:

{Indian Corn Mosaic By Logan, Age 2}

1. Draw an ear of corn (long narrow oval) with husks onto a piece of cardboard and cut it out. If you don't want to draw it freehand, try printing off a template.
2. Help your child apply dots of tacky glue all over the cardboard.
3. Have your child adhere pasta (or plastic) beads to the dots of glue.
4. If desired, cut two strips of green crepe paper, glue to the cardboard, and trim the ends to look like husks as I did for Logan's project.
5. Allow all glue to dry before displaying your project. The beaded cardboard ends up being fairly heavy so it may not stick to your refrigerator. One option is to punch two holes and thread yarn, ribbon, or string through for hanging.

Indian Corn Scissor Skills Project

We are loving this fantastic week's worth of Indian summer! Here is another Indian corn craft project that I came up with so Mia could practice her scissor skills.

{By Mia, Age 4}

{By Logan, Age 2}

Materials:

• construction paper in fall colors (yellow, green, orange, brown, red, purple, tan)
• pencil (optional)
• safety scissors
• glue

Directions: 

1. Take a piece of yellow or tan construction paper and fold it like a hot dog. Cut out a skinny football or long oval shape to make the ear of corn. Open the folded paper.
2. Cut several long strips of various colored paper about 3/4" - 1 1/4" wide.
3. Have your preschool age child cut the strips into smaller squares. While s/he is cutting squares, you can cut out two green (or brown) leaf shapes for the corn husks. If you wish, you can fold your paper in half, draw the shape with a pencil, and then cut out two identical shapes (either connected like Logan's or separated like Mia's).
4. Have your child glue the colored squares onto the corn to make the kernels. (Younger children can also do this even if they are not able to use scissors. Logan made his own project.)
5. Glue down the corn husks and allow all glue to dry. Now your project is ready to display.

Paper Bag Indian Corn Craft

I was trying to come up with some fall craft ideas that we hadn't already done to death, and I realized Indian corn was perfect. We have made several variations of Indian corn lately, (and I have a few more ideas to try) so I will get them posted soon. For now, here is the first version, which we made with a re-purposed brown paper shopping bag.

{By Mia, Age 4}

Materials:

• paper bag (raffia type handle optional)
• scissors
• pencil
• Bingo markers
• glue (optional)
• newspaper (to protect work surface)

Directions:

1. Draw a corn cob on a paper bag. Ours was a shopping bag that got torn and couldn't be used again. (The basic shape for the ear of corn is a long thin oval.) Add corn husks to the sides.
2. Cut our your corn cob and husks.
3. Cover your work surface with newspaper and use Bingo markers to dot on color for the Indian corn kernels. We used orange, red, and purple Bingo markers from Dollar Tree. (If you have yellow or white, those would work nicely, too.) Leave some of the background paper brown to give some extra contrast.
4. If you like, you can use a green Bingo marker to color in your corn husks, which is what Mia chose to do. You could also leave them plain brown, which would look dried out like actual Indian corn husks. Or, if your paper bag has raffia type handles, cut them off and unroll them. Arrange as desired, glue to the paper bag, and trim off the excess so that it looks like corn husks. This is what I did for Logan's.

   

   {By Logan, Age 2}

Candy Corn Sun Catcher

{By Mia, Age 4}

Materials:

• pencil 
• clear tape
• scissors
• clear contact paper
• yellow construction paper
• tissue paper (yellow, orange, white)
• paper trimmer (optional)
• hole punch (optional)
• yarn, string, ribbon, etc. for hanging (optional)

Directions:

{By Logan, Age 2}

1. fold your paper in half like a hot dog before drawing and cutting out your shape. This makes it go a bit faster, and hopefully it creates less frustration, too.  Tip: If you are using two pieces of paper, you will need to make sure they stay together so that you get identical candy corn shapes.
2. Cut two pieces of clear contact paper (I used both a paper trimmer and scissors for this.) so that they are 1/4 inch larger than the construction paper all the way around. Tip: Do not remove backing from contact paper until you are ready to use it.
3. Adhere one piece of paper to the clear contact paper so that there is a border of 1/4 inch all around the paper. Tip: Slowly peel the contact paper away from the backing as you smooth the construction paper down onto the contact paper. This way you don't end up with "bubbles."
4. Have your child stick tissue paper squares onto the contact paper candy corn  shape until it is filled. (Mia has created her own technique for filling in small spaces: crumpling up the tissue paper into balls. It makes the sun catcher a bit bulkier, but it does work, and I think it adds a bit of visual interest to the design.)
5. Layer the second piece of construction paper on top of the first, making sure that the candy corn shapes line up.
6. Add the second piece of contact paper over the top, smoothing it down as you go. Trim away excess if desired, but don't trim too much or the sun catcher will not stay together. 
7. You can display your sun catcher in a window using clear tape. Another option is to use a hole punch to make two holes near the top, thread some ribbon or yarn through the holes, tie it off, and then hang your sun catcher.

A Hand Print Tree for Fall

{Fall Hand Print Tree by Mia, Age 4}

Materials:

• paper
  
• brown crayon
• Bingo markers
• green crayon
• newspaper 
  
  

Directions:

1. Trace around your child's hand and forearm using a brown crayon.
2. Color in tree trunk and limbs with brown crayon. Mia also drew some extra branches.
3. Protect your work surface by placing newspaper under your paper. Add leaves using Bingo markers in fall colors. Mia chose to use green, red, orange, and purple, all of which we bought at Dollar Tree. (Okay, when I came up with this craft idea I envisioned a fuller tree, but Mia decided that most of the leaves were falling, so that is why they are all down the sides of the tree.)
4. As a finishing touch, draw some grass at the bottom of the paper with a green crayon. Add fallen leaves to the grass, if desired.

Autumn Tree Collage

{Autumn Tree Collage by Mia, Age 4}

Materials:

• tissue paper in fall colors 
• paper (or printable tree template)
• brown crayon
• scissors
• glue
• foam paintbrush (optional)
• green crayon (optional)

Directions:

1. Draw a tree using a brown crayon. We traced Mia's hand and forearm for this but you could also use a printable template if you prefer.
2. Cut or tear small pieces of brown, red, yellow, and green tissue paper. (We had no orange, but this would also be nice for the leaves.)
3. Cover the tree trunk and area where you will put leaves with glue. (We watered ours down very slightly and applied it with a foam paintbrush.)
4. Adhere brown tissue paper to the trunk of the tree and various other fall colored tissue paper where you would like the leaves to be. You could also add some tissue paper to look like falling or fallen leaves if you wish.
5. Mia chose to draw grass with a green crayon to finish her collage. You could also make grass with pieces of green tissue paper or cut a long rectangle and use scissors to fringe it before gluing it to your paper. 

Dotty Apple Tree Craft

Yesterday the kids received a gift wrapped in bright green tissue paper, and I was inspired to do another take on last year's apple tree craft.

{Apple Tree by Mia, Age 4}

Materials:

• paper (or printable tree template) 
• red Bingo marker (crayon/marker/paint would also work) 
• green tissue paper/crepe paper (or construction paper) 
• brown crayon (or colored pencil or marker) 
• scissors 
• glue 
• green crayon (optional) 
• foam paintbrush (optional)  

Directions:

1. Draw a tree or use a printable template if you prefer. Mia wanted me to trace her hand and forearm with brown crayon to make the tree trunk and branches. 
2. Color in tree trunk and branches using a brown crayon.
3. Cut or tear small pieces of green tissue paper, crepe paper, or construction paper.
4. Glue green paper pieces onto the paper to make the tree's leaves. (We used a foam paintbrush and very slightly watered down Elmer's glue.)
5. After glue is dry, use a red Bingo marker (Ours is from Dollar Tree.) to make apples on the tree.
6. Mia finished her project by making grass with green crayon. You could also use your green paper pieces or cut fringe along one long rectangle of paper and glue down.