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These glitter glue leaves are a great fall craft that mixes nature with a little bit of sparkle! A fun glitter glue craft for preschoolers and toddlers.
Fall is in full swing over here! We’re still keeping up with our 30 Day Gratitude Challenge and are busy preparing travel schedules, making lists, and getting the house clean for Thanksgiving. And after that, we’ll be ready to switch right over to Christmas.
But, not before we get in a few more fun fall projects!
Today’s activity is from Tonya over at Two in the Tow & On the Go. She’s sharing Glitter Glue Leaves – a really fun and simple fall leaf craft for toddlers, preschoolers, and even elementary kids.
Meet Tonya
Tonya Strickland stepped back from her 12-year writing career at The Tribune newspaper in San Luis Obispo to stay at home with her two young children, ages 1 and 3. In February 2017, she launched the family adventure blog Two in Tow & On the Go. It features pictures, tips and stories about things to do with kids on California’s Central Coast, all with a hearty (but hopefully humorous) dose of real life. You can share in the adventure at @two.n.tow on Instagram + Facebook or visit the blog.
Glitter Glue Leaves
My blog is about getting my kids out of the house. But on the days when we are stuck inside due to the crazy summer heat or cold bugs or feeling meh because it’s Monday, we do crafts.
We’re in California, so we don’t see a ton of quintessential fall in nature around here. In fact, it’s basically one hot giant summer from May until Oct. 31. But, true to form, just last week, the weather chilled out (see what I did there?) and we were able to find some pretty cool autumn leaves.
We found them on what we call an adventure walk, which is our go-to staple for getting outside on a low-key day. Each of the kids get a little basket and is encouraged to pick up treasures they find while walking around the neighborhood or wherever we are:
On this walk, they were all super cute and holding hands while looking for things. Then I tried to buckle them both into the wagon so we could cross the street … aaaand they both lost it. But before that lovely turn of events, my 3 year old noticed the changing tree colors right away.
So we grabbed some leaves to incorporate them in our home decorating. Plus I had seen variations of this craft before online and had been wanting to try it. And if there’s a way to keep the tiny humans busy, all the better.
The basic concept of this craft is to glue fall leaves to paper, then decorate the leaves with glitter glue. The glitter glue part was my own spin on this, because we happened to have some already and the kids think it’s fun.
This project teaches colors, textures, and an appreciation of beauty in nature.
At least, I like to think it does. However, I for sure know it teaches you how to scrape glitter glue off your kitchen table.
What You’ll Need
- Leaves – gathered from outside in various shapes, colors, and sizes
- Try to find leaves that aren’t quite crunchy yet as these are less likely to break on the paper
- Glitter glue
- Glue sticks
- Construction Paper
We used Elmer’s 3D Washable Glitter Glue Pens in the “Classic Rainbow” assortment because my daughter is obsessed with all things sparkly. Glitter glue is really great for sparkles without all the hazards of using actual loose glitter in the hands of little toddlers. Plus the kids could share the tubes. Well, “share” is actually a generous term with a 1 and 3 year old … but at least I could split the tubes up among them, with enough colors to use and trade.
Instructions
- Start project.
- Stop your one year old from eating the paper, gluing the paper to the table, climbing on the table, eating the glue and feeding paper to the dog.
- Take a deep breath.
- When the baby abandons the project altogether and begins dismantling the couch cushions, takeover his project.
- Then help your three year old finish hers.
Easy peasy, right?
OK, no, (well, all YES actually) but seriously, the steps on this craft are totally easy in their execution, depending on your audience.
So after our adventure walk, we spread the leaves out on the table, got our supplies together and followed these general steps:
Actual Instructions
- Use glue stick to put glue all over the paper.
- I was originally thinking of having the kids draw general glue shapes of each leaf with their glue sticks. But then I turned my back to get something and they just smeared it all over. Whatever works.
- The kids had fun with this part. A lot of fun. Maybe the most fun. Glue sticks are great like that, right? I think it’s also because we used the purple glue sticks that dry clear so it’s a lot like coloring. But, like, sticky, gloppy coloring where everything is purple. Including your dining chairs. Isn’t it great to be a kid?
- Press the leaves onto the paper.
- This step is oddly satisfying. As you flatten the leaves, their outline really picks up against the paper and it makes its natural shape stand out. Make sure the kids press all the edges down. Otherwise, the leaves will start to curl later.
- You can make this process even more fun by pretending to be super strong as you presssss the leaves down.
- Add more leaves (and glue if necessary)
- It’s at this step when the picture really starts coming together.
- Decorate leaves with glitter glue.
- I recommend experimenting with different approaches, like:
- Tracing the shapes of each leaf.
- Highlighting different parts of the leaf, like its veins. I just had to Google that last one to double check the wording. And yes, they are indeed called veins. #winning.
- Drawing different shapes inside the larger shape – like swirls on a circular leaf.
- Orrrrrrr just glob it all over because you’re a little kid. Either way, it’s still pretty and glittery and fun to make. One may ask at this point, why we didn’t just use glitter glue to adhere the leaves to the paper instead of the glue stick. And that’s because the glitter glue is special and we (me) didn’t want to run out of it before we got to the good part.
- I recommend experimenting with different approaches, like:
- Set the papers flat on the counter to dry overnight.
- And then you’re done! Congratulations; by morning you’ll have a fun fall craft to hang and switch up your Halloween decorations into more of a Thanksgiving vibe.
Below are our finished creations. I did the one on the brown paper, and I left a spot to write “give thanks” in fancy handwriting. I mean, not Etsy-wooden-sign-fancy, but Tonya fancy.
You might want to leave a spot for the kids to write their own names, or for you to write them if the kids are too little.
And that’s it! Thanks for crafting with us!
Thank You!
Thanks so much to Tonya for sharing the awesome craft with us today! If you loved it and want to see more from Tonya, please be sure to give here a visit and let her know! You don’t want to miss all the other fun she’s sharing over on Two in Tow and On the Go! [Find Tonya on Instagram & Facebook.]
And, if you loved this post, please be sure to share it with others so they can enjoy it, too!
This is So happening! Love it!
Oh good! It is so fun!
lilly would LOVE this! she’s obsessed with crafting and glitter. DOING THIS STAT!
I hope you do! It is really fun and SO simple to put together!
This is absolutely adorable! I’m going to try this with my kiddos next week.
-Mama from Mama Writes Reviews
Fun! Let me know how it turns out! I hope you all enjoy it!
So fun! My kids love glitter glue (although I don’t, haha). They also love gluing things to paper so this would be right up their alley!
I hear you on those craft supplies sometimes! But the kids really do love it!
What a fun way to enjoy Fall with the kids! I love these little crafts that are so simple but fun!
Thank you! Same – we are all about fun and simplicity when it comes to kid projects around here!
That’s a lovely idea!
I agree!! Tonya did a great job on with this one!
Such a cute Fall decor you can do with kids! I may not have kids right now, but I wanna do this myself! 😉
No judgement! Crafting can be such a good stress relief!
Good thinking using glitter glue instead of actual glitter, it just gets everywhere!!!!
Right? All the sparkle minus the mess!
Fab idea, anything with glue and glitter is always a winner with kids isn’t it! #WanderingWednesday
Yes! But with glitter glue at least the clean up is a little more straight forward!
Great idea! My six-year-old niece would enjoy this activity.
Thanks!! Let me know if you try it!
I love glitter and I love leaves! What a neat idea!
Thank you!
Super cute! I know my youngest would enjoy this for sure. She did a leaf craft the other day and loved it.
Oh fun! I love to see what the kids make with their little craft projects! 🍁
What a fun, cute project! And how adorable are those kids? Love it! I can’t wait to try stuff like this with my little one when he’s old enough.
Thank you!! It will be so fun; I love this stage so much! (Of course, I’ve said that about every stage!)
I enjoyed reading this post. Fun stuff to do with your kids.
Thanks so much!! I love to share these fun and simple things we do around here. They really are things anyone can do!
What a darling project! My kids were huge fans of globbing on glitter glue whenever we used it. Thanks for sharing with us at the Virtual Fridge. Pinned.
We are here, too! Can you blame them, though?
Such a cute idea! I love your initial instructions. LOL I think my oldest niece and nephew would love this. The youngest niece would probably wander off too. 🙂
-Lauren
Thank you! I loved those too! Tonya did a really great job!
This is an adorable idea! My daughter and I made a fall collage, but next time we do that we definitely need to add some glitter!
Glitter is so fun!!
What a great idea! Definitely need to do this with my little ones! Thanks for sharing at Confessions of Parenting #WanderingWednesday!
It is such a fun craft; I bet they would love it!
We will have to hurry up and do this before all our fall leaves are dried up and gone. Fun activity and easy to make.
It is really fun and super easy to make! Let me know if you end up giving it a try!
What a darling idea! We’ve made leaf pictures before but I love the glitter on there. Such a fun finishing touch! My kids like to arrange the leaves into different shapes too – animals, vehicles, whatever they’re in to at the moment.
Thanks! I really like this craft, too. I especially love that glitter glue is way easier to clean that regular glitter! That’s a great idea to make different shapes with the leaves!
I love this idea! Deffo one I’m trying with the girls. Our house is glittet mad x #wanderingwednesday
Oh, I hope you do try it! It’s a fun project!
might give this a go with the little ones. thanks for the idea
You should! It is really fun and simple!
Super cute idea! Creative, out in nature. Love it. I love the picture of the two of them walking hand in hand with their baskets, too!
Thank you! It is a really fun craft! Tonya did a great job putting it together!
Love this idea! I’m in South Florida and we get ZERO fall leaves! But I might just have family coming to town next week bring me some from PA! I loved your first set of instructions!! It’s so true! Crafting with kids takes a lot of deep breaths! 😂
Enjoy your time with family!! The first set was pretty real life, huh?
Lovely easy project, perfect for this time of year! Thanks for sharing it on the Virtual Fridge!
We had a lot of fun with it!
I’m going to send these to my mum, she teaches 4 year olds and I’m sure they would LOVE this! (heck I’m an adult and I wanna do it!)
It is a really fun craft! I hope they enjoy it!
Beautiful way for the kids to make crafts with nature!
Thanks; I agree!