At risk of being called basic, I’m going to go ahead and admit that I love fall! Growing up in a small mountain town in Colorado, every fall, I watched the aspen trees turn a whole mountain side bright yellow. Driving through those colors was always so magical and ever since then, I’ve always welcomed the changing of seasons.
A year ago, I created a fall bucket list for my kids. They had so much fun racing against time in a Hail Mary attempt to check everything off the list. So this year, I wanted to try and find new activities they haven’t done before. Especially since we recently moved to a new state that offers lots of first time activities for our family.
Because we all know how fast fall colors change as winter approaches, I was trying to find a way to preserve these colors just a little longer. With help from my laminator, we were able to create some really cute leaf magnets. I couldn’t be more excited about how they turned out. Even my oldest, who is 9, had fun making one-eyed and three-eyed creatures with his assortment of leaves.
Materials
- Assortment of fresh leaves in all shapes, sizes, and colors
- Laminator (I recommend this thermal laminator)
- Laminating Pouches
- Googly Eyes
- Button Magnets
- Black Permanent Marker
- Hot Glue Gun and Glue Sticks
Instructions
- Take your collection of leaves and carefully place them in the laminating pouch. You may need to trim some of the stems if they are too long. Depending on the size of the leaves, I would recommend no more than about 5-7 leaves per pouch. If you add too many, the thermal laminator is unable to create a really good seal around each leaf. This is what keeps the leaves from turning brown.
- Once the laminate pouch has cooled, cut out each individual leaf making sure to leave enough of the outline that you don’t cut open the seal around the leaf. Otherwise, your leaves will turn brown much faster.
- Then, use the hot glue gun to attach your googly eyes on the front and your button magnet on the back of the leaf. There are self adhesive magnets and googly eyes but still recommend hot glue as the self adhesive didn’t stick for very long.
- Finally, take your black permanent marker and give the leaves some personality. If your kids are lacking inspiration, google “smiley face drawings.”
I Can’t Be-Leaf How Fun This Fall Craft Was!
The whole process for this craft was a blast. From finding the leaves at a nearby park to figuring out how many eyes each leaf should have and the face they were going to make was fun for all ages. The only complaint I received was how tired their hands were from cutting out all of their favorite leaves.
Be sure to share your kids’ creations on social media and don’t forget to tag @blissthismess! I’d love to see them! Happy Fall!
