Make An Autumn Leaf Garland With ToucanBox

Autumn is starting to arrive! The leaves are beginning to turn and the air has that old familiar chill. It’s the perfect time to wrap up warm and explore the changing season with your child. What better way to do so than with a crafting adventure!

Our friends over at ToucanBox, home to incredible craft box subscriptions for children, have shared their brilliant guide to creating your very own Autumn leaf garland - the perfect half term activity for your little ones.

This craft gets kids out in the fresh air, foraging for treasures in the natural world. It’s the perfect way to get children engaged with the outdoors and prompt further conversation about wildlife and the seasons. As you and your child explore you could spark their imagination with questions about why the leaves have changed colour (a loss of chlorophyll, which is green and only sticks around for summer sunlight), why some leaves stay green (evergreens like pine trees and oaks), and even why Autumn happens (the Earth tilts away from the sun, so we get less sunlight and less heat)! Once you have gathered all the materials you need to make your leaf hanging you’ll find that making the craft is also a fantastic learning experience! Threading the leaves will improve your child’s fine motor skills, whilst assembling a visually balanced display will engage them with spatial skills and counting… Of course, this stuff is all ticking away in the tiny cogs of their brains, they don’t know how much they’re learning whilst they play! We recommend hanging this craft in the garden or an outside space, as we’re using organic materials that will start to decay after some time. This is all part of Autumn’s process and observing how the natural world changes is a real-world biology lesson you and your child can watch unfold before your very eyes. Now, let’s make it!

Autumn Leaf Garland

You will need: (From outside)

• A long stick (if not using dowling rod)
• Lots and lots of different leaves!

• Dowling rod (if not using long stick)
• Twine
• String
• Scissors
• Child-safe needle (if you don’t have a child-safe needle you can use a hole punch)

1. First things first, put on your wellies, zip up your coat and go on an outdoor adventure! Collect lots of autumnal treasures from the natural world, then bring them home. 

2. Wash the leaves and sticks you have collected and pat dry with a paper towel. We don’t want any muck or creepy crawlies joining in on the fun.

3. Cover your work surface with plenty of newspaper. Tie a length of twine to one end of the long stick/dowling rod, then tie the other end of the twine to the other end of the long stick/dowling rod. This is what we’ll use to hang our craft.  

4. Tie a length of string to the child-safe needle. Tie a knot at the end of the string. Thread leaves onto the string, tying a knot before threading each new leaf. Make sure to leave a couple of centimetres free at the top of the string. If you don’t have a child-safe needle then don’t worry! Instead, use a hole punch near the edge of each leaf, thread the string through the hole and tie the string in a knot around the edge of the leaf.

5. Repeat step five so you have lots of strings full of leaves.

6. Evenly space and tie the lengths of string along the long stick/dowling rod. Make sure you tie them in a knot so they’re secure. Hang up your craft in the garden as a colourful outdoor display!

We hope you have lots of fun foraging and making your autumnal leaf garland! If your child loves the great outdoors and crafting then we think they’ll love toucanBox. Each box features two educational crafts and an activity packed magazine, perfect for helping little explorers learn through play. Save 50% on your first box today, just visit https://signup.toucanbox.com/?code=muddy50.