Framed Fall Leaves Craft for toddlers

Now, when Fall season is at its peak, it is the best opportunity to take some time and help your toddler create a fall craft which he or she will cherish for many years to come. Kids get excited by collecting these lovely fall leaves during this season. Many of you might be preserving them and some of you might be throwing them after your toddler has played enough. You might think they are too small to create a fall craft but believe me they have much more potential than you think. Help them explore by creating this fall craft for toddlers. The skill level required for this is perfectly suitable for a toddler. I tried making this with my 21 month old baby girl. She got so excited by collecting the leaves and when we started making the craft I could sense the feeling of achievement and satisfaction at the same time.
Doing something independently is so fulfilling for them and their expression priceless for us. Highly recommended to try with your toddler.
Here's how you go about creating it.

Supplies needed
- Fall leaves -Your choice of bright color medium size or rather your toddler's choice
- A thick book-To flatten and dry the Fall leaves.
- Glue stick
- Card stock- Any contrasting color with size that will fit in the leaves and leave some space at border.

Yes, this is pretty much all that you need.
Try to show your toddler how it will look once he or she has glued it on the paper.
You might let them decide the pattern if they show interest.
Once decided take the leaf and apply glue on the back side. Stick it on the card stock at the place you decided. Tell them to press it firmly. It is possible that your toddler changes his mind and sticks it somewhere else. This is absolutely fine.
Refer the picture.

Allow some possibilities of imperfection or leaves getting broken or change of design. The whole idea of this craft is to make your toddlers happy and help them learn some things in the process.

Tips: If the leaves are really fragile then it is a good idea to have the glue applied on the card stock directly and then press the Fall leaves over it. Bright red and yellow leaves turn out to be really nice.

Frame the art to make it look more professional and last long too.
Have fun.

Quick Framed Art

When I bought bedding set for my newborn I found that the set includes Valance which I could not use as I live in an apartment and it has huge windows so it won't fit anyways.
The whole bedding set was utilized optimally except this valance. As my baby grew a bit older and started looking at things close by with great interest I realized since the valance has great embroidered patch work of Lion and Elephant it will make great wall pieces and will interest my daughter a lot if place on the wall.

Quickly I cut out two separate pieces one each of that of lion and the elephant embroidery. After measuring the size of the final art piece with a measuring tape I kept about 1.5 inches on all four sides and cut out two cardboard pieces. I used the box of a recently bought toy for her.
The next step was to cutout strips of self adhesive foam sheets.

I selected fluorescent green as that was the base colour of the bedding set and seemed to go well with the design. I had bought these foam sheets from Michaels. If the color you like is not available in self adhesive foam sheets you can use the regular foam sheets and stick them with glue.
Its best to cut the foam sheets using craft knife. I used Fiskars Fingertip Craft knife
Once the frame is ready the last step is to put the hanging cord. I used a beautiful cord I had kept from one of the gift bags received. You can use any other thick cord or ribbon for this purpose. Cut a piece of about 3inches. Now, on the back of the frame mark two points about 1.5 inches apart so that its the center of the frame. Place the cord there and fix it using tape. You can use scotch tape or double sided tape for this purpose. Michaels is a great place to shop for craft supplies. Usually the things that I use are the basic things you will need to make most of the crafts so its a good idea to have the various kinds of glues, ribbons, tapes in stock.
Once the cord is attached then you can hand the framed art to a place where its easily visible for your baby to look at and enjoy.