Anybody else go apple picking with the best intentions of baking alllllll the things…. and then find a bag of apples 2 weeks later starting to rot and there’s not a pie in site??! (No? Just me? Darn. 😂) You’re in luck! We made some really cute apple-print art work this year!

First we made apple trees – simply cut the apple in half, let the kids dip it in red paint and stamp away. Then I gave them green&brown paint to complete the trees, and googley eyes just because!

Our second apple print craft was a pumpkin patch, and in the spirit of distance learning, we invited our neighbor to join in! First, the kids cut brown construction paper into strips and glued them to their paper like crop rows. Then they dipped their apple halves in orange paint and made pumpkins in the field! Last, we made vines with green glitter glue!

Last year I was better about actually baking with our apples, but toilet paper rolls make the perfect leaf-stamps, too! For this simple craft, I drew the tree stump with a brown sharpie, then gave the kids a few toilet paper rolls and fall colored paints! If you smush the roll slightly, it makes the perfect leaf shape!

Another important part of our distance/hybrid learning days has been nature walks! We love collecting pieces of nature like leaves, flowers, and pine cones, and making creations out of them! This is great for the imagination and there are no supplies needed! We don’t even glue them down, so that we can keep rearranging our nature treasures kind of like pattern blocks!

And last but not least, I’m attaching one of my all time favorite fall crafts – our Handprint Turkey Garland from a few years ago! I painted Mason’s palm and each finger different colors and let him make handprints! He was only about 3 at the time… so the rest was up to mom! Once they dried I added eyes, beak, and feet, and then strung through them with twine. I still decorate with it every year!