This fall leaf puppet craft for kids is an easy and fun way to celebrate the arrival of autumn with kids in preschool, kindergarten and the early elementary grades.
Create cute fall leaf puppets using faux-autumn leaves, popsicle sticks and glue! An easy and FUN fall craft for young children!
Fall Leaf Puppet Craft For Kids
Fall is such a wonderful time of year. From the leaves changing colors to all the wonderful holidays and events – it’s really such an exiting time of year!
There are also so many fun fall themed crafts and nature activities you can do with primary school aged children. And, today we’re sharing a quick and easy fall themed craft you can make with the young children in your life.
This simple fall leaf puppet craft uses basic crafting supplies to create leaf puppets kids can play with.
Perfect for especially young crafters this easy fall leaf craft works on good stuff like fine motor skills, hand eye co-ordination and creativity.
Craft Supplies
Here are the basic supplies you’ll need to make your own fall leaf puppets at home or in the classroom.
These simple craft supplies can be found at your local dollar tree or online via Amazon.
- Faux fall leaves
- Googly eyes
- Glue
- Popsicle sticks – we used colored craft sticks but unpainted ones work well too
- Black permanent marker (optional) – for drawing the puppet’s mouth
Can I Use Real Leaves?
This is one of the most common questions we get about this craft! The answer is simple : it’s up to you!
We’ve made our fall leaf puppet craft using real leaves we collected while out on a nature walk.
The difference between real leaves and fake ones is the real leaves tend to be far more brittle and fragile. So, consider that when making your decision.
If you’re going to encourage children to host a puppet show or engage in some imaginative play with their finished fall leaf puppet then artificial maple leaves are probably a better option.
How To Make A Fall Leaf Puppet Craft
Place your leaves face down so you can glue your craft stick to the back.
Glue the popsicle sticks to the back of your faux-leaves using a thin bead of glue along the upper part of the popsicle stick.
Set the leaves aside to dry for a few minutes before moving on to the next step.
Once the popsicle stick has dried, turn your leaf puppets over and place 2 small dots of glue to stick on your eyes.
A little drop of glue goes a long way so be mindful not to make your dots too big!
Glue on your googly eyes and let your fall leaf puppet craft dry.
Draw a mouth on your fall leaf craft puppets using a permanent marker.
Encourage students to get creative with their leaf puppet’s facial expressions.
You can also add eyebrows and a nose for even more facial expression!
More Screen Free Fall Activities
Here are some more screen free fall themed activities we’ve created.
All these simple fall themed crafts and activities pair well with our fall leaf puppet craft.
Click on the link to be taken to the blog post where you’ll get all the information you need about each screen free activity.
- Thanksgiving coloring pages
- Paper bag acorn craft
- Corn cob craft
- Thanksgiving scavenger hunt
- Paper bag pumpkin craft
- Thanksgiving cootie catcher
- Easy scarecrow craft
- Thanksgiving activity placemat
- Fall bucket list for kids (free printable)
- Paper bag apple craft
Fun Ways To Use Fall Leaf Puppets
Besides being a really simple craft children enjoy making during the fall season, these fall leaf puppets can be used in a variety of creative ways at home or in the classroom.
Here are some of our favorite ways to enjoy faux leaf puppets once they are made.
Decoration – have students create a variety of different fall leaf puppet crafts and use them to decorate your classroom including your class door and bulletin boards.
Puppet shows – puppet crafts like these leaf puppets are always fun for engaging kids in imaginative play. Give young kids a theme and let them get carried away with their imagination while they create their own puppet show.
Fall themed units – include our fall leaf puppet craft in a unit about deciduous and coniferous trees.
Emotional intelligence – encourage young children to express their feelings by drawing a different facial expressions on their puppets. This is a great way to encourage emotional intelligence in very young children.
Reading Recommendations
We love to read!
Reading is such an important skill that teaches young children about the world around them by building on language and critical thinking skills.
We love to pair all our screen free activities with books!
From crafts to free printable games – we do our very best to recommend some fun books to our readers to make screen free fun even more engaging.
Here are some of our favorite book suggestions that pair wonderfully with this easy fall leaf puppet craft.
- Fletcher and the Falling Leaves
- Why Do Leaves Change Color?
- Can a Tree Be Blue? (Early science book)
- We’re Going on a Leaf Hunt
- There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves!
- Goodbye Summer, Hello Autumn
Let’s Stay In Touch
We had lots of fun making these fall leaf puppets and hope your plan to add this craft to your fall bucket list too!
We’d love to see your finished leaf puppets! So, snap a picture and reach out to This Tiny Blue House on Facebook to show off your craft! We love sharing your unique creations with our followers.
Got a question? Drop us a comment down below using a valid email address. We’ll do our very best to get back to you as soon as possible.