Autumn Crafts for Kids - Leaf Bird Marionette

These actually make a great Autumn Craft for Kids, however you can of course make them at any time of year. As we have been getting some hotter days this year, we have made a few trips to the park recently. Whilst there, we played ball, look at the stream and collected some leaves. Now, I know autumn is the absolute best time for collecting leaves, but as Red Ted was keen, I thought, why not!? I did horrify me to realise that when it comes to leaves, I am clueless. I will have to brush up! Time for some more fun with Toilet Paper Roll Crafts for kids!

These fun Bird Marionettes were first published in Autumn 2010 and republished for your convenience!

So once we came home, I found a book on leaves. It is about Autumn really, but it is the nicest one I could find on relatively short notice:af craft

Leaf Trouble, Jonathan Emmett. This book tells the story of a little squirrel called Pip (perfect for our Pip Squeak!). Pip wakes one day to find that things are different: the leaves are changing colour and falling off the tree. Surely this isn’t right?! What is happening. His mum comes and explains why it is happening and that the leaves will come back again – a little like how the sun sets and comes back again the next day. I love the ending, where Pip compares the beautiful autumn colours to the setting sun. Very pretty.

So. What to make?

We have the leaves. But leaves can become brittle with time. I decided we should try leave rubbing – to discover that Red Ted is still too small. So I changed it to leaf printing and painting!

How to make a Bird out of Toilet Paper Rolls

He loved it! And had great joy doing it all by himself. Choosing colours. Painting and printing. I also found that your preserve the leaf a little if you paint it with acryclic paints. But in a way that seems a shame – you want to look at the lovely colours, no?

Whilst at it, he painted some loo rolls too.

And I decided t make some autumnal birds. One out of Red Ted’s craft and one out of mine. I selected Red Ted’s prints that worked together well (greens, blacks and greys) and picked an orange set of mine to represent autumn. I used all pieces of string from gift bags & pepples/ forked sticks for feet and marionette handles. (I think the pictures speak for themselves)