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Cute & Easy Crafts for Kids

How to make Autumn Leaf Bowls (Guest Post)

Learn how to make leaf bowls with air drying clay, fired clay or even salt dough.  This is a great Autumn Crafts for Kids, but this great Leaf Craft can be made all year round.

They are great Christmas Gifts Kids Can Make too! This is a guest post from Lori at Fun Art 4 Kids -she simply the most amazing kids craft blog.

How to make Autumn Leaf Bowls. Use REAL Leaves to make these stunning and easy Autumn Leaf Bowls. They can be fired in a kiln or you can use air drying clay. Such a fabulous Autumn Craft for kids and grown ups a like come and take a look how easy they are to make! #leafbowls #leaf #leaves #leafcrafts #leafdiy #autumn #fall
Note these lovely Autumn Leaf Bowls were first shared in October 2010 and have been republished for your convenience. They are one of our favourite leaf DIYs for fall!

Lori comes up with so many different fabulously cute ideas and sorts them by age groups, which makes it a really handy reference blog. PLEASE do go and take a look! She has VERY kindly agreed to share these FABULOUS leaf bowls with us. Although she says that these are for 4th graders, I think that these are for any age group. I simply adore them!

You may also like these fabulous Clay Leaf Magnets – great as a Thanksgiving decoration or small gift idea.

ALTERNATIVES to KILN:

Stock up on Air Drying Clay: US readers / UK readers (aff links)

  1. Lori suggest making them in a Kiln (as per the instructions below), but we had a go with airdrying clay (see our version at the very end of the post), it does mean that they are more fragile and the final “look” is different, but you can have a go at home!!!  I followed the instructions below. Let air dry for 3-4 days, painted it with acryclics (with Red Ted) and used an acryclic varnish for sealing. This makes it ornamental, rather than for use with food.

Stock up on Air Drying Clay: US readers / UK readers (aff links)

2. You can also make these using salt dough! Yes, salt dough. But remember that salt needs to dry a long time!

How to make Autumn Leaf Bowls. Use REAL Leaves to make these stunning and easy Autumn Leaf Bowls. They can be fired in a kiln or you can use air drying clay. Such a fabulous Autumn Craft for kids and grown ups a like come and take a look how easy they are to make! #leafbowls #leaf #leaves #leafcrafts #leafdiy #autumn #fall

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If you don’t have access to a kiln use the following materials to make Leaf Bowls:

(affiliate linked)

  • air drying clay (US/ UK)
  • acrylic paints (US/ UK)
  • varnish (US/ UK)
Leaf-Crafts-for-Fall
Wonderful Leaf Lanterns

Another FAVOURITE Leaf craft of ours are these Leaf Lanterns – be sure to check them out too!

Over to Lori:

How to make Leaf Bowls!

I love these fun fall leaves. They are quite easy to do if you are fortunate enough to have a kiln at your finger tips!

  1. Start with a fist sized lump of potters clay.  Review and complete wedging of the clay as usual (to prepare it from air bubbles, etc.) [for some tips on removing air bubbles from clay, see this post here]
  2. Simply roll the clay into 1/4″ slabs using rolling pins and two guide sticks which help you get an even result.
  3. Place a large leaf over the clay- facing up so that the veins are down.  You leaves as big as your hand- spread wide.  Roll the leaf twice to press the design into the clay.
  4. Use a sharp trimming tool (thin/long nails, an opened thick paper clip or better clay tools work well here) to cut the outline of the leaf shape.
  5. Smooth the rough edges with one finger and a bit of water.
  6. Lay some plastic wrap, a paper towel or a thin cotton cloth inside of a disposable paper bowl. Lay your clay leaf inside of the bowl and gently press it down to take its new shape.
  7. Dry for several days and kiln process as usual.
  8. I love to use Sax colorburst glazes for fantastic fall results!
Leaf print bowls made in the kiln

Have fun with this!

And here is mine, that I made with air drying clay & painted with acrylics, I let Red Ted paint it. On reflection we should have done a little “paint splashing” with a contrasting colour over the red, but I still think it looks nice:

How to make leaf bowls with air dry clay
kids crafts
Print

Easy Leaf Bowls

Learn how to make clay leaf bowls with leaf printing
Active Time30 mins

Equipment

  • Air Dry Clay
  • A large leaf
  • Bowl
  • Cling film
  • Rolling pin
  • Knife
  • Paint (optional)

Instructions

  • Roll the clay into 1/4? slabs using rolling pins
  • Place a large leaf over the clay- facing up so that the veins are down. Go over with the rolling pin to make an imprint.
  • Use the knife to trim around the leaf.
  • Smooth the rough edges with one finger and a bit of water.
  • Lay some plastic wrap, a paper towel or a thin cotton cloth inside of a disposable paper bowl. Lay your clay leaf inside of the bowl and gently press it down to take its new shape.
  • Dry for several days and then paint (or place in kiln if you have one)

Video

Fancy some more Autumn Crafts for Kids?

autumn-crafts-for-kids-so-sweet

 Or how about these Leaf Crafts!!

20 Wonderful Leaf Crafts for Autumn - so many beautiful ideas here. Perfect for celebrating autumn or incorporating into your Thanksgiving decor and activities

Happy Crafting! Hope you enjoy our Autumn Maple Leaf Bowls using Real Leaves!

Filed Under: Autumn, Gifts, Gifts That Kids Can Make, How To's 86 Comments

Comments

  2. Red Ted Art says

    Maria – aren’t they just? We loved making ours and some friends saw it when visiting and said they wanted a go too! Will try it out with Salt Dough and see if it works too – main thing is finding a nicely shaped ovenproof bowl.

    Reply

  3. Doing the Mom Thing says

    How adorable and festive. I’m not sure my toddler will like them, but I may just have to make some for myself. 🙂

    Reply

  5. Lori says

    Thanks redted! I love your idea to try the other clays…very clever. Much appreciation on your post. Love to share! Have fun with these and other ideas.
    funart4kids

    Reply

  13. Red Ted Art says

    Oooh Ali, that is fabulous! We want to make more too!!! Was such fun!! And the results so good for so “little” effort!

    Maggy

    Reply

  21. Jennifer says

    Wow, these look great and all grown up! Love that you made them yourself. I do not have a kiln either so the air dry method would have to work for me too. They are really beautiful! I am visiting tonight from It’s so Very Cheri.

    Jennifer

    Reply

  24. J. Hill says

    This tute got the most views at this week’s Mad Skills party, so I will be featuring it and your blog tomorrow morning. Grab a brag button if you would like one!

    madincrafts.blogspot.com

    Reply

  41. Kay. Shirley says

    My 4th graders just made these. We are going to fire them at our local high school. I know this is a dumb question but we need to fire them before we use the glaze? I ordered the glaze you used and we can’t wait to finish them. Please let me know the order firing and glaze.I have used the kiln but we usually just paint them with acrylic. Thanks ! Kay

    Reply

    • Red Ted Art says

      Hi Kay, I am so sorry – this was a guest post and I am not a glazing expert…. but from what I remember from my pottery courses I *think* you add the glaze and then fire?

      Reply

  44. Wendy says

    I remember making these in grade school. Ours were bisqued, but then painted and varnished. (Come to think of it, only one of the clay crafts we did was actually glazed.) I’m still using mine, 30-odd years later.

    Reply

  47. Donna Woods says

    Oh I LOVE these!! We might have to try the air dry version, if it is fragile, could you make it a bit thicker to sturdy it up?

    Reply

Trackbacks

  8. […] 16. Leaf Bowls from Red Ted Art 17. Drink Hot Apple Cider 18. Apple Placemats from Bloesem Kids 19. Chuckin’ Pumpkin Painting from Childhood Beckons 20. Go on a Hay Ride! If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the RSS feed to have future posts delivered to your feed reader. Filed Under: Activities, Fall, family, resources, Seasons Tagged With: cheap, fall activities for kids, fall crafts for kids, favorite kid activities, frugal, fun, gratitude, simple pleasures, what to do with kids in the fall […]

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  9. […] 2. If you have the space and supplies for a ceramics project, these leaf bowls are great for kids to make and also produce nice gifts for adults. Step-by-step instructions are available on Maggy Woodley’s website Red Ted Art. […]

    Reply

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