Fall is the perfect time of year to enjoy the beauty that mother nature has to offer. In Utah, we get to enjoy the beautiful and most colorful Fall mountains and leaves. A few weeks ago, we were on our annual Deer Valley Retreat with my family and all the kids. Each year we try to plan activities that will help the children appreciate their surroundings and keep them busy. This year we made little leaf critters.
My sister had the idea to take the kids on a nature walk around the cabin we were staying in. We had the kids gather leaves, flowers, twigs, grasses…anything that caught their eye. It’s a great idea to give them each a little brown paper bag to put all of their findings in. After our nature walk, we then came inside and the kids emptied out their bags.
We had googly eyes for them, glue sticks, and paper that they could choose from. It was so much fun for us to see how their little imaginations worked! After seeing the little leaf critters come together, I decided I wanted to make one too. Holy cow, it was so much fun! This activity kept us all busy for an hour!
One thing I would suggest doing if you have access is to laminate the critters after they are done – if you want to preserve them. After a day the leaves start to shrivel up and the little leaf critters slowly die! 🙁
Since we were up in the mountains and didn’t have access to a laminating machine, we just took pictures of our critters and then put them to sleep!
The kids loved this activity and I think it may be a permanent one that we do every year during our stay in Deer Valley.
If you liked this project, check out these 41 Learning Activities for Toddlers
and you may also like Quiet Matching Game Book
Those are so adorable! Perfect for my preschool class. Thanks!
[…] Don’t let the kids miss out on all the fun! Unleash their creativity by trying Sweet Charli’s activity. Spend an afternoon making Leaf Critters! […]