The leaves may not quite be turning yet, but I sense an urge in the air for the season to begin to change soon. As fall begins to approach, you can chat about the changing season with your little one and make your very own dreamy fall scene with simple painted autumn trees! This activity is simple and fun – and requires very little materials, many of which you might have laying around your home. This activity is also an excellent way to strengthen fine motor skills by using a cotton swab to dab foliage onto the paper.
For this activity you will need white paper/construction paper, cotton swabs, a brown crayon/marker/paint, and washable paints.
I pulled out the autumnal colored paints in our box to get started.
I sketched out a tree trunk and branches on the white paper before letting my 3-year-old add the leaves. For this, I simply used a brown crayon but any sort of painted, drawn, printed, etc. tree trunk will do the trick! This activity is incredibly adaptable, I’m just here to give you some inspiration to get started!
Have your child dip their cotton swab in the paints and dab away to create their fall masterpiece! Some children will prefer swiping the swabs like a paint brush, and that’s OK too! There are no rules and it is a great way to discover creating art with different tools, and helping those tiny hands strengthen their fine motors skills.
My son is very much in his messy art phase and decided to go ahead and get his whole hand involved in the art process and I love what he created!
We talked about how the colors mixed and changed, and talked about what we are looking forward to as the leaves will change with the season very soon.
I hope this simple activity is something you will share with your family this fall.
Stay spooky,
Callie Jo
Halloween Head 