DLTK's Holiday Crafts for Kids
Water Color Autumn Leaves Wreath

I love water color and I love autumn, so this is one of my favourite crafts!

Kids can express their creativity with lovely autumn leaves and flowing water color paint. This autumn wreath is a colorful way to get in the mood for the autumn season and would also make a beautiful decoration!

Materials:

• white paper (water color paint warps paper, so the thicker the paper the better; special water color paper works the best but printer paper would be okay too),
• printer,
• scissors,
• glue,
• a paper plate
• water color paint,
• paintbrush,

Instructions:

• Cut the center out of the paper plate to leave a round "donut" shape.  This will form the base of the wreath.  (This may require adult assistance).
• Create the leaves to cover the wreath using the printer paper template:
  • Print out the template pieces - you may wish to print 2 or 3 copies of the template depending on how full you want your wreath to be.
  • Paint the autumn leaves using different Water Color Painting Techniques. This is where children can show their creativity! (Beware, the printer ink may run with the water color ink.)
• Create the autumn leaves to cover the wreath using traced water color paper:
  • Paint water color paper with different Water Color Painting Techniques. Don't worry about painting in lines, you will cut the paper into autumn leaves later.

  • Make a few different autumn leaf templates by freehand or print out one of the templates provided and use some of the different autumn leaves as templates.
  • Trace the autumn leaves onto the back of the water color paper as many times as you can fit the shapes.

• Cut out the template pieces, either from the printer paper templates or the traced water color paper.  This will take quite awhile -- you can provide assistance if you like (depending on the patience of your child).

• Glue your autumn leaves to completely cover your paper plate "donut".
   
• Optional: You can tie a bow and paste it on to decorate further.
   
• Optional: You can put a piece of yarn on the back to hang it.
• OPTIONAL: You can write some short messages on the leaves: autumn quotes, autumn words, you favourite things about autumn, etc.
  
   
• Optional: You can do these as a group with younger children -- let each child paint and cut out one or two autumn leaves, possibly print their names on it, and glue it on the group wreath.

Templates:

• After printing, close the template window to return to the main page.
• If the template doesn’t fit on one page, adjust your printer margins:
  • In most browsers: Print → More settings → Margins → Minimum
  • Or use Page Setup / Printer Setup in your printer dialog

Autumn Leaves Template

Printable version of these instructions