Autumn Crowns with Leaves and Marigolds

Fall is a fantastic time to get creative with leaves. This week in our nature play session, we made leaf crowns. I tried and tested this popular craft activity using several different methods. My goal was to find something that was easy for the kids to affix the leaves onto and didn't involve glue, tape, or staples.

Supplies: Elastic cording, pretty-colored fall leaves or flowers (I used marigolds but mums would also work nicely)

Preparation: Braid three pieces of the elastic cording together. Knot at the end to fashion a crown shape.

ACTIVITY

Step 1-Have kids collect the leaves they would like to use (we used fun apple orchard buckets), then dump them out and pick through the pile to find their adornments. 

Step 2-Participants (child assisted with an adult) can push the stems of the leaves through the braided portions of the elastic crown.

This Dad and tot work together to push the leaves through the braided cord. 

I did these crowns with Marigolds as well. This photo shows a good shot of what the cording looks like.

This is an action shot of me pushing a marigold stem through the elastic cording.

 Depending on the age of the child, they will be able to do more or less of this. Selecting the leaves is always a portion of this activity that any age can do. If an adult holds the elastic open, a young child can push the stem through. The 8 year old pictured below had absolutely no problem doing it on her own! Younger children will need more assistance, but less so compared to stapling or gluing in my opinion.

The leaves crown turned out earthy and beautiful!

This is a crown version with marigolds. Also great autumn colors!