My kids get into fall as much as anybody. They love doing crafts and projects with apples, pumpkins, and (especially) colorful and crunchy leaves that have fallen from the trees.

We homeschool, so I need a lot of activities to get us through the whole season. (Because, you know, we can’t do the same project twice. My toddler wouldn’t notice, but my 5-year-old would complain.)

Here are a few activities that are on my list:

1. Make a shape scarecrow

This is a really simple craft that involves cutting out shapes and having your kids piece them together to make a scarecrow. If your kids are older, they can do the cutting themselves.

2. Make a fall leaves bird

You could make anything from leaves. Go outside with your kids and collect dry leaves with your kids. Look for a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors. Once you’re back inside, draw the outline of a bird, a scarecrow, a person, a village of pilgrims, whatever. Have your kids glue fall leaves into the shapes instead of coloring.

3. Make masks for your pumpkins

Making masks for your pumpkins will make them last a lot longer (compared to cutting them right away). After you get tired of the masks, paint the pumpkins. When you’re tired of the painted pumpkins, carve them. It’s a whole season of fun!

4. Make coffee filter spiderwebs

This just looks like fun to me, though I’ve never tried it. If you start with coffee filters, the spiderwebs will all be round.

5. Make a fall leaves crown

Can you tell that we do a lot of crafts with leaves? Make a crown from construction paper and then glue or staple dry leaves to it.

6. Make a fall tree

This neat little craft uses an old puzzle (do you have one with missing pieces? if not, pick one up at the dollar store) and brown craft paper or a paper bag crumpled up.

7. Make a hand print spider

I am a hand print craft junkie. If it can be made from hand prints, my kids will make it at some point. I thought this little spider was cute and perfect for fall.

8. Explore pumpkin guts together

Have your kids ever looked inside a pumpkin? This is a great idea, just to cut one open and explore it. You can tie in math (counting the seeds), feel the goo inside, roast the seeds, and even roast and use the pumpkin flesh.

9. Make apple crisp together

Apple crisp is essentially just cut apples toppled with a crumb topping. It’s so easy that even a 2-year-old can help prepare it, especially if you have one of those apple peeler/corer/slicer tools. If not, peel and cut the apples into slices and let your kids help mix the topping and assemble the crisp. This is my favorite apple crisp recipe.

10. Make a wormy apple snack

I saw this in a magazine years ago, and it’s so easy to make! You cut the apple, take out the core, and glue the whole thing back together with peanut butter.

11. Read a fall themed book like the Pumpkin Patch Parable.

My 5-year-old adores this book series.

What are your favorite Harvest crafts or recipes?

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Tara Ziegmont is a professional blogger, blog coach, and SEO specialist. She created an internationally-syndicated, award-winning blog called Feels Like Home in 2007 and continues to publish it today. Tara homeschools the older of her two crazy children and lives an old-school back-to-basics frugal lifestyle while working full-time from home.