Hello Daydreamers!

Looking for a fun and lovely hands-on craft to make with your child during the fall season? This Fall Paper Plate Tree Craft has everything to introduce your little ones to this amazing and cozy season!

To simplify your life, I’ve included a template in two versions: a colored option for quick and easy crafting and one for coloring, allowing for creativity and personalization.

paper plate fall tree craft for kids different styles. Daylight, night, with fingertips for leave.

Not only is this craft a fun way to spend quality time with your child, but it also provides an excellent opportunity to teach them some facts about the fall season, including why leaves fall from the trees and why days start to get shorter.

Make a Paper Plate Fall Tree Craft at school with our free printable template. This hands-on craft activity is perfect for teaching kids about fall, allowing them to create and explore the changing colors of autumn leaves in an educational environment. — **Pin it for later!**

In addition, kids can enhance their fine motor skills as they cut, paint, and color, making this craft an enjoyable and beneficial activity for everyone involved!

This craft is suitable for toddlers, preschoolers, kindergartners, and even older children with the assistance of a parent or teacher. It yields beautiful results that can be used as part of your child’s fall decor.

Tools & Materials

Printer
Template (download at the end of the article; you don’t need to subscribe!)
Glue
9-inch paper plate
Scissors
Paint brush
White cardstock
Sky and navy blue paint
Orange, red, and yellow paint (optional)
Colors, markers (optional)

materials for making a paper plate fall tree craft for kids

Super tip: If you don’t have paper plates, trace and cut an 8-9-inch circle on white cardstock.

Step 1 – Print Thanksgiving Dinner Template

Print the template pages that best fit you (at the end of this tutorial). I chose to print the colored version.

template for paper plate fall tree craft

Step 2 – Paint

Always start by painting, as it takes longer to dry. Your child will likely want to glue as soon as they finish cutting.

You can get creative with this craft by making the tree look set in either daytime or nighttime, simply by painting the paper plate sky or navy blue.

You can show your child some pictures in this article and let her pick whether he wants to do a day or night “fall tree scene.”

Step 3 – Cut Template

While your plates are drying, cut out all the pieces of the template you’d like to glue on your fall tree craft.

Honest is key! The leaves are a little hard to cut because of all the intricate cuts. I used my cutting machine for them. I rushed the process with my hand-cut leaf because my hands had been hurting from cutting multiple templates in the last couple of days.

I made the leaves and tree a little thicker for easier cutting. However, you may have to help your child cut them both.

Tip: If you don’t feel like making more intricate cuts, you can always have your child dip his precious little fingertips in paint and tap on some branches to make the leaves.

Step 4 – Glue

It’s time to glue our adorable fall tree on the paper plate!

all cut pieces for paper plate fall tree craft

Start with the hill. It goes all the way down to the bottom of the paper plate.

Tip: Spread glue with your fingers to avoid getting the paper wet and having the color bleed.

Next, glue the leaf pile on the hill, followed by the clouds.

It’s time to glue the centerpiece for this craft!

Let’s paste the tree! You don’t need to add glue to every single part of the tree. You’ll want to leave some branches without glue and curl them forward for a 3d pop effect.

Finally, glue the leaves on the tree. You want them to be scattered throughout all the branches.

There you have it! A beautiful fall tree craft.

Doesn’t it look gorgeous? I don’t know if you can notice how some of the “unglued” branches come forward and give life to the craft.

paper plate fall tree craft for kids - daylight scene

Other Assemble Ideas

Here are some pictures of other ways you can create this project.

As I mentioned in the “cut” step, your child can use his fingertips. Also, check out how beautiful the scene looks when you paint the paper plate navy blue!

fall paper plate tree craft for kids night scene

Which one is your favorite?

Download Template!

As I mentioned, here’s the Fall Tree template for your craft! Click the image to open the PDF in a new window, or the yellow button to trigger a download on your phone or computer.

free paper plate fall tree craft for kids pdf template to download — Download PDF

Oh!

Just so you know, I also have a library full of free SVG files and Printables for all my subscribers, a.k.a. Daydreamers. You can see a preview right here or get access by filling out this form.