Fall Leaf Suncatchers Craft

Last Updated on November 18, 2024 by Sheryl Cooper

Inside: These fall leaf suncatchers are easy to make using paper plates, contact paper, and leaves. Once finished they bring so much color while hanging in the window!

While I am always sad when summer ends, I do love the burst of color that fall brings to our area.

Most of this color comes from leaves before they fall from the trees.

During our fall theme we love to collect leaves and place them on our science table, where we explore them with magnifying glasses and sort them by color.

Since our classroom has huge picture windows, suncatchers are very visible.

I decided to invite my two and three year olds to take some of leaves and create paper plate suncatchers.

Related: 25+ Leaf Activities

I love adding a suncatcher craft to our art table.

That’s no surprise if you’ve been following Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds for awhile!

Some examples:

There’s even more, but I don’t want to keep you here all day. (Unless you want to! If so, put “suncatchers” into the blog’s search box and you will see them all.)

I’ve used templates with some of them (such as these leaf suncatchers we did a few years ago), but I found an even easier way to create suncatchers: paper plates.

If you saw my spring suncatchers, you are familiar with this method.

What takes the most prep is cutting out the Contact paper, but it’s worth it.

Let me show you how they are done!

Fall Leaf Suncatchers Craft

First, let’s talk about what you will need.

Plain white paper plates (the cheaper, flimsy ones)
Contact (sticky) paper
String
Hole punch
Tempera paint (we used brown and green)
Paintbrushes
Leaves*

*Note: If you live in an area that does not have colorful fall leaves, you can always use artificial leaves.

Now, the prep.

Gather enough paper plates so each of the children has one.
Cut out the centers so that you only have the rims of the paper plates.
(Save the circle centers for a future painting activity!)
Punch a hole in the rim for the string. (I don’t add the string until after they are painted.)
Cut pieces of Contact paper so that they are large enough to cover the opening in the center of the plate. You will want two per suncatcher. Keep the paper backing on until ready to use.

Step One

Paint the rims of the paper plates.
Let dry completely.

Getting Ready for Step Two

Tie a loop of string in the hole of each suncatcher.

Place ONE sheet of Contact paper on each suncatcher. Remove backing before placing on paper plate.

If you are stacking these while waiting for the children to press the leaves on their suncatchers, stick the backing back on the sticky side to prevent anything from sticking to them.