Preschool Crafts

12 September Crafts for Preschoolers (Easy Ideas)

12 September crafts for preschoolers, each with a picture and simple steps. Easy ideas for ages 3 to 5 using paper, paint, and glue.


September smells like apples and new crayons, and the first craft of the year comes home flat in a backpack. Here are 12 September crafts for preschoolers, each with a picture, supplies, and steps.

A three-year-old presses a halved apple into paint and dots red fingerprints onto the fingerprint apple tree, counting as they go. A five-year-old glues their name in order on the apple name craft, and picks leaves for a fall nature collage on the walk home. Make the handprint keepsake now, while the hand is still small.

Start here: three September crafts that always work

12 September crafts for preschoolers, with pictures

Apple stamping, an easy September craft for preschoolers ages 3 to 5

1. Apple stamping

The child dips a halved apple in paint and presses it onto paper to make apple prints.

Fits September: Fall and Apple.

Easy for 3sStamping

You need: white paper, 1 apple, red, green and yellow paint, brown marker, paper plates for paint

How to make it
  1. You cut the apple in half across the middle and pat it dry.
  2. Pour a little red paint on a plate. Your child dips the apple half and presses it on the paper.
  3. Stamp 2 red, 2 green and 1 yellow print, spaced apart so they do not touch.
  4. Let the paint dry, then draw a short brown stem on top of each print.
Salt dough handprint keepsake, an easy September craft for preschoolers ages 3 to 5

2. Salt dough handprint keepsake

The child presses a hand into salt dough, which is dried and painted.

Fits September: Christmas and Mother's Day.

Handprint

You need: salt dough, rolling pin, round cutter or cup, paint of choice, paintbrush

How to make it
  1. Roll the salt dough out thick and cut a round disc about as wide as a saucer.
  2. Your child presses one open hand into the middle, fingers spread, then you lift it away.
  3. Let the disc dry hard, for a day or two.
  4. Paint the inside of the handprint.
Leaf suncatcher, an easy September craft for preschoolers ages 3 to 5

3. Leaf suncatcher

The child sticks torn tissue paper or real leaves onto sticky contact paper inside a leaf-shaped frame for the window.

Fits September: Thanksgiving and Fall.

Collage

You need: brown construction paper, clear contact paper, tissue paper, clear tape

How to make it
  1. You cut a leaf shape with a short stem from brown paper, then cut out the middle to leave a frame about one finger wide.
  2. Peel the contact paper backing and lay it sticky side up. Press the frame onto it.
  3. Your child tears tissue paper and sticks the pieces inside the frame until it is mostly filled.
  4. Trim the extra contact paper around the leaf and tape it in a window.
Coffee filter apple, an easy September craft for preschoolers ages 3 to 5

4. Coffee filter apple

The child colours a coffee filter red, green or yellow, wets it, and adds a stem and leaf.

Fits September: Fall and Coffee filter.

Process art

You need: 1 round white coffee filter, red washable marker, water spray bottle, brown and green paper, glue stick

How to make it
  1. Your child scribbles all over the filter with the red marker.
  2. Spray it with water until the color bleeds, then leave it flat to dry.
  3. You cut a small brown rectangle and a green leaf from paper.
  4. Glue the stem at the top edge and the leaf next to it.
Fall nature collage, an easy September craft for preschoolers ages 3 to 5

5. Fall nature collage

The child collects leaves, seeds and twigs on a walk and sticks them onto cardboard or contact paper.

Fits September: Fall and Grandparents Day.

Nature

You need: 1 rectangle of brown cardboard, maple leaves, short twigs, acorns, white glue

How to make it
  1. Your child glues maple leaves flat on the cardboard, spread out and partly overlapping.
  2. Glue twigs between the leaves at different angles.
  3. Glue acorns in the gaps.
  4. Let it dry flat, with a book on top if the leaves curl.
Leaf people, an easy September craft for preschoolers ages 3 to 5

6. Leaf people

The child glues leaves, twigs and acorns onto paper to build little people or animals, then draws faces.

Fits September: Fall and Leaf.

Nature

You need: 2 big leaves, 8 short thin twigs, black marker, white glue, white paper

How to make it
  1. Glue the 2 leaves side by side on the paper with the stems pointing down. Each leaf is a body.
  2. Glue 2 short twigs under each leaf as legs.
  3. Glue 1 twig on each side of each leaf as arms.
  4. Draw 2 dot eyes and a smile on the upper part of each leaf with the marker.
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Paper plate sunflower, an easy September craft for preschoolers ages 3 to 5

7. Paper plate sunflower

The child paints a plate yellow, snips or adds petals and glues real seeds or black paper in the centre.

Fits September: Fall and Summer.

Paint and glue

You need: 1 small white paper plate, yellow poster paint, sunflower seeds, green paper, glue

How to make it
  1. Your child paints the plate yellow. Let it dry.
  2. You snip short cuts all the way around the rim to make a fringe of petals.
  3. Spread glue on the flat middle and press on the seeds until it is covered.
  4. Cut a green strip and glue it under the bottom edge as the stem.
  5. Cut a leaf and glue it on the stem.
Coffee filter sunflower, an easy September craft for preschoolers ages 3 to 5

8. Coffee filter sunflower

The child colours a coffee filter yellow and orange, wets it, then adds a dark centre and stem.

Fits September: Coffee filter and Flower.

Process art

You need: 1 coffee filter, yellow and orange washable markers, water in a spray bottle, brown paper, green paper, light blue paper, glue

How to make it
  1. Your child colors the coffee filter with yellow and orange marker.
  2. Spray it with water so the colors run together. Let it dry.
  3. Glue the filter flat near the top of the blue sheet. Cut a brown circle and glue it in the middle of the filter.
  4. Cut a green strip and glue it below the filter as the stem.
  5. Cut 2 leaves and glue one on each side of the stem.
Fingerprint apple tree, an easy September craft for preschoolers ages 3 to 5

9. Fingerprint apple tree

The child dots red fingerprints onto a tree drawing and counts the apples.

Fits September: Apple and Tree.

Easy for 3s

You need: brown paper, green paper, red poster paint, white paper, glue

How to make it
  1. You cut a brown trunk and a green cloud-shaped treetop.
  2. Your child glues the trunk at the bottom middle of the white sheet, then the treetop above it, overlapping the top of the trunk.
  3. Dip a fingertip in red paint and dot apples on the treetop.
Pom pom apple tree, an easy September craft for preschoolers ages 3 to 5

10. Pom pom apple tree

The child glues or presses red pom poms onto a tree, or stamps with them.

Fits September: Apple and Letter A.

Easy for 3sCollage

You need: brown paper, green paper, red pom poms, white paper, glue

How to make it
  1. You cut a brown trunk and a green cloud-shaped treetop.
  2. Your child glues the trunk at the bottom middle of the sheet and the treetop above it, overlapping the top of the trunk.
  3. Glue red pom poms on the treetop as apples.
Apple name craft, an easy September craft for preschoolers ages 3 to 5

11. Apple name craft

The child writes or receives one letter of their name per circle and glues them in order on a paper apple.

Fits September: Apple and Name.

You need: red paper, brown paper, green paper, yellow paper, black marker, white paper, glue stick

How to make it
  1. You cut a large red apple, a small brown stem, a green leaf and one yellow circle for each letter of the name.
  2. Your child glues the apple in the middle of the white paper, the stem at the top and the leaf beside it.
  3. Glue the circles in a row from left to right across the middle of the apple.
  4. Write one big capital letter on each circle. Your child can trace or copy you.
Mail a hug, an easy September craft for preschoolers ages 3 to 5

12. Mail a hug

The child's traced hands are joined by a ribbon the length of their arm span to post as a hug.

Fits September: Valentine's Day.

Handprint

You need: light blue construction paper, 1 very long piece of thin red ribbon, black marker, hole punch

How to make it
  1. Trace both of your child's hands on light blue paper with the marker. You cut them out.
  2. Punch one hole near the wrist of each paper hand.
  3. Push one end of the ribbon through each hole and tie a knot, so the ribbon joins the two hands.

Easy september crafts for preschoolers: the 3 a young three can do

These 3 need no exact cutting and no small pieces, so a young three can do most of it alone: Apple stamping, Fingerprint apple tree, Pom pom apple tree.

Apples, leaves and a 3 year old in September

Apple stamping is the one to start with. Cut an apple in half across the middle so the star shows, pour red paint on a plate, and a three year old presses prints alone. Eat the other half.

The fingerprint apple tree and the pom pom apple tree are the counting crafts. Draw the tree, let your child add apples, then count them together. Stop at whatever number they are happy with.

The leaf suncatcher, fall nature collage and leaf people all start with a walk. Bring a bag, collect leaves, twigs and acorns, and do the gluing the same day before the leaves curl.

The apple name craft is a good first week of preschool craft. Write one letter per circle, and a four year old glues them in order. The salt dough handprint keepsake marks the start of the year and gets kept.

What you need for September crafts

Most of these use the same handful of supplies: white paper, green paper, glue, brown paper, black marker, glue stick, white glue, apple. Everything else is named on the craft it belongs to.

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