Mini Canvas Fall Craft

I signed-up to lead a 10-minute crafts activity at Naia's kindergarten class for a fall celebration party and went with my tried-and-tested mini canvas art idea.  The kids did so well and I was so proud of how everyone's canvases turned out!

 
This craft can be shortened to 10 minutes or can take as long as an hour to complete by using a larger canvas or by omitting the prep work and having the participants create everything from scratch.  In this case, to keep the craft under 10 minutes and age-appropriate, I prepped most of the elements ahead of time,

1. Painted the 4 X 4 mini canvas ahead of time in different fall colors
2. Cut out different leaf shapes on yellow, orange, brown, green papers
3. Printed on small cards, phrases like,
   • Hallelujah
   • Jesus Loves Me
   • Thank You God for the Four Seasons
   • I Love the Yellows, Oranges, Reds, and Browns of Fall
4. Added foam adhesives to the back of these small cards to raise them off the surface of the mini canvas.
5. Nailed in the sawtooth hanging nail in the back so that they could hang their masterpieces when they got home.

At each table we laid out a stack of mini canvases in different colors, as well as the leaves and a container of buttons.  Each child had a sheet of paper at their workspace to catch any mess, as well as a bottle of white glue.  Each table also had a parent helper to guide them.  Here are the steps we took,

1. Each child to select a mini canvas of their choice
2. Before sticking anything down, to check if their sawtooth hook was on the top (very important step!)
3. Pick one large leaf of their choice, and use the white glue to stick the leaf down
4. Pick a printed tag/card (alot of them who did not know how to read yet, wanted to know what the words on the cards said so maybe I should have read them out loud first) and adhere it on their canvas.  As mentioned earlier, these cards had foam squares on the back so the card was raised from the canvas surface for some dimension.
5. Final step, pick their choice of buttons and use the white glue to stick them down on the canvas.

It was so much fun seeing how intent they were with their craft and catching some discussions on what colors they want to use and how they wanted to lay them out. :o)

 
We then set them aside to dry and by the end of the party, most of their canvases were dry and ready to be taken home!  (Those that had been a wee bit heavy-handed with the glue, needed a little more drying time.)

This was such an easy craft to have them participate in and now they have a piece of artwork to celebrate Fall!