Celebrate all of the gorgeous colors of the fall season with this autumn leaf painting idea for kids! Kids will learn about blending and mixing colors together with acrylic paint. This is also a great project to talk about using warm and cool colors in art projects.
We love exploring different painting techniques. Take a look at my collection of painting ideas for kids for more fun and creative art projects to try!
These paintings would look stunning in a classroom display and an amazing art project to hang up at home!
For this project, I created three printable leaf templates to make this craft even easier for you. This template is available to my email subscribers as part of my free printable resource library. Fill out the form below to gain instant access.
After signing up you will receive a welcome email with all of the sign-in details.
If you are looking for more fall art projects take a look at my collection of creative fall painting ideas for kids! There are ideas for kids of all ages that use different types of art materials and techniques.
For another fall leaf idea using the same leaf templates, take a look at this fall leaf painting with watercolors.
Create your own autumn leaf painting
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Supplies
- Leaf templates, available below (optional)
- Canvas paper, canvas or white cardstock
- Acrylic paint
- Paintbrushes
- Paint palette, water dish
- Pencil and scissors
Instructions to make your fall painting
1. First, print out your leaf templates onto white printer paper. Kids can also choose to draw their own leaf or you can even try using real leaves as a template.
2. For this project, you can use canvas paper, canvas, or even white cardstock.
We used canvas paper for this project, I love using canvas paper. It’s just like painting on a canvas but you can cut it to any size you like and it is easier to store than regular canvas on a wooden frame.
I cut our canvas paper to 8 inches x 9 1/4 inches.
Once you have your paper ready to the size that you want, have kids choose a leaf template and trace it onto the paper or have them draw their own leaf on the paper with a pencil.
3. Get your paint ready. Put some red, orange, yellow, and dark brown acrylic paint on a paint palette. If you are following along with my tutorial, I painted using dark to light. But kids can choose to paint and blend however they like.
Start with the stem and paint it dark brown. Start to add in the red acrylic, blending with the brown and painting part of the leaf. Add in the orange and yellow colors, blending the paints together as you go.
Blending and mixing the colors together on the paper is a fun process that kids will enjoy!
4. Once the leaf is painted, use a small round brush and dark brown paint to paint in the veins of the leaf. This can be done while the leaf is still wet so that the brown paint can mix a bit with the other colors.
Let everything dry completely before moving on.
5. Now it’s time to paint the background. Have kids choose a color for their background. I did shades of blue and green for my examples.
For the blue background, you will need bright blue, dark blue, and white. This is another opportunity for kids to have fun with blending!
Start with the bright blue color and carefully paint around the leaf. Add some darker blue around the leaf and start to blend the two blues together.
Finally, paint in some white around the outer edge of the paper and blend.
For the green background, I painted dark green for the main color and blended in a lighter green color.
This autumn leaf painting is such a colorful and fun fall project for kids to try! Blending and mixing colors together with acrylic paint is a great process for kids to explore.
Fill in the form below to gain access to my printable resource library!
After signing up you will receive a welcome email with all of the sign-in details.
Take a look at these adorable q-tip painted mini pumpkins for another fun fall art idea!
More fall art projects kids will love
Fall Tree Painting with Bundled Q-tips
Gorgeous Fall Leaf Chalk Pastel Art
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Pin this painting idea for later
Beautiful Autumn Leaf Painting Idea for Kids
Celebrate all of the gorgeous colors of fall with this autumn leaf painting for kids! Kids will learn about blending and mixing colors with acrylic paints.
Materials
- Leaf templates (optional)
- Canvas paper, canvas or white cardstock
- Acrylic paint
- Pencil
Tools
- Paintbrushes
- Paint palette, water dish
- Scissors
Instructions
- Print out your leaf template onto white paper and cut it out. Kids can also choose to draw their own leaf if they like.
- Trace your leaf onto your paper. I used canvas paper but you can also use white cardstock.
- Get your fall paint colors ready. Put some red, orange, yellow, and dark brown paint onto a paint palette.
- Start to paint the stem of your leaf with dark brown paint. Add in some red and blend the red with the dark brown.
Continue to paint the leaf with red, orange, and yellow, blending as you go. Blending and mixing colors as you paint is a fun process for kids to explore! - While the leaf is still a bit wet, use a small round brush and dark brown paint to paint in the veins of the leaf.
Let everything dry completely before moving on. - Now it's time to paint the background. This is another opportunity for kids to practice blending paint. To follow along with my example, you will need bright blue, dark blue, and white.
For the green background, use a darker green as your main color and blend in a lighter green around the leaf. - First, paint around the leaf slowly and carefully with the bright blue color. Blend in some darker blue paint around the leaf.
Finally, paint and blend in white around the outer edges of your paper.
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