Materials

• Fall frame
  
  Purchase a bag or two of colorful, fake fall leaves at a craft shop. Or take your toddler out for a walk to find real leaves, twigs or acorns. Other supplies can include 8-by-10-inch mat frames, small mat board pieces, white or colored paper gift bags with handle and peel-and-stick magnet strips (1/2 inch wide by 2 1/2 inches long).
  
  Embellishments can include small decorative items such as plastic buttons in fall colors or 3-by-3-inch squares of mat board and small pieces stamped with fall images in bronze or gold metallic ink. Have on hand chunky glue sticks, which are easy to hold, or tubes of white liquid glue for older children. As the adult, use a hot glue gun and glue sticks when a project needs a little more security.
  
  

Craft Ideas

• Fall magnets
  
  Let your toddler lay fall leaves around the front of the frame. Attach each leaf one at a time by applying glue with the glue stick. Add embellishments to enhance the artwork. Use the frame to contain one of your child's drawings.
  
  Let your toddlers turn a plain gift bag into one to hold fall-themed goodies and treats. Give each child a few fall leaves, stamped pieces of mat board with fall images and plastic buttons.
  
  Glue fall leaves onto the squares of mat board along with embellishments. Attach a strip of peel-and-stick magnetic tape to the back to create decorative magnets.
  
  

A Few Tips

• Although a toddler's attention span is short, let each child work at his own pace. Place all the materials for a project at each child's place. Have more than one art project available to keep the fast workers occupied. Keep supplies and materials simple, easy to handle and limited in quantity.
  
  Show a completed project to your toddler before he begins so he has an idea what it is going to look like when he's finished. Let him sign his work with a marker as best he can.