I can’t think of anything I love more than receiving sweet keepsake crafts from my boys. Those little hand, finger and footprints get me every time! I love them so much, that I decided to create 12 unique fall keepsakes that I could make with my boys to frame and hang in our home for the season before we tuck them aside and save them forever.
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The printables you will see in this post feature beautiful watercolor clipart that are personalized by children through different crafting techniques. As stated above, we love to display them in our home before we tuck them away for the season.
How to Display Your Keepsake Crafts
Here are three ways we like to display our keepsakes:
1. In a Nature Area
We hung a few on a bulletin board in our nature area! This worked well, because we had leaves and other pieces of nature on our nature table, so the boys could use those for the posters.
2. In a Dollar Store Document Frame
Document frames fit an 8.5×11 inch paper perfectly! I took the glass piece out so there were no accidents. If you don’t have a Dollar Store near you, you can find one here.
3. In an Oversized Thrift Store Frame
Find an oversized frame, tape twine on the back and attach the keepsake crafts with clothespins! You can find inexpensive frames at thrift shops.
Let’s check out the keepsakes!
Keepsake #1
Leaves are one of my favorite fall nature finds so it’s fun to add them to a keepsake and look back on the leaves we gathered in previous years! We loved searching for a couple of feathers that were just right for this keepsake. Once you find them, just cut some fringe in the leaves, glue them on the keepsake and hang it on the wall for thanksgiving!
You might want to consider pressing the leaves first to help preserve them, but we skipped this step. These were pretty hardy leaves and didn’t curl at all.
Keepsake #2
We love going on moon walks and tend to see bats flying over our heads at night in our area. I want to remember these moments forever so we made a cute button full moon. If you haven’t already, I suggest starting a moon walk tradition! Your kids will love it and the fresh air makes everyone happy.
Keepsake #3
With two young children in our home, the alphabet song is in constant singing rotation;) I remember the first time Leo sang it with Sonny and I couldn’t believe how fast time goes. It seems like just yesterday they, were little babies. Time needs to slow down! To remember this early academic milestones, I made this stamp the alphabet acorn keepsake. They loved making them and we all thought it made a nice decoration!
Keepsake #4
Yes, Halloween is one of our favorite holidays and ghosts are a fun part of the day! I thought these adorable footprint ghosts made them a little less spooky and a fun Halloween tradition for my boys. You can use either fingerprints or bingo daubers for the eyes and mouth.
Keepsake #5
Who else goes to the pumpkin patch every year?! This is on our annual fall bucket list and is never EVER passed up. Trace your child’s hand and glue it to the pumpkin, frame it and hang it up! Make sure you save this one! You can compare hands from year to year.
Keepsake #6
Apple picking is also a favorite fall activity for us! We have a special orchard that we go to every year that involves a train ride and apple sugar donuts. It’s so special to me that I hope to bring my grandkids to the same spot for apple picking! This apple thumbprint keepsake is one of my favorites and also makes a great keepsake craft gift!
Keepsake #7
Speaking of great gifts, each grandparent got this keepsake for thanksgiving last year! It’s still hanging in their homes a year later. Just cut a simple leaf shape out of construction paper and either let your children write what they are thankful for or you can write if for them! Glue the leaves on the tree and you are all set.
Keepsake #8
Make some wonderful leaf pile jumping memories and then bring a few inside to cut into little pieces. Glue them on this printable and you have a beautiful keepsake to save for years to come. Every time you dig it out, you will be reminded of those joyful fall memories!
Keepsake #9
We love observing spiders in the fall! Spiders that were babies in spring have had all spring and summer to grow and grow. So, they are much more noticeable in fall. We did a little marble painting for this activity to create a beautiful silvery metallic spiderweb! This process is so fun and I think makes the perfect keepsake to remember all of our fall spider nature walks.
Keepsake #10
Go on a leaf hunt and bring in a few to stamp on this pretty printable. Again, we used a shimmery metallic paint to make this keepsake extra special. It’s a fun way to document a memorable leaf hunt!
Keepsake #11
Those beautiful pieces of nature that fall from trees are what makes fall so special! Glue some special nature finds onto clothespins and invite your children to arrange them in any way they would like on this paper autumn wreath. This looks beautiful hung on the wall!
Keepsake #12
This is the annual bucket list that we check off every year! I attached our glittery acorns which was our nature craft for last fall. They were so shimmery and easy to attach to the bucket list. We still have those acorns and we turned them into magnets!
If you love these keepsake crafts, you can find them here!
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I hope you give these activities a try! I promise, your little nature lovers will love them as much as my boys.
∼Tara
