Acorn Pumpkins

Want a festive decoration that won't clutter up your porch? Try a patch of mini pumpkins small enough to fit in your child's hand.

CRAFT MATERIALS:
Acorns
Orange acrylic paint
Brown acrylic paint
Black permanent marker
Time needed: 30 Minutes or Less

1. Remove the caps from a handful of acorns.

2. Coat each one with orange acrylic paint, adding a bit of brown to the acorn's point for a stem.

3. Let the paints dry, then add a jack-o'-lantern face with a black permanent marker.

Tips: Warning: As several FamilyFun readers who made this craft found out, some acorns are infested with weevils. The weevils feed on the nutmeat while they develop over the summer, and when the acorns hit the ground in the fall, these insects know it's time to start chewing their way out and into the ground -- or your home. Reader Janie Foster offers a solution: before you start the project, bake the acorns in a slow oven to kill the weevils. Just be careful not to burn the acorns!

Foliage Friends

Use your imagination (and some paper, glue, and a pen or pencil) to turn ordinary backyard leaves into a whimsical menagerie.

CRAFT MATERIALS:

Autumn leaves from your yard
Paper
Glue
Pencils, pens, or crayons
Time needed: About 2 to 3 Hours
1. Go outside and see what kinds of animals are hiding in your leaf piles. Below are some possibilities. When you've found leaves in your yard whose shapes you like, glue them to pieces of paper and use pencil, pen or crayon to make your creatures complete. To preserve your creations, press them between two books.

2. MAPLE: These leaves have three main points and lots of smaller ones; count them as they flutter by.

3. ROSE: The rounded shape of this bush's leaves makes them look a lot like little shields.

4. BIRCH: As big and tall as this white-bark tree can get, its leaves are as small and as light as feathers.

5. GERANIUM: You might flip your wig if you find one of these wild-looking leaves in your yard.

6. BARBERRY: While this plant doesn't live underwater, its leaves resemble raindrops.