A fun and easy Fall leaf art activity created by making your own scratch art paper inspired by the colorful leaves!
Updated August 2025
It’s that time of year again! Autumn, when we can collect leaves of all different colors and use them for so many crafts! Each autumn leaf is a work of art – a tiny canvas worthy of framing.
Here’s a leaf art project we love, inspired by some of the beautiful fall leaves we’ve collected.
Did you know that you can make your own scratch art paper? It’s super simple and fun! In this post, we’ll show you how to make beautiful Autumn leaf scratch art paper, but you can also make spooky Halloween scratch art paper!
Here’s a video showing the details of DIY scratch paper, and be sure to keep scrolling for instructions on how to use the technique to make beautiful Fall leaf art!
Fall Leaf Art with Scratch Art Paper
MATERIALS
- Sturdy paper or watercolor paper
- Oil pastels
- Paint (Tempera works; we also love BioColor paint for this (usually black but the metallic purple looks great, too!)
- Foam brush
- Toothpicks and/or Q-tips
INSTRUCTIONS
- Fill your paper with color
First, cover the paper with oil pastel drawings until the entire sheet is full of color. You can draw something specific or abstract designs.
Optional: You can cut this paper into smaller pieces, to make more pages of scratch art paper. - Cover your color
Cover the oil pastel drawings with paint, making sure to cover the drawing completely. The purple seemed like it might not work with the autumn colors, but it was perfect! And reminded us of the lovely fall flowers blooming.
- Add your leaf designs
Finally, scratch your autumn leaf designs through the surface of the wet paint with toothpicks and Q-tips.
We recommend you make some fall leaf art with scratch art paper! If you make your own scratch art papers, you can focus on autumnal colors (even purple!) or if you want to use pre-made scratch art paper, that works just great, too.
More Fall Leaf Art Activities
- 10 Fun Crafts with Leaves for Autumn
- 12 Creative Fall Craft Ideas for Kids
- 5 Fall Book Craft Ideas for Kids
- How to Make Fall Leaf Rubbings for Kids
- 10 Fall Sensory Bins for Kids
- 30 Creative Fall Activities for Kids
Want even more Fall fun?
Check out our Autumn Creativity Pack!
This 34-page printable eBook is full of Autumn-themed art activities, drawing prompts, creative play ideas, and more!
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