We had a friend coming over recently, and she was so impressed by the fact that we had made cider for her.  She walked in the house and said it smelled “mulled.”  I asked what that was, and she told me she meant the way some people warm it with spices and everything.  So, I was all, “Yeah, that’s the kind we’re having.”  Seriously, I looked like a total Suzie Homemaker, and the whole process from start to finish took about ten minutes.

What You’ll Need to Make Homemade Mulled Apple Cider

• Apples – We used about a dozen (If you want to cheat and do really easy version, just use pre-made apple juice.  Your kid will totally not care.)
• Juicer
• Apple slicer or knife
• Cinnamon
• Nutmeg
• Cloves

I've looked into the difference between "apple juice" and "apple cider," and even though the juicer filters it to some degree, I'd say what comes out still qualifies as cider.

Wash your apples. If you happen to have a ladybug around, it makes this part more fun. ;-)

Slice your apples.

Run the apples through the juicer right into a sauce pan. Add about a teaspoon of cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon each of ground nutmeg and ground cloves.

I didn’t get a picture of it, but the spices left kind of a scum on top after the apple cider was warmed, so I just skimmed it off.

It tastes delicious and totally made my house smell like the holidays!

Related Pages: Leaf Templates, Printable Thanksgiving Placecards, Thanksgiving Cupcakes

Thanksgiving Turkey Template	Thanksgiving Mayflower Template	Thanksgiving Pilgrim Hat Template
Thanksgiving Cornucopia Template	Fall Acorn Template	Fall Harvest Corn Template
Fall Wheat Grain Sheaf Template	Fall Leaves Template	Fall Pumpkin Template

Check out all of our Thanksgiving kids activities while you are here!

My finger puppet crafts are some of the most popular on Craft Jr., especially this Halloween puppet set – one of my personal favorites, too!

Related Pages: Owl Crafts, Fall Pumpkin Decorations, Giraffe Sock Puppet

Fall Kids Crafts - Scarecrow, Squirrel, Owl, Raccoon and Autumn Tree Finger Puppets

Fall Finger Puppets Craft Materials List

I’ve placed a photograph next to each finger puppet with the exact materials needed. All of them require a very easy to find set of stuff:

Pipe Cleaners

Pom Poms

Googly Eyes

Glue (Hot glue gun works best, but I’ve since discovered that even regular glue will suffice, it just takes longer to dry)

Wire Cutters (So you don’t ruin your scissors cutting the pipe cleaners)

How to Make These Fall Puppet Crafts

Please refer to the original Easter finger puppets post for general assembly instructions.

It explains the general instructions on how to wind the pipe cleaners around your finger and how to attach the pom poms accurately.

Fall Scarecrow Finger Puppet

Fall Scarecrow Finger Puppet Craft

First wind the two full lenth green pipe cleaners together around your finger tip to form the puppet base.

Cut 5 pieces of yellow pipe cleaner for his straw ‘hair’ – make them slightly different lengths between 3/4″ and 1″ inch.

Make the scarecrow hat as shown:

Pipe Cleaner Scarecrow Hat

Cut two 1″ pieces of yellow pipe cleaner for his straw hands – attach them by bending the wire to both ends of a 4″ piece of green pipe cleaner.

It’s easiest to glue the straw hair to the inside of the hat, then glue the hat onto the pom pom head.

Glue the mini red pom pom on for the nose, then glue on the googly eyes. Then glue his head onto the puppet base.

Lastly, slide the scarecrow arms between the finger puppet coils

Cute Squirrel Finger Puppet

Fall Squirrel Finger Puppet Craft

First wind the two full length brown pipe cleaners together around your finger tip to form the puppet base.

Glue a mini black pom pom onto the squirrel face for his nose, and then glue on the googly eyes.

Snip two 3/4 inch pieces of brown pipe cleaner and bend them into a V. Glue them onto the top of the head for the ears.

Bend a 2.5″ piece of pipe cleaner into the form of small front paws – here’s a closeup:

Squirrel (and same for the Raccoon) Paws

This picture is actually the paws upside down – simply slip the U – end in between the puppet base coils near the top

For the squirrel tail , use varied-width pipe cleaners and clip off one section, leaving the narrow part a little longer on one end. You’ll use this extra length to attach it to the back of the finger puppet base.

Lastly, glue his head onto the puppet base.

Snow Owl Finger Puppet

Snow Owl Finger Puppet Craft

First wind the two full length white pipe cleaners together around your finger tip to form the puppet base. NOTE: For some strange reason, this owl looks much better if he is shorter than the others – I squished my coils together a lot on him.

Bend a short 2-3 inch piece of white pipe cleaner into a tiny figure eight – you’ll probably need to clip off an end.

Cut a small 1″ inch piece of tan pipe cleaner and bend it into a V for the beak.

Glue the figure eight and beak onto the white pom pom, then glue the googly eyes into the centers of each loop of the figure eight.

Bend a 1″inch piece of brown pipe cleaner into a simple U – slide it in between the coils at the bottom for his claws, just letting the ends peek out.

Form the wings with one long white pipe cleaner as shown. Do the same to the other end to form both wings – you’ll again probably have to clip off some excess:

Pipe Cleaner Owl Wings

Slide them in between the puppet base coils, and glue the head onto the puppet base.

Rocky Raccoon Finger Puppet

(This one was my kids’ favorite!)

Fall Raccoon Finger Puppet Craft

First wind the two full length gray pipe cleaners together around your finger tip to form the puppet base.

Bend a short 2-3 inch piece of black pipe cleaner into a tiny figure eight – you’ll probably need to clip off an end.

Snip two 3/4 inch pieces of black pipe cleaner and bend them into a V. Glue them onto the top of the pom pom head for the ears. Then glue the figure eight onto the face for his ‘sunglasses’ eyes, gluing the googly eyes into the middle of the loops. Glue a mini pink pom pom into the center for his nose.

Bend a 2.5″ piece of pipe cleaner into the form of small front paws – see the closeup in the squirrel instructions above. Slide it in between the coils.

To make the tail, use a very thin round object (like a bamboo skewer) to wind a black and gray pipe cleaner together as shown:

Pipe Cleaner Raccoon Tail

Leave a bit of straight length at the end so that you can attach the tail to the puppet base.

Autumn Tree Finger Puppet

(This one was my son’s idea!)

Autumn Tree Finger Puppet Craft

First wind the two full length brown pipe cleaners together around your finger tip to form the puppet base.

Glue a mini yellow pom pom onto the larger pom pom face for his nose, and then glue on the googly eyes.

Cut 10-15 pieces of brown pipe cleaner for the branches – make them between 2″ and 3″ inches long. Twist two or three of them together randomly in the shapes of branches.

Glue a medium sized pom pom onto most of the ends of the branches, leaving some empty. These branches can easily get too heavy, so don’t overdo it.

Get a hefty amount of glue onto the other end of the branches and stick it right into the tree head.

More Kids Fall Crafts from Other Great Craft Blogs!

Apple Stamped Cards

Fall Butterfly Craft

Pumpkins on a Popsicle Stick Fence

Fall Nature Wreath

Easy Leaf Glitter Trees

I’ve been wanting to make a yarn wreath for a while – and when I saw one on the Anthropologie website, I was inspired to finally do it! I chose this yarn specifically because it was similar to the one on their site, but you could make this in so many different colors (and multiple kinds of yarn) that would be suitable for any time of year. This would also be a great use of scrap yarn you have left over from other projects!

Related Pages: Rag Wreaths, Printable Christmas Gift Tags, Vintage Christmas Postcards

Yarn Wreath Craft

Here’s the original inspiration for a whopping $148 on Anthropologie. Yeah. Right.

Anthropologie Yarn Wreath

What You Need to Make This Yarn Wreath

Yarn – I used Bamboo Spun brand in Rose Camo found at Hobby Lobby.

A wreath form – I got mine at the dollar store.

That’s it!

How to Make This Yarn Wreath

It’s important to pull the yarn end from the inside of the skein, not the outside – trust me, it will make it much easier to wrap!

Simply tie the yarn around the wreath form and start wrapping!

Yarn Wrapped Wreath

It will work up faster if you wrap several loops at a time and then push them close together.

When you are done, tie off the yarn and trim the ends. Then wrap it up with a pretty bow to give it to grandma, mom, or it would make a great teacher gift, too!

Remember, this is Day 8 of Twleve Days of Gifts Kids Can Make! 8 down, 4 to go!

This no sew frayed scarf is one of my favorite projects from the gifts kids can make series! I made several of them for myself! I know it’s hard to find things that are actually useful that kids can make for dads. This one is good for dads and moms, depending on what kind of fabric you use. We used a super-soft plaid flannel for dad’s version, and used a light taupe linen for me. You’ll notice that the fabric flower brooch from Day 3 is made to match out of the same fabric!

Related Pages: Teen Crafts, Kids Winter Crafts, Printable Christmas Gift Tags

Scarf for Men:

Frayed No Sew Men's Scarf

Scarf for Women:

Women's No Sew Frayed Scarf

What You Need to Make the No Sew Scarf

All you need is fabric. Here’s how to find one that works for this project:

• Choose something that looks the same on both the front and back.
• Choose one that has a loose weave or woven with thicker thread.
• Choose one that is SOFT!
• If you have a Joann by you, their British Frenzy collection is beyond perfect for this project. Insanely soft and pretty! Unfortunately the fabric is so awesome that it’s sold out fast! They don’t have any left available online. :(

If you can find a fabric you like that is 56″ inches wide, then all you need is half a yard. The standard 45″ fabric width is a little short for a scarf, but doable, especially for a men’s scarf.

If you want something longer, get a yard and a half or two yards. You’ll have plenty of fabric left over for more scarves, fabric flower brooches, or other projects!

How to Make the No Sew Scarf

Cutting Fabric for the No Sew Scarf

If you are working with a plaid, you will want to cut your scarf length so that the plaid stripes are even as shown above.leave about a half an inch on either side of the plaid to unravel.

If you are working with a linen kind of fabric, you need to make sure that you straighten the grain of the fabric. You can do this by tearing the length instead of cutting it, or pull a thread through and cut along the line that thread made.

Make sure that the scarf is at least 10″ to 12″ inches wide and however long you want it to be.

Next, simply start pulling out additional threads along the sides of the scarf.

Fraying Flannel for a Scarf

You’ll probably want to do this on all four sides of the scarf, unless your selvedge edge looks presentable enough to leave it as-is. Only take enough threads out to keep it from unraveling further – about 3/8 of an inch (10mm) is enough. Anything more than that is optional, and will look pretty, but the threads get harder to remove the longer the frayed threads become.

Finished No Sew Frayed Scarf

That’s it – you’re done! If you are feeling ambitious, you can fray it more or even pull out threads further inside the fabric like this:

Fraying the Scarf in Rows

As pretty as this looks, it was definitely harder and more time consuming to do this second step. It actually took a few hours to do this on both long edges of the scarf. I’m not sure a kid would have the patience for that, but you and I probably do!

Remember, this is Day 7 of Twleve Days of Gifts Kids Can Make! 7 down, 5 to go!

Related Pages: Healthy Pasta Recipe for Kids, Applesauce Recipe for Kids, Watermelon Salsa Recipe

Chili Mac Recipe Kids Will Love

Chili Mac Ingredients

This recipe makes a big batch with plenty of leftovers for freezing. A half recipe will easily feed a family of 6.

Brown the ground turkey or beef and drain off the fat.

Add the chopped peppers, celery and onion and sauté until just-soft.

Pour into large stock pot and add the cans of tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, and black beans. Stir.

Add the seasonings – cumin, taco sauce, chili powder, paprika, garlic powder, oregano and onion salt. Stir and simmer for 15 minutes.

Cook pasta separately according to the package directions. Drain, do not rinse, and add to the large stock pot, stirring thoroughly.

Serve with shredded cheese and cornbread… yummm…  Actually, it’s so filling you may not even need the cornbread!

More Recipes Kids Will Love

Homemade Sports Drink Mix

Homemade Microwave Popcorn

Red Hot Applesauce Recipe

Slow Cooked Pulled Pork Sandwiches

Related Pages: Applesauce Recipes, Healthy Halloween Treats, Halloween Rice Krispie Treats

Caramel Apples

Now, if you are looking for homemade caramel, Subtle Nuances has a tasty looking recipe. But the caramels you can buy in the store have a relatively natural ingredient list. So in the interest of making these fast, I just used those.

So… this is technically not a recipe, but more “instructions”. Because if you have time to make your own homemade candies, you must be a much better time manager than I.

Caramel Apples Ingredients

Store bought caramel candies (like Kraft)

Apples (we used Gala and Honeycrisp – which were perfect!)

Popsicle sticks

Sprinkles and toppings of your choice: mini chocolate chips, chopped nuts, candy sprinkles, crushed ginger snaps, mini M&Ms, gummy worms, etc.

Making Caramel Apples

Make some space in your fridge for a tray of apples – they will need to go in there asap, or the caramel will droop all over the place.

Melt the caramels in a small pan – this way the candy will be deeper and easier to dip the apples into.

Wash and completely dry your apples. Stick popsicle sticks into the tops, and place them on a tray covered with waxed paper. The finished apples still stick  to this a lot, so you may want to butter the paper or spray with cooking spray.

Washed and Dried Apples Ready for Caramel

Once the caramel is melted, start dipping the apples!

Tilt the pan a bit to get the tops of the apples covered.

Dipping Caramel Apples

The lift it up and let the excess candy drip off back into the pan.

Dripping off Excess Caramel

Scrape off the excess on the bottom and place it onto your waxed paper tray. Be sure to leave plenty of room between the apples – they are a little like velcro and love to stick to each other.

Scraping Off Excess Caramel

Get a few done and get them into the fridge to cool the caramel more quickly. They need to be in there for at least 10 minutes so they are not sticky to the touch.

To dip the caramel apples in sprinkles, it’s easiest to set up a few bowls with different tasty tidbits in them.

Dipping Caramel Apples in Sprinkles

Then simply dip away!

I have to say that the ugliest and hardest to eat apples were the ones dipped in crushed ginger snaps – but OMG they were soooo good!

Keep an eye on your finished apples – they tend to disappear when you aren’t looking.

Yummy Caramel Apples with Chocolate Chips

More Fun Kids Recipes Great for Fall Cooking

Homemade Taffy

Root Beer Cookies

Pumpkin Cookies

Adorable Owl S’mores

Related Pages: Owl Crafts, Fall Leaf Templates, Fall Wreath Craft

Owl Towels Kitchen Craft

Owl Towel Kitchen Craft Materials

Fusible web interfacing

Fabric scraps

Tea towels (washed to remove sizing and ironed)

Buttons

Thread

How to Make This Easy Kids Kitchen Craft

Print out our free owl template:

Printable Owl Template

Then iron on your fusible web interfacing onto the back of your fabric scraps. Be sure to keep the wax paper on the outside intact and follow the manufacturer instructions closely to ensure a strong bond:

Using Fusible Web Interfacing for Applique

Trace the owl body, eye and beak parts onto different pieces of fabric. You may want to be very strategic about placement if you want the fabric pattern to line up with the pieces. For example, you can see that I traced the circles so that they centered on flowers in the fabric design. This, of course, is a moot point if you are using solids or a tiny pattern.

Wash and iron your tea towels.

Cut out the pieces and arrange them onto your tea towels as desired. Fusible web is so great for applique, because you can move things around to your heart’s content until you get things exactly where you want them.

Arranging the Tea Towel Applique Pieces

Iron the applique pieces in place according to the interfacing instructions.

Then sew pretty buttons into the middle of the owl’s eyes, and you are done!

Check out all of our fall kids activities while you are here!

I’d love to know what kind of  cool projects you use these for. Please inspire all of our readers by leaving your fall leaf project ideas in the comments below!

Edited to add: Check out this gorgeous Pottery Barn inspired fall craft on my other blog that would be a perfect use for these leaf templates!

Related Pages: Leaf Crafts, Acorn Crafts, Fall Wreath Craft

Maple Leaf Template	Oak Leaf Pattern	Elm Tree Leaf Pattern
Maple Leaf Template 2	Oak Leaf Template 2	Chestnut Tree Leaf Pattern

Check out our newly updated fall kids activities page for more fall crafts, printables, and activity ideas.

Related Pages: Fall Paper Crafts, Tissue Paper Flower Topiary, Pumpkin Decorating Ideas

Fall Wreath Craft

Fall Wreath Materials List

Black, green, yellow, orange and brown tissue paper

Wide ribbon (I used a green organza I got on Christmas clearance last year)

Floral or beading wire

Glue

8 inch grapevine wreath

Optional: Feather butterfly decoration (I got mine at the dollar store!).

Fall Wreath Craft Materials

How to Make this Fall Wreath Craft

You’re going to start by making 1 tissue paper tiger lily and 3 tissue paper black-eyed susan flowers.

Tissue Paper Tiger Lily Flower

Paper Tiger Lily Flower Parts

For the tiger lily, cut out two five-petal pieces of orange tissue paper, a 1.25 inch piece of brown tissue paper (or a brown paper bag works), a 1 inch piece of black tissue paper, and a 12 inch strip of green tissue paper.

Crumple and then uncrumple (a few times) the two small circles so that they look more natural.

Twist the strip of green tissue paper into a string-like appearance as shown. Break it into two pieces, they don’t need to be exactly the same length, but close.

Curl the petals of the orange flower very lightly as you would curling ribbon with scissors. Do this to both pieces, though only one is shown that way (so you can see the shape).

Now, score each orange petal with a fingernail or bone folder as shown – this gives it a remarkably tricky realistic appearance!

Making Paper Tiger Lily Petals

Layer the pieces as shown below, poking holes with your floral wire. You will need about 8-9 inches per flower.

Assembling the Tissue Paper Tiger Lily

Twist the wire like a twist tie on the back and this one is done!

Tissue Paper Black-Eyed Susan Flowers

Paper Black Eyed Susan Flower Parts

I know there isn’t any green stuff in the middle of a black-eyed susan. I just though it looked more polished this way!

For this tissue paper flower, cut three yellow circles about 2.5 inches in diameter, and tear off a 3 inch or so square of green and black tissue paper. Crumple up the black one tightly and the green one very loosely.

Clip the petals as shown into the three yellow circles (you can do this on all three at once, just make sure to rotate them when you assemble the flower to give it variation).

Layer the three yellow pieces and green piece together and attach them with another 8-9: piece of wire as you did with the tiger lily.

Assembling the Paper Flowers with Thin Wire

Leave off the black crumpled piece of tissue paper because it would be too hard to get the wire through it. Assemble it all, and then glue the black piece into the center instead.

Tissue Paper Black Eyed Susan Flower

Make two more for three total.

Attach the Tissue Paper Flowers

Attaching the Tissue Paper Flowers to the Wreath

Take the wire on the back of the flowers and attach them to the bottom of the grapevine wreath form. This is just like using a twist-tie (which also means you can reuse these parts in something else if you want to!). Put the tiger lily on one side and the three black-eyed susans next to it, tucking the wire ends into the grapevines so that they don’t poke out and hurt someone.

Fall Flower Wreaths Closeup

Add the Hanging Ribbon

Since my organza ribbon was too sheer to see with one layer, I double wrapped it around the top of the wreath. This was about a 7 or 8 foot length of ribbon.

Fall Wreath Bow Step 1

I then cut another 2.5 foot or so piece of ribbon and tied it in a bow around the top, gathering the ends of the longer piece.

Fall Wreath Bow Step 2

I had a little orange feather butterfly hanging around that seemed like the perfect addition to the top of the bow, so I just hot glued it in place. Plus it works well to cover up any bow-tying imperfections!

Fall Wreath Bow with Feather Butterfly Decoration

All done! Just go hang it somewhere where you can enjoy it!

More Fall Kids Crafts

Indian Corn Craft

Cute Yarn Apples

Splatter Paint Fall Tree

Fall Corn Color by Number