12 Fall Art Projects for Elementary Art

Fall trees, patterned leaves, warm and cool color pumpkins, Pop Art ghosts, Thanksgiving trees and scarecrows are the perfect fall art projects to bring the excitement of autumn to your elementary art classroom.

Wondering what art lessons to teach this fall? Here are 12 fall art projects perfect for your kindergarten through 5th grade kids! Many of the following projects have links to more details in previous blog posts or they have accompanying fully planned out resources available for purchase on TPT!

Collage of colorful fall-themed art projects for K-5 students, featuring a tree, ghost, pumpkins, and patterned trees, with “K-5 Fall Art Projects” text in the center.

Fall Children’s Book Recommendations

A collection of autumn-themed children’s books, a yellow leaf, and the phrase “Start with a book!” in bold black and purple font.

If you’ve read my blog or followed along on Instagram, you probably know that I love finding children’s books that are related to themes we are studying!

I curated a selection of 30+ children’s books that go along with the themes of Fall, Halloween and Thanksgiving. Read one of these before starting your fall art projects! Click the link below to see the full list. (Amazon affiliate link used at no extra cost to you, thanks for your support!)

👉 Fall Children’s Books

Kindergarten Fall Fingerprint Trees Art Project

Illustration of a tree with colorful fingerprint leaves, labeled “Fall Fingerprint Trees” with two autumn leaves on a white and blue background.

On the first day, start by reading a fall book and then trace your hand and arm on the paper to create the tree trunk. Use crayons to color the trunk, grass, and sky. For the sky, peel the wrappers off a few crayons and rub them flat across the background for smooth color.
On day two, pour small amounts of red, yellow, orange, gold, and optional purple paint onto a paper plate. Print your leaves by dipping one finger into tempera paint and making fingerprints around the tree. Remind students to use only one finger for stamping (otherwise you risk ending up with paint everywhere).
On day three, crumple small pieces of tissue paper into balls and glue them onto the tree to add texture.

Fall Leaves Watercolor Resist Drawing

A colorful fall leaves drawing on blue paper, surrounded by art supplies including colored pencils, crayons, a paint palette, and a yellow maple leaf.

I usually do this project with 2nd graders, but any age above 2nd grade would also work well.

On the first day, we look at real leaves as well as my leaf drawing guides to draw the outlines of our leaves. Then, these are outlined in Sharpie.

On the second day, I show the students how to color in their leaves with crayons, creating gradations of colors and layering them neatly. (Notice how some of the outer edges of the leaves are a darker color and then it blends in to a lighter color.). The colors don’t even have to be realistic, I like when kids get creative! You can also use a white crayon to draw swirls or “wind lines” in the background.

On the third day, we use Crayola Education Watercolor paint sets to paint the backgrounds.

Patterned Leaves Fall Art Project

Two hand-drawn leaves filled with colorful patterns; art supplies such as crayons, pencils, and watercolors are arranged around them. Text reads “PATTERNED LEAVES.”.

This project is great for grades 3-5. Look at leaves from outside or use the leaf drawing guides included in the Patterned Leaf Drawing project. Draw with pencil first, then outline with a pen or Sharpie marker. Add patterns and line designs inside the sections of the leaves. Then, color in with colored pencils or markers.

Scarecrow Landscape Fall Art Project

A children’s book titled “The Scarecrow” and a colorful scarecrow art project with pumpkins, autumn leaves, and a cat are displayed side by side.

I love this project for 2nd graders because it teaches about landscape and showing depth using simple techniques. I wrote out all of the step-by-step directions and tips, plus included a free template at this Scarecrow Landscape Art Project blog post.

Pumpkin Drawing with Leaf Texture Rubbings

Here is another one of my favorite Fall art projects for 1st graders. We create a pumpkin drawing (with or without faces) and then make leaf texture rubbings with crayons in the background. I wrote out all of the steps to teach this project in this Pumpkin Drawing with Texture Rubbings blog post.

Warm and Cool Color Pattern Pumpkins Fall Art Project

Colorful drawing of a patterned pumpkin with warm and cool colors, surrounded by art supplies and text reading “Warm & Cool Color Patterned Pumpkins.” Perfect for Halloween Art or Fall Art Projects, this creative activity brings vibrant seasonal fun to your classroom or home.

This is the newest Fall resource in my TPT shop! The Warm and Cool Color Patterned Pumpkin art lesson teaches about warm colors, cool colors, patterns and is perfect for a beautiful Fall bulletin board. You can teach it as a watercolor painting or a drawing.

Here’s how it works:

Teach about warm and cool colors.
Draw a pumpkin with lines to divide it into sections.
Use a ruler to divide up the background into sections.
Outline everything.
Use warm colors to color in the pumpkin. Use cool colors for the background.
Add patterns and designs on the pumpkin with Sharpie.

The fully planned out, ready to teach Warm and Cool Patterned Pumpkin lesson includes a Warm and Cool Color PPT slideshow, pattern idea sheets, a pumpkin drawing guide and step-by-step directions!

Yayoi Kusama Dotted Pumpkins

This is one of the most popular lessons on my blog! We learn about Yayoi Kusama and her dotted art, in particular her dotted pumpkin series. Then we create our own dotted pumpkins using paint and Crayola metallic markers in the background. Yayoi sadly passed away this fall. If you’d like to read more about this dotted pumpkin project, visit the blog post all about the Yayoi Kusama dotted pumpkins.

Halloween Ghost Art Projects

Two drawn ghost images: one with a patterned patchwork background, the other with a rainbow background, a pumpkin, and a pumpkin basket. “GHOST PICTURES” is written at the bottom.

With the Pop Art Ghost picture, students will draw their own ghost, divide up the background and then create patterns in the background sections. I used colored pencils to color in the background in my example.
With the Creative Ghost picture, kids paint the background with neon paints. Then, they draw their ghost on a separate piece of paper and add accessories to design their ghost! No cookie cutter artwork!

Thankful Tree Craft Fall Art Project

A children’s book titled “Friendsgiving” sits next to a paper craft tree with colorful leaves listing things to be thankful for.

This cut and paste craft is perfect for the early elementary grades. Print out a tree trunk template. Color with crayons. Cut out paper leaves and write things you are thankful for on the leaves. Glue the leaves on to the tree. I have templates and directions in this Thankful Tree Craft project.

I found the PERFECT book to go along with this project. This book called Friendsgiving is soooo adorable. I love the little felted critters and it even has a thankful tree in the book! It was very serendipitous as I had already made my examples for the thankful tree art project and I was looking for a book to go along with the project and I came across this fabulous children’s book.

Thanksgiving Gratitude Trees Art Project

Three colorful gratitude tree drawings on white paper, surrounded by fall leaves, markers, and paints, make a charming display for Kids’ Fall Art Projects, with the words “THANKFUL TREE DRAWINGS” on the right side.

I love the thankful trees as a fall art project. These Thankful Trees use the same concept as the previous craft, but students will draw their own trees and then write what they are thankful for on the branches or leaves. This is another one of my favorite Thanksgiving art projects for kids. This is open-ended and students can draw their trees in any style. Offer different art materials such as crayons, colored pencils, markers and watercolors. How to Draw a tree, Tree Drawing examples and templates are available in the Thankful Tree art project.

Here’s what one teacher said about this resource:

A five-star review titled “Fun for MS” describes middle schoolers enjoying drawing unique trees and values the resource for creative and reflective learning, making it a perfect addition to your Fall art projects.

Thankful Turkey Fall Art Project

Two hand-drawn turkeys each with colorful feathers listing things to be thankful for, such as friends, family, pets, and books. Perfect for kids’ fall art projects, both have “I’m thankful for...” written on their bodies.

This Thankful Turkey art project is great for younger kids. First, draw a turkey! Give your students a drawing handout or a printout of turkey drawings for inspiration. Then, write things you are thankful for on the feathers. Finally, add color with colored pencils, crayons or watercolor paints.

If you’re looking for a fun book to go along with this project, Taylor the Thankful Turkey fits with the theme!

I hope this gave you some new fall art projects to try. Happy Autumn!