Why We’re Not Doing Autumn Crafts

I saw them. The Pinterest-perfect leaf prints. The painted pinecones arranged just so. The elaborate Autumn crafts with the perfect amount of glitter.

I felt that familiar tug of guilt, you know the one – “we are not doing enough”, “maybe if we just do this….”. That loud whisper in your ear that maybe we are doing it all wrong.

Then I looked outside.

My kid was holding a leaf. Just holding it. Turning it over. Running their finger along the veins. Crumbling a brown bit between their fingers. Holding it up to the light.

Here’s what happened!

Here’s what happened in the ten minutes my kid spent with that one leaf:

They noticed the colours weren’t uniform, the red was bleeding into yellow bleeding into brown. That’s observation. That’s understanding transition and change.

They felt the difference between the smooth side and the veined side. Right there is sensory development and a bank of vocabulary which is being built as they ask for words to explain the texture they feel.

They wondered why some parts were crispy and some were still soft. Their scientific thinking growing along with their curiosity as they create a hypothesis.

They tried to rip it and couldn’t, then found the weak spot where it tore easily. Problem-solving. Cause and effect. Understanding material properties.

No glue. No glitter. No cleanup.

No stressed mama, no planning, no buying.

Just a kid and a leaf and learning happening in real time.

What Instagram Doesn’t Show You

Those beautiful Autumn crafts? They’re lovely. Truly. But here’s what the photos don’t capture:

The parent who spent the evening gathering materials. Not resting – just trying to gather materials!

The tears when the glue didn’t stick right. The “helping” that turned into the parent doing most of it. The child who lost interest after three minutes and then the mom that completed it. The craft sitting in a box because we don’t know what to do with seventeen painted pinecones.

We’re trading that for muddy hands and pockets full of acorns and the kind of Autumn that doesn’t need a filter.

What We’re Doing Instead

We’re crunching through leaf piles and talking about why they make that sound. That’s physics. That’s comparing dry and wet, fresh and decomposed.

We’re collecting acorns and sorting them by size. That’s math. That’s categorisation and sequencing and early data analysis.

We’re noticing and naming which trees are changing first and which are still green. That’s observation. That’s understanding diversity and timing and the fact that change doesn’t happen all at once.

We’re lying on our backs looking at the different Autumn sky. That’s mindfulness. That’s weather science. That’s the gift of being present.

We’re bringing nature inside – leaves on the table, pinecones in bowls, sticks in cups – and we’re letting them explore without the pressure of making something Pinterest-worthy. That’s open-ended play. That’s creativity without the craft kit.

The Learning That Matters

Our kids don’t need hot glue guns and googly eyes to understand Autumn.

They need to feel it. Smell it. Touch it. Watch it happen in real time.

They need the sensory experience of cold air and damp leaves and the way autumn feels different than summer felt.

They need to see change happening slowly, day by day, and understand that transformation is natural and beautiful and sometimes messy.

That’s not just science. That’s life.

The Permission We All Need

If you’re loving the Autumn crafts, if your kids are genuinely engaged and having fun, if creating together fills your cup – beautiful. Keep going.

But if you’re doing it because you feel like you should, because everyone else seems to be, because you’re worried that without the Instagram-worthy activities you’re somehow failing your kids – let me tell you something:

You’re not failing. You’re just seeing the real thing instead of the filtered version.

Childhood doesn’t need to be curated. Autumn doesn’t need to be colour-coordinated. Learning doesn’t need to be laminated.

Sometimes the best thing we can do is open the door and let them go outside.

We’re Doing Autumn Our Way

So no, we’re not doing Autumn crafts this year.

We’re doing something better. Something messier. Something real.

We’re letting Autumn teach them the way Autumn has always taught – through cold mornings and changing trees and the crunch of leaves underfoot.

We’re trading the glitter for the glorious mess of actual nature.

And honestly? They’re learning more from the leaf in their hand than they ever would from the craft on the fridge.