Easy Fall Felt Crafts

These clever catchalls can be used to store anything from trinkets to treats.

What You'll Need

Felt, round objects, scissors, pencil, felt glue, binder clips

Make It

1. Use a round bowl or plate as a guide to cut out a circle of felt. The larger the circle, the bigger your felt dish will be.
2. Draw a smaller circle in the exact center and cut 8 evenly spaced slits from the outer edge of the felt circle to the edge of the penciled circle.
3. Glue the slit edges together, holding them in place with binder clips. Let dry.
4. From a contrasting color of felt, cut a circle slightly smaller than the inner circle of the bowl. Glue circle to bottom of bowl. Remove clips.

Creating a stuffed animal is a snap: Binder clips will help seal the final seam shut after you've stuffed your felt friend. (This toy is suitable for ages 4 and up.)

What You'll Need

Template, scissors, pencil, felt, felt glue, polyester stuffing, binder clips, embroidery floss, embroidery needle, buttons

Make It

1. Download the squirrel template (body and arms). Print, cut out, and trace the template onto 2 contrasting colors of felt.
2. Cut out and glue body together at the edges, pressing firmly; leave a section open to fill the squirrel with stuffing.
3. Once the glue is dry, stuff body with polyester stuffing. Glue opening shut, holding it closed with binder clips.
4. Cut 2 almond shapes out of a third color of felt. Sew a button to each almond-shaped piece of felt and glue on for eyes. Cut out and glue on arms.

These fashionable clips are a cinch to make. Trace the template onto two different colors of felt and cut out. Fold the top layer lengthwise and cut a sliver out of the middle. Layer a strip of a third color of felt between the two layers and glue them all together with felt glue. Hot-glue to a barrette, and pin back hair in fly style.

A felt buffet will keep your child busy while you fix Thanksgiving dinner. Cover a bulletin board with a panel of felt. Create food pieces from colored felt; kids can tackle simple shape like orange squares for sweet potatoes and green slivers for beans. The felt pieces will naturally adhere to the felt board for mix-and-match play.

Styrofoam spheres and cones give this pair their shape, while layers of felt lend them personality and flair.

What You'll Need

Templates, pencil, scissors, felt, felt glue, straight pins (optional), two 4-inch Styrofoam spheres, binder clips, two 9-inch Styrofoam cones, skewers, decorative pushpins (optional)

Make It

1. Download and print templates. Trace and cut out all pieces in appropriate colors of felt.
2. Cover the Styrofoam sphere with felt: Mark a point on each pole of the Styrofoam sphere with a pencil. Glue the first head panel from point to point, pressing firmly at the edges. Continue gluing panels around the sphere, overlapping slightly, until entire sphere is covered. (Don't worry if it gets a little messy.)
3. To make the face, lay the precut snout panel over top of the sphere so the long part of the diamond reaches the bottom of the sphere; glue into place. Glue on nose. Glue the precut whiskers underneath the snout. Glue irises to whites of eyes and glue to face. For Mama Fox: Cut 3 inches off Styrofoam cone top. Glue on lashes.
Tip: Use straight pins to hold pieces in place as you arrange, if necessary.
4. For the ears, fold each triangle in half, add a dab of glue to the bottom of the crease, and hold the fold together with a binder clip until the glue dries. Attach ears to top of head with small dabs of glue along the bottom edge.
5. For Papa Fox, glue the precut vest to top of cone, adding decorative pushpins as buttons and a felt bow tie, if desired. Glue the 2 precut panels for the pants together, face to face, as though sewing a seam. When dry, wrap around and glue to the bottom of the cone. For Mama Fox, wrap precut dress around the cone and glue in place. Add small squares of felt as buttons, if desired.
6. Attach the head with a skewer pushed into the top of the body.

A precut presentation board from an office supply store becomes a perfect toss board for your Apple-Toss Beanbags. Let the games begin!

What You'll Need

Box cutter, straight edge, tri-fold presentation board, pencil, bowl or other round object, craft paint, paintbrush, packing tape, hole punch (optional), 1 yard ribbon (optional)

Make It

1. Using a box cutter and a straight edge, cut both flaps of the presentation board from the bottom inner corner to the top outer corner in a straight diagonal and fold flaps under to give the board its incline.
2. With a pencil, draw a tree and, using a bowl as a guide, trace 3 circles within the leafy part of the tree.
3. Cut out circles with box cutter.
4. Paint red rings around the cutout circles, then paint tree trunk and leaves.
5. To make the flaps stand at a right angle, reinforce with a piece of packing tape. For a more permanent reinforcement, punch holes in the top corners of the flaps and thread a piece of ribbon through holes. Knot ribbon to secure.

A simple stitch makes these apple beanbags easy as pie. Make your own fun, fall game by pairing them with our Apple-Toss Board.

What You'll Need

Template, scissors, pencil, felt, felt glue, embroidery floss, embroidery needle, scallop-edge scissors (optional), beans or Poly-Fil Poly-Pellets

Make It

1. Download and print the apple template. Trace and cut out apple from felt twice.
2. If bite marks are desired, cut out an apple from white felt. Use scallop-edge scissors to cut the bite from the top layer of colored felt; glue the bitten apple to the white felt.
3. Cut out felt stem and leaf and glue to the bottom layer of the apple.
4. Sew layers together using a whipstitch around the edge; leave a small opening for filling.
5. Fill with beans or pellets; sew shut.

Originally published in the November 2013 issue of Parents magazine.