Autumn art projects for middle school can be a great way for teens to express themselves but also open new learning experiences. Look at my pages How to Turn a Pumpkin Lapbook into a Fun Unit Study and Fall Season Unit Study and Free Lapbook for more ideas!
No longer are handprint projects and cutting and pasting going to delight your child.
It’s time to step up the game with more challenging, detailed, and intriguing art projects.
The rich colors lend themselves beautifully to all sorts of autumn themed art projects from paintings of pumpkins to scented pinecones meant to be decor as well.
To celebrate the arrival of autumn I have gathered up autumn art projects.
I have fresh idea of my own which is a book pumpkin, and some great information on the Autumn Equinox.
Autumn Equinox- The autumn equinox occurs when day and night are approximately equal in length. This event signifies the official start of fall, and typically falls around September 22nd or 23rd.
In many cultures, the autumn equinox is celebrated with festivals and rituals.
These celebrations often focus on the harvest and the changing seasons.
FALL BOOKS FOR KIDS
Use some of these fun living books about fall for read aloud or to include your younger children.
Even middle school kids still love picture books. Shh! Don’t tell them we know.
15 Fall Books For Kids Who Love to Read and Be Read To
With a chill in the air and leaves falling, grab one or two of these fun books for your home library.
A compilation of Native American speeches affirming the desire to live in spiritual and ecological harmony includes the words of Geronimo, Sitting Bull, and Cochise, covering such topics as fishing rights, peace treaties, and the devastation of their land.
"Mr. Tresselt writes quiet, factual prose about katydids, reapers and threshing, falling leaves, apple-gathering, and the first frost."--New York Herald Tribune.
A concise text and crisp, close-up, color photographs of thirteen different leaves from North American trees teach very young children how to look at and compare the leaves of autumn, and are accompanied by an explanation of why they turn color.
These are the apples, juicy and red,that went in the pie,warm and sweet,that Papa baked...for guess who!
Kids will love this playful story of of a unique fall friendship between a girl . . . and her squash!On a trip to the farmers' market with her parents, Sophie chooses a squash, but instead of letting her mom cook it, she names it Bernice. From then on, Sophie brings Bernice everywhere, despite her parents' gentle warnings that Bernice will begin to rot. As winter nears, Sophie does start to notice changes.... What's a girl to do when the squash she loves is in trouble?
Celebrate the 40th anniversary of the miniature world of the mice of Brambly Hedge!
Bad weather is on the way and the autumn stores are still not gathered in!
Quickly, all the mice of Brambly Hedge set to work to finish the harvesting before the rain begins. Primrose, Lord Woodmouse's daughter, meant to help, but somehow she daydreamed her way over the cornfield and into the Chestnut Woods, and before she knew it, she was lost. The sun went down, the wind rose and it began to rain. Primrose was all alone in the dark and she was frightened.
Poor Primrose, would she find her way home again?
Mr. Hermit Miser doesn’t like his neighbors, and they don’t like him. But when a pumpkin vine sprouts in Mr. Hermit Miser’s yard and makes its way into the neighbors’ yards, but he wants all those pumpkins for pies … well, what is he to do?
With adventures in pumpkin-snatching, failed attempts at baking pies, and pumpkin goo everywhere, this tale about being neighborly in a not-so-perfect way will be an endearing autumn story for all the readers in your circle.
This reprint of a 1949 classic adds some recipes, a poem, and a bit of pie-history as well.
As her grandmother's health declines, a young girl begins to lovingly take the lead in their cozy shared autumn traditions. Poetic prose paired with evocative illustrations by Mexican illustrator Claudia Navarro make for a beautiful celebration of life and a gentle introduction to the death of a loved one.
"[Spier's] finely detailed, action-packed New England autumn vistas are almost startlingly beautiful."—The New York Times Over fifty years after he won a Caldecott Honor for The Fox Went Out on a Chilly Night, legendary illustrator Peter Spier went back to this time-honored favorite in 2014 to paint the half of the book that was originally printed in black and white. In this glowing, restored vision of Spier’s beloved classic, follow the wily fox as he roams a sleepy New England town in search of a meal, with tones and textures so vivid you can almost hear the crackle of crisp fall leaves and the ripples of the river in the moonlight.
An Amish family, traveling by buggy, spends a day doing errands in the village, visiting, and returning home in time for supper
Autumn is in the air: days grow shorter and nights are long. Birds leave, flowers, too. Apples and temperatures fall—then snow!Part poem, part silent stage, this luminous picture book puts autumn on display and captures the spirit of change that stays with us long after fall leaves. Unlock the secrets of this busy and beautiful time of year as the natural world makes way for winter.
Mama has a surprise for her three little squirrels: three bright red sweaters to keep them warm throughout the fall. Imagine the siblings’ surprise when they find that everything in the autumn woods—the leaves, the berries, even the setting sun—is red too, just like their sweaters.This celebration of a perfect fall day will have young and old alike looking for signs of autumn in their own neighborhoods. Kazuo Iwamura’s books celebrating the seasons (Hooray for Spring!, Hooray for Summer!, Hooray for Fall!, and Hooray for Snow!) are perennial favorites—introducing children to the beauty and joy of each season. Iwamura masterfully captures the small wonders of nature in his illustrations and his stories with their gentle humor warm the heart.
The perfect Fall book for kids! A poignant picture book about a scarecrow who befriends the young girl who reads to him day after day until one day he's left wondering where she is.A scarecrow stood in the garden. Tall, proud, and smiling. Every day a girl brought her favorite books to the garden and she read to him. He heard tales of courage and of hope. And when she said, "The End," the scarecrow always felt a little bit taller and braver. Year after year, she came and she read to him.Until one spring, two different hands picked him up from the garden shed and placed him in the garden. He waited, but she didn't come to read to him.With poignant words from award-winning author Michelle Houts and lush illustrations by Pura Belpré Honor winner Sara Palacios, Hopefully the Scarecrow is a tender distillation of the enduring power of friendship and a heartwarming look at the ways stories connect us.
Funny, relatable sibling dynamics make this story a wonderful way to address navigating big changes. Lori Nichols’s expressive artwork beautifully portrays Maple and Willow’s strong bond, and children will love the creative, kid-powered solution. Maple and Willow have always been inseparable. So what happens when Maple starts big-girl school and Willow stays behind? Well, of course, both girls have marvelous adventures of their own, but the truth is, they miss each other. And when they see that the missing is mutual, they find a unique way to feel connected even when they have to be apart.
This day, autumn equinox, is also a key period for observing natural phenomena like the Northern Lights due to increased geomagnetic activity.
The word “equinox” comes from the Latin words aequus which means “equal “and nox which means “night”).
But the day and night are not exactly 12 hours each on the day of the equinox.
Those who live farther from the equator will have slightly longer days because the sun takes longer to rise and set from there.
On the days close to the equinox, the sun might be visible for anywhere between 12 hours and 6 minutes to 12 hours and 16 minutes.
Now that you know a little bit more about the autumn equinox let’s move on to the art projects and more that I have for you.
6 MORE BEAUTIFUL AUTUMN ART PROJECTS FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL
- If you have not yet ventured into the world of chalk pastels you will want to try this Beautiful Chalk Pastel Sunflowers – Art Project for Kids
- These Wax Paper Stained Glass Leaves take an old idea and elevate it a bit, taking it from elementary to more challenging levels.
- Check out my Easy Fall Crafts for Middle School: DIY String Pumpkin Art that will have them spending time off screens and creating beautiful art that will become heirloom decorations.
- At first glance you might think that Paper Bag Owls and the Sharpie Art Workshop is kids play but these techniques definitely make it an art piece for all ages.
- Look at pumpkins from a new angle, literally and create the Glue and Watercolor Fall Pumpkin Unit Study.
UPCYCLED BOOK PUMPKIN ART FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL
Our book pumpkin is not only fun to make but creates a wonderful decoration for the home that fits in perfectly with book lovers and homeschoolers.
You will need:
- Paperback book
- Scissors or utility knife
- pencil/marker
- Orange craft paint
- Brown craft paint
- paintbrush
- Hot glue gun/sticks
- Raffia or ribbon
First, you can use any old paperback or hardcover book that you have or pick one up from a thrift store, you can also find them like I did at dollar tree.
Rip off the cover and loosen up the binding by bending the book spin backwards 4-5 times you don’t want to rip it apart. You just want to loosen it a bit.
Draw a pumpkin with a pencil or sharpie marker on one side of the book. I like to make it flat along the bottom, so it sits nicely.
Either use scissors or a utility knife to cut along the pumpkin outline that you made.
Using scissors like I did here you won’t be able to cut very many pages at a time, but this method is much safer for younger children.
Continue cutting through as many pages at a time as you can until you have cut the entire book.
HOW TO MAKE AN UPCYCLED BOOK PUMPKIN WITH KIDS
Open the book so that the last page and the first page are touching. Secure these two pages together with hot glue.
The book will not immediately resemble a pumpkin shape; you’ll have to fluff the pages and spread them out and work it as you go around the entire circle.
The next thing you’re going to do is paint your stem if you left one Brown or you can hot glue a small piece of stick to the center from your yard to give it a little bit more of a rustic look.
Now you can leave it just as if you like just showing the pages but to help it look a little bit more like a pumpkin I like to take a paintbrush and just roughly brush over the edges of the pages.
Allow paint to dry and add a piece of raffia, ribbon, or yarn to the stem to finish it off.
