Bring the beauty of autumn indoors with these easy DIY leaf window clings! Kids can mix glue, washable paint, and a little dish soap to create colorful, translucent leaves that glow beautifully in the sunlight.

After trying several methods, I found the easiest approach is to mix the paint and dish soap directly into small bottles of glue and use the bottles themselves as the painting tool. You can use these small squeeze bottles as well. We only used paint brushes on a few leaves and a pumpkin after the first layer of glue dried to add details and to make the clings thicker. For younger children, trace the leaves first, let them dry, and then let kids fill in the leaves using colorful glue bottles.

You Will Need:

A few small bottles of white school glue
Washable paint
Squirt of dish soap
Plastic sheet protector or Ziploc bag
Leaf template
Craft mat
Tape

What to Do:

1. Prepare: Protect the work surface with craft mats. Place leaf template under a plastic sheet protector or ZipLoc bag. Secure the paper and plastic onto to a craft mat with tape so they don’t move.

2. Mix: Combine equal parts glue and washable paint, then add a squirt of dish soap. Shake the bottle or use craft stick to combine the mixture.

3. Trace: Use the colored glue to trace the images on the templates and allow to dry. Make the glue thick. Then allow the kids to use a lot of colored glue to fill the inside of the leaves. Using a lot of glue works best.

4. Dry: Let the leaves dry completely, usually overnight.

5. Peel & Stick: Carefully peel off the dried leaves and press them onto a clean window.

Photos by Stephanie Felzenberg

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