Autumn wreaths are a popular craft idea, be it for the front door, the window or for a simple wall in the room. To ensure that it really fits the season, the right colors and motifs must be used. The turkey is such a fitting motif and also the motto of our DIY autumn wreath ideas today. Whether you're an adult wanting to put together a decorative wreath for fall or are looking for ideas that are also suitable for children, our instructions are suitable in both cases. So if you would like to make an autumn wreath with children, you have come to the right place. Depending on the instructions, different materials are used, all of which should be found in a craft store. So roll up your sleeves and organize a perfect craft afternoon for the little curious and creative rascals.
Make a turkey autumn wreath with children from strips of fabric
- Styrofoam ring (approx. 25 cm diameter)
- Styroporscheibe (ca. 12.5 cm x 2 cm)
- Fabrics in red, orange, yellow and green
- brown acrylic paint
- Paint brush
- Scissors
- Ruler or tape measure
- Hot glue and hot glue gun
- large wiggly eyes (approx. 25 cm diameter)
- red and yellow felt
This colorful oneAutumn wreath for front door, window or wall is super easy and quick to make and older children can easily help with the craft. If you are making the autumn wreath with children, first start by painting the polystyrene parts brown, which the children can easily do themselves. Since two coats of paint are necessary to get an opaque shade of brown, you need to allow time for the first coat to dry before applying the second.
Cutting fabrics
During this break you can prepare the fabric strips. You decide how long these should be. But make sure that they are all the same length and approximately the same width. In the example the strips are 5 cm wide and 53 cm long. Then take the finished ring and start tying the fabrics to it. To do this, take a strip, fold it in half, place the ring on the resulting loop and pull the ends through the loops, enclosing the ring. Alternate the colors regularly and push them close together after each knot so that the ring is completely covered. In this way you will now decorate about two thirds of the ring when you make the autumn wreath with children.
Make the head
Now cut out the skin flap of the beak that is typical of the turkey from red felt and the beak from the yellow felt. Glue the googly eyes onto the finished foam disc, then attach the red skin flap and finally the beak with hot glue. Put some glue on the bottom of the ring and stick the finished turkey head there. Now the autumn wreath can be hung on the door, window or anywhere else you like.
Tipp:If the fabric strips don't look nice, you can cut them shorter, but then this colorful tail would no longer look so nice. Instead, you can spray them with starch while they are lying down and spread out. Once the starch has dried, turn the wreath over and spray the back too.
Craft idea with tulle
- Styroporring
- Acrylic paint in yellow, brown and black
- medium-sized Styrofoam ball for the head
- two small Styrofoam balls for the eyes
- Styroporkegel
- red foam rubber
- brown wool
- Tulle ribbons in red, orange, brown and yellow (23 meters each approximately)
- toothpick
- Hot glue and hot glue gun
- 3 sponge brushes
- Fabric scissors
- 1 piece of cardboard, at least as wide as the tulle ribbons and 40 to 50 cm long
Tipp:If you buy the Styrofoam elements, it is best to put them together on site to make sure that they all fit together in size.
Start by painting the smaller Styrofoam pieces (the balls and the cone) when making this fall wreath with kids. Insert toothpicks to create feet and raise the elements so that you can paint them on all sides and dry the parts thoroughly afterwards. Using a foam brush (use a new one for each color), paint the cone yellow and the large ball brown and only add a black dot to each of the small balls, which should represent the pupils. Allow the colors to dry for at least an hour.
Make tulle strips for the autumn wreath with children
Now take the piece of cardboard with the desired length. Wrap the first tulle fabric around the length of the cardboard 15 times. So there are 15 layers of tulle on each side, which ultimately means 30 strips, which you get by cutting the tulle at both ends with scissors (you can also use half the length for the cardboard, wrap the tulle around it and finally just cut one of the two sides to get the same length).
Tie wool and tulle and pin the head
Then take the Styrofoam ring and mark which area you would like to design with the wool (in the example about a third). At the back of the first of the marks, hot glue the wool and begin wrapping it around the ring. Pull the thread tightly so that even transitions are created and gaps are avoided. As soon as you get to the second mark, you can cut the thread and fix the end with glue.
Make a simple autumn wreath with children
Now wrap the tulle strips around the rest of the ring. The color you start with should also be the last one on the other side to create a nice symmetry. You can take a closer look at how exactly you have to knot the strips in our first instructions for a door wreath in autumn. Since the tulle strips are very thin, always tie 5 strips per color (e.g. first 5 red, then 5 brown, 5 yellow, 5 orange and again in front). Finally, check all the strips again. If a color is pushed together too much and therefore looks narrower, you can simply add another strip of tulle. Then fluff up the ends nicely to create volume.
Stick two toothpicks into the large ball and add some more glue. Insert the ball into the ring (in the middle of the wool area). Cut out the typical skin flap from the foam rubber. Use the cone as a template for the correct width. Glue the foam rubber to the ball. Then stick a toothpick into the cone, also spread glue and stick it through the foam rubber into the ball. Stick two toothpicks into the turkey head where you want the eyes to be and stick the little balls on top with a little glue. Finally, you need a hanging loop made of tulle, which you tie in the respective place and in the respective tulle color.
Felt door wreath
- Styroporring
- brown wool
- Felt in any fall colors (e.g. reds, orange and yellow) and black
- hard felt in white
- Scissors
- Hot glue or craft glue
Instructions
Wrap the brown wool around the entire ring when making this fall wreath with kids. Take your time to avoid gaps. Also pull the thread tightly, but without pressing in the ring. Glue the beginning of the thread in place, adding more dabs of glue every few centimeters. Finally, cut the thread and secure the end with glue.
Make the feathers and glue them on
Now cut out the feathers from the colored felt. Make both larger and smaller feathers to give the tail texture. Then roll up each feather as shown in the picture and glue the bottom ends together. This way the tail will become fluffier later.
Then glue the feathers to the wreath. For the first row, use the larger feathers and leave small spaces between them. The feathers of the second row, which can be slightly larger, are placed at these distances (the tail can also decrease in length upwards or downwards). Finish with a third row of feathers. So that the curled ends of the feathers are not visible, cover them with a few more small feathers that you now cut out of the feltnotroll up. These don’t have to be perfectly shaped either.
head and feet
Now you still have to make the remaining elements for the autumn wreath with children. You will need two circles of white felt, two more of black for the pupils, an orange triangle for the beak, a red piece for the skin flap and two feet. Glue the face to the left front area of the wreath, while the feet are attached to the lower area at the back. Hang the finished turkey wreath directly on a hook or using a loop.
Idea for a turkey wreath with leaves
- Styroporring
- Stencils for leavesor finished punched sheets
- any wide ribbon (tulle, linen or other fabric)
- Felt in any fall colors
- Hot glue and gun or fabric glue
- The stick part
Pin the end of the ribbon to the back of the ring and begin wrapping it around the wreath. Add more pins every few centimeters, but always on the back. This way you will secure the ribbon out of sight at regular intervals to prevent it from falling apart or shifting (if you are using tulle you will need to create thicker layers as it is very sheer).
Then cut lotsautumn leavesin different shapes and colors from the felt using stencils. You can of course also buy ready-made sheets. You will probably need around 40 sheets. Glue the leaves to the ring or simply pin them with pins (if you are making the autumn wreath with children, use glue instead!). Now cut out the remaining elements for the turkey from felt: brown body, orange beak and feet, red flap of skin and white and black circles for the eyes. You will also need a few feathers. First glue the feathers in place, then the body and finally the remaining parts.
Also read:Make your own autumn wreaths with fruit, paper or felt
