Look­ing for some­thing to do with all those beau­ti­ful leaves your kids col­lect? Check out these 7 orig­i­nal ideas for turn­ing them into fun art projects.

Have the leaves started chang­ing color in your neigh­bor­hood yet? It feels like any day now I’ll look out the win­dow and the green will be gone—it always seems to sneak up on us. But I’ve found if I have some­thing planned for those beau­ti­ful leaves, then I’m more aware of the time passing.

Even sim­ply pick­ing the best leaves and press­ing them in a book is fun; I’m always stum­bling upon them a year later and rem­i­nisc­ing. But I have to admit, these DIY’s—all using real leaves—showcase some sur­pris­ing alternatives!

DIY Leaf Con­fetti
via Grow Cre­ative

Such a sim­ple idea: get out your favorite paper punches and make your own con­fetti. Or, I’d love to punch a bunch with my daugh­ter and then use them to cre­ate col­lages together.

Leaf Crafts
via kokokoKIDS

Here’s another sim­ple but inno­v­a­tive twist on leaf art: These images remind me of find­ing ani­mals in the clouds. Every­thing resem­bles some­thing else if you look hard enough.

DIY Painted Leaf Art
via Katja Ensel­ing

And here’s another ver­sion of anthro­po­mor­phized leaves. I just love the googly-eyed expres­sions on these lit­tle creatures.

Wax-Dipped Hang­ing Leaves
via Martha Stew­art

Martha does it again. This is such a per­fect way to dis­play the zil­lion leaves your kids find and have to keep “for­ever.” Just press them and display!

DIY Painted Leaves
via My Owl Barn

Paint­ing leaves sounds like a really fun alter­na­tive when you’re sick of paper. The shapes pro­vide all kinds of imag­i­na­tive ideas.