Fall Craft: Clothespin Tree Magnets

Looking for a fun, easy Fall craft to do with your kiddos this week? Look no further! This was a spin on our Spring Craft Magnets and once again the boys had a ball.

First Stage. Gather your supplies: watercolors, brown paint, clothespins, mini magnets, and coffee filters. Let the munchkins paint the clothespins with brown paint and then set them aside to dry. Slightly wet a coffee-filter and let them paint with watercolors to their hearts' content. Ring them out if they get too soggy, the more smushed the colors the better and hang to dry. On a side note, we talked about the colors we see in the Fall and at first I tried to have them stick to those colors but in the end, they were having a grand time and who am I to tell them that their idea of a Fall tree can't include blue!?! 

Second Stage. Once the coffee-filters are dry, have the kids squish them into balls. This may have been their second favorite part :) Jack was squeezing them so hard his entire body was shaking! Ha! Once you have your filters balled up, open them back up a little at a time till you like the way they look. I told the boys to squish them flat like a pancake. Layer a smaller "pancake" in front of a larger one and use the clothespin to keep them in place. I also added a little piece of double sided tape in-between the filters just to help out a bit. Glue a mini magnet on the back of the clothespin and you're done! Easy Peasy!