Fall Leaf Bat Crafts

Last year we made a cute chalk art bat craft for preschoolers, and I thought I could check bat crafts off my list here. But sometimes inspiration strikes!

These are completely different though… They’re also probably a little faster to make. So if you’re looking for a quick bat craft, this one could be it for you.

And if you’re looking for a unique leaf craft, this also fills that need. Or, you could try this cute fall leaf butterfly craft, or these adorable fall dinosaurs.

You might even have time for a story…

Start with a Bat Book

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If you want to make your craft time more educational, you could start by reading a bat book. I think Bat Loves the Night (affiliate) by Nicola Davies would match this particular bat craft well.

This narrative nonfiction picture book opens by telling how the bat “unfurls her wings, made of skin so fine the finger bones inside show through.”

The book is a little long for young preschoolers, so if you’re working with kids that age, they might prefer the story Little Bat by Tania Cox (affiliate)

How to Make the Bat Craft

I’m going to start with the traditional version and put all the instructions here. But be sure to keep scrolling to see a fun fall version too.

Materials

The main ingredient here is decorative fabric leaves. I got a 55 piece package of them at the dollar store a while back, and it has been languishing in my craft supplies ever since.

For this first version, I used acrylic paint because it covers so well. You may prefer to use washable paint, but if you do you’ll probably need to allow time for painting a second coat.

Here is everything you’ll need:

• Fabric maple leaves (similar to these – affiliate)
• Black paint
• Paintbrush
• Container for paint – a jar lid worked well
• Paint smock and table cover
• Glue
• Double-sided tape
• Paper: black, white, and orange (or your choice)
• Googly eyes
• Scissors

Instructions

1. Paint two leaves with the black paint. Let dry.

2. Cut out a black circle for the bat’s head.
3. Cut out two small white triangles for the teeth. If you look closely you’ll see that I cut the base of each triangle in a slight curve so that I could make the bat appear to smile.
4. Glue the eyes and teeth onto the head.
5. Affix a strip of double-sided tape to your background paper. It should be long enough for the head and the edges of the wings.
6. Stick the head and wings down on to the tape, with the head on top and the leaves behind.

Fall Leaf Bat Craft Variation

I also made an alternate version. This didn’t require any painting at all! I picked out a couple red leaves and glued it all together.

You might even try this with real leaves – Red Ted Art has a great tutorial on how to preserve leaves (for crafting) – her glue method, while messy, could make this craft a lot of fun for preschoolers.

I kind of wished I’d drawn some little feet on my bat (above). You could even draw a tree and glue him hanging upside down!

Have fun!