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Friends Art Lab / Blog / Fall Tree Art for Preschoolers with a Paper Towel Tube

Fall Tree Art for Preschoolers with a Paper Towel Tube

Author: Kristian Klebofski    Published: 08/20/2024     Updated: 04/29/2025

Create beautiful, unique trees with your little ones using our fall tree art for preschoolers! This fun, hands-on project is the perfect way to celebrate the season and encourage creativity.

A completed fall tree art project with vibrant leaf stamps in red, yellow, and orange, with a paper towel tube leaf stamp and paint supplies in the background.
Table of Contents:
  1. Quick and fun Fall tree art for preschoolers
  2. Why you’ll “Fall” in love with Fall tree art for preschoolers
  3. Materials
  4. How to make Fall tree art for preschoolers
  5. Nature walk & collect real leaves for art inspiration
  6. Something extra to make your Fall tree art even more fun
  7. Cleaning up your Fall tree art for preschoolers
  8. Frequently Asked Questions

Quick and fun Fall tree art for preschoolers

Looking for a delightful Fall activity using materials you likely already have on hand?

You’ve come to the right place!

For this project, we’re painting…without actually using a paintbrush (who says paintbrushes should have all the fun?).

Grab some paint, a paper towel tube, and some paper for an “unbe-leaf-ably” adorable Fall art project!

✨ Check out our ultimate collection of the best process art projects for kids!

A close-up of a hand holding a paper towel tube leaf stamp dipped in orange paint, showing the glossy paint film before stamping.

Why you’ll “Fall” in love with Fall tree art for preschoolers

Why should you give this project a whirl?

First, it’s a breeze to set up. A bit of tearing, a bit of dipping, and a whole lot of stamping – what’s not to love? Secondly, it’s a fantastic way to explore colors and shapes with your preschooler while celebrating the season.

Those paper towel tube “leaves” are a fun twist, and they create adorable, whimsical stamps loaded with process art.

🍂 Check out some of our other Fall faves, too:

  • Giant Fall Coloring Poster
  • Marker and Foil Leaf Prints
  • Preschool Fall Measurement Activity (with Free Printable)
  • Fall Cutting Tray
Materials for a fall tree art project, including a brown paper towel tube, white and brown construction paper, scissors, glue stick, and Crayola washable paint in orange, yellow, and red.

Materials

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  • Paint
  • Plate
  • Brown paper – ex: construction paper or a grocery bag
  • White paper
  • Paper towel tube
  • Scissors
  • Glue stick
A step-by-step collage showing how to transform a paper towel tube into a leaf shape, with paint bottles and a paper plate of paint in the background.

How to make Fall tree art for preschoolers

  1. Tear a piece of brown construction paper into a rectangle to resemble a tree trunk.
  2. Glue the torn tree trunk onto the white paper.
  3. Cut the paper towel tube into 1” sections.
  4. Flatten each section completely and then gently pinch in the sides to form a leaf shape.
  5. Pour various colors of paint onto a paper plate.
  6. Dip the paper towel “leaf” into the paint.
  7. Stamp the paper towel leaves onto the tree trunk to create leaves.
  8. Continue stamping until your tree is full of beautiful fall foliage.

✨ Process art: The best part? No two trees will look the same.

Hands tearing brown construction paper to create a tree trunk for a fall tree art project, with paint supplies and paper towel tube leaf stamps in the background.

Nature walk & collect real leaves for art inspiration

Before diving into your easy fall tree art project, you can connect this project to nature by going on a nature walk and looking for leaves outside.

Not only will this be a fun outdoor adventure, but it will also provide great inspiration for your artwork.

On your walk, invite your child to notice the shapes and colors of the leaves they see outside, naming some of the unique colors you see.

This is a fabulous opportunity to introduce fun color vocabulary to describe vibrant leaf colors, such as amber, gold, pumpkin, sienna, and marigold.

A hand stamping a paper towel tube leaf shape dipped in red paint onto white paper as part of a fall tree art project, with colorful leaf prints forming the tree's foliage.

Something extra to make your Fall tree art even more fun

Want to take this preschool fall activity up a notch?

Try adding a dash of glitter to the paint for some extra sparkle!

The leaves will shimmer like the real thing, catching the light as they dry.

Or, let your child experiment with mixing the colors to create beautiful, unique hues that really pop on the page.

A close-up of a fall tree art project with colorful red, yellow, and orange leaf stamps on white paper, featuring a brown construction paper tree trunk.

Cleaning up your Fall tree art for preschoolers

The clean up for this project is “tree-mendously” simple.

Because the paper towel tube was headed to the garbage anyway, simply throw them away for one less thing to worry about and clean.

A paper plate with red, yellow, and orange paint, each holding a paper towel tube leaf stamp, with stamped leaf shapes on a white sheet of paper nearby.

Frequently Asked Questions

What type of paint is recommended for this project?

We used washable Crayola paint, but I can’t think of a single paint that wouldn’t work well between tempera, BioColor, acrylic, and even liquid watercolors.

How can I make this project more challenging for older kids?

Older kids can add more details like drawing branches, creating different tree shapes, or experimenting with different stamping techniques.

What if I don’t have white paper?

This project would also be gorgeous on the inside of a grocery store paper bag.

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Kristian

Hi, I’m Kristian!

I have spent over 15 years in the preschool classroom, I have a Master's degree in Early Childhood Education, and I was a college professor of education for eight years. My passion is sharing creative learning activities for children and I'm so happy you're here.

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