To celebrate the new ‘carrier bag tax’ we made our own reusable leaf print bag full of the colours of Autumn.
We collected some leaves on our walk and afterwards I left out this invitation to print with them. I put some red, yellow and brown fabric paints in a large dish and put cardboard inside the plain cotton bag I had laid out so he was all set up to get straight to it.
He enjoyed the freedom to print on such a big area and loved seeing the pattern each leaf made when he lifted it up. It also gave an opportunity to experiment with mixing colours as well as his own investigations. “I don’t know what this leaf is, maybe we could look in an Autumn book”. So afterwards we did a bit of tree identification.
We talked about the differences between plastic carrier bags and fabric ones. He said “Plastic bags don’t rot down. They just stay there for all our lives”. We try to live consciously and respect our environment, reusing and recycling where we can. However, we have a long way to go and I’m always looking for ways to reduce our impact on nature. This is a fun and simple activity to get children involved in thinking about how the way we live affects the world around us.
After the paint dried, I ironed it on the reverse (using an old towel for protection as it leaves a yellow mark) and it was ready to use. He was so excited to take our new bag to the farm shop to buy some vegetables!
Dancing in the Rain 
What a lovely idea – so simple yet effective. I have to confess I love the outdoors but the craft thing is usually something I wither away from – I think even I could be brave enough to give this one a go…! Thank you for sharing! x
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I’m with you on the craft thing… this was nice and easy to set up and the open-ended results meant it was stress-free for all! Thank you for stopping by 🙂
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Love the idea of my kids making bags for shopping now – and perfect seasonal timing with leaves. Pinning now 🙂
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Happy printing! My son loves to be incharge of the shopping bag when we’re out now. Thank you for stopping by 🙂
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A great idea to make your bag bespoke and add value to it and a lovely way to look at autumn together. The leaves are beautifully dry and abundant at the moment too. Thank you for sharing with me on Country Kids and you could pop this one on my monthly link up Trash 2 Treasure too, it is a great upcycling tutorial!
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Thank you Fiona. Great, I will do! Yes we’re enjoying some lovely Autumn sunshine at the moment aren’t we? Thank you for having us on #CountryKids
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What a lovely creation and such a memorable one to make with the kids for the season. I love it. Thank you so much for linking up to Share With Me. I appreciate the linky loyalty and always look forward to seeing you again at SWM. #sharewithme
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Thank you for having us on SWM!
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What a great project, and so nice that you can use it again and again. Would make a great gift as well! #Trast2Treasure
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Thank you, Sarah! Yes I think we may be repeating this activity a little closer to Christmas 😉
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