DIY Fall Globes – a Beautiful Autumn Craft!
Make these beautiful DIY fall globes with sparkling “autumn leaves” that rain down on the friendly woodland animals! A huge thank you to Safari Ltd for sponsoring this post. We love their animals for all sorts of DIY projects, including the animal wall hanging I made a couple of months ago for the boys’ room, and now this.
I’ve always loved autumn, and thought it would be cool to bring the colorful leaves into a winter snow globe concept! I had to experiment a little with these fall globes but I love how they came out.
I used Safari Ltd’s Nature TOOB – it has the most adorable mini woodland creatures among others. The rest of the animals can be set aside as a toy, for sensory play, or for more crafts!
It comes with 12 mini creatures with the perfect amount of detail for this project. As you can see, I made four fall globes – I used the raccoon, rabbit, fox, and doe.
I used baby food jars. Yes, I bought baby food special for the jars. I served the mush to Baby Y with yogurt and he totally went for it. But that is the mark of a true crafter…
Whichever jar you use, make sure to note the width to ensure your animals will fit.
Taller animals were glued directly to the lids. Shorter ones needed to be propped; I used wooden craft cubes. If you want these to last, you’ll probably want to make sure you use sealed ones so that they’re somewhat water resistant.
My fox got a little tree standing next to him. To do this, I picked a branch from outdoors and sealed it with clear nail polish.
The biggest challenge with making fall globes is how to get the glitter to “float” and not to fall. Typically, you would use glycerin, however since I don’t use that regularly, I didn’t want to have it sitting around.
Another option is to use clear glue. I purchased glitter glue tubes, since I knew that I would have M home for a few weeks between day camp and school anyway, and he loves painting with those. So I used glitter glue in some of these and left it out of others.
You do need to be careful not to put TOO much glitter glue – I did that in one of them and the glitter simply sticks to the top. Just a quick squeeze does the job, and then add as much loose glitter you’d like to get the effect you want. I can still shake that one and get the beautiful, calming swirling effect, but it just doesn’t settle properly.
To paint the jar lids, I used nail polish – one of my favorite craft materials.
I used it because it’s nice and glossy, durable, and fast-drying. I didn’t let it dry 100% so the glitter stuck to it, but I love how it looks – it really just completes my autumn-esque project.
Craft your autumn globes using a nature TOOB from Safari Ltd, or pick another set with animals you love! You can even use their larger animals in mason jars – just be aware of the width of the jar! You will fall in love with the charm and hand painted detail of these animals.
Make these as autumn party favors, Thanksgiving centerpieces, or as a learning experience with your child.
And yes, they make great calm-down jars too!
What you need to make fall globes:
- The Nature TOOB from Safari Ltd with your favorite woodland animals
- Jars
- Nail polish or another paint that will adhere to a smooth surface
- Industrial strength glue
- Glitter in your favorite autumn colors. Look for tinsel (regular) glitter and not specialty glitters such as glass glitter, glitter beads, etc, because those are heavier.
- Glitter glue OR clear glue OR glycerin
- Wooden cubes, square beads, a stack of plastic buttons, or other “platforms” for shorter animals.
- Optional props such as branches
- Warm water
- Crafts sticks for stirring
How to make woodland animal fall globes:
1. Pick your creatures! Make sure to match the width of your creature to the right jar. Save the cardinal and other winter animals to make snow globes in a month or two!
2. Paint your jar lid. Allow it to dry completely.
3. Glue your animals to the lids. Add a branch if you want. Prop up shorter animals on wooden cubes.
4. Add your glitter to your jar. How much you add will determine how many leaves are falling, of course. I added a LOT – probably about a tablespoon total but I didn’t measure.
5. Add warm water and stir. If you used glitter glue, you’ll need to give it a good stir to really break up those clumps.
6. Glue on those lids.
Shake, put down, and watch the colorful leaves fall!!
What will you be making these fall globes for? Comment below!
