How to Make a Harvest Welcome Sign: A Fun and Easy Craft for Fall

Supplies Needed:
• Empty cereal box
• Scissors
• Piece of orange construction paper
• Glue
• 16 popsicle sticks
• Pruning shears
• Ruler
• Pencil
• Crayons, markers or colored pencils
• Red, yellow, brown card stock or construction paper (optional)
• Spanish moss (you can use hay or dried grass if you would like)
• Hole punch
• String (or ribbon, yarn)

Time:
Approximately 1 ½ hours

Directions:
1.) Take your empty cereal box and cut out the front (or back) side. Remove the top and side flaps, as well.

2.) Glue a piece of construction paper to the cardboard.

3.) Trim the excess paper from around the edges of the cardboard.

4.) Take 8 of the popsicle sticks. Measure each 1 inch from the end. Using a heavy duty pair of scissors or pruning shears, cut the one inch end off.

5.) Place your ruler so that you are measuring the length (short side) of the mat. Make hash marks every 4 inches. Repeat on the other side. Place your ruler across the width of the mat and draw lines to connect the marks.

6.) Now it is time to create the fence. 3 popsicle sticks will go across each line you drew. Starting on the top line, take one of the sticks that you cut and glue it down to the mat with the flat edge on the outside of the paper. Then take a full length stick and glue it down next to the first, end-to-end. Take the third stick and glue it to the mat with the flat edge toward on the outside of the paper and the round end touching the end of the second stick. Repeat this on the next three rows.

7.) The remaining 4 sticks will go length-wise, overlapping the four rows of sticks. Glue the first one on the left edge of the mat, the second one where the first and second sticks met, the third where the second and third sticks met and the fourth on the right edge of the paper. There you have your picket-fence.

8.) While you are waiting for the fence to dry, it is time to color and cut out your pumpkin, bushel of apples, leaves and acorns. [For the pumpkin: (http://www.freeprintablecoloringpages.net/showcover/Thanksgiving/Pumpkin), for the bushel of apples: (http://www.calapple.org/files/apples%20coloring%20sheet.jpg), for the leaves: (http://www.kidsdomain.com/holiday/canada/color/maples90.gif)].

9.) You will color the bushel of apples. As for the leaves and pumpkin, you can either print them out on different color paper, or print them out on regular paper and color them in. When you are finished coloring, cut out your pictures. Arrange them on your sign. When you have your pictures arranged the way you would like them, glue them down.

10.) Take your Spanish moss (or whatever you have chosen to use) and glue it on the bottom edge of your sign.

11.) As for the "Welcome" at the top of your sign, you can write it in by hand, use stencils and color it in, or trace the stencil on another piece of paper and cut it out.

12.) When you are finished with your "Welcome" greeting, punch two holes, one in the upper left hand corner and one in the upper right hand corner. Take a piece of string, ribbon or whatever you have chosen and thread it through.

13.) Display your sign on the door or wherever else you would like.