Fall is the perfect time to do crafts with leaves and nature. This leaf clay dish is one older kids can make. It would make a beautiful gift they can personalize for a birthday or Christmas.
RELATED: Pressed Flower Clay Dish
If you love crafts with nature, be sure to see our post on how to press flowers and how to make a pressed flower clay dish.
Supplies Needed to Make a Leaf Clay Dish
- Air Dry Clay
- Leaves – we used the leaves from a hydrangea plant. Use hydrangea leaves or preferably one similar as a maple leaf does not fold up as nicely to form a dish
- Note: If you would like to make a leaf bowl instead, a maple leaf would work perfectly for this
- Acrylic paint – we used rose gold, gold and bronze
- Sealer – mod podge gloss
- Knife
We made painted these leaf dishes a bit more formal than kids would probably want to make, but older kids may like these colors. You can use any color you’d like! These would also look great in a bright red, orange or yellow too for fall.
These clay dishes can be used as a ring dish or simply to hold items like keys and coins. You can even turn it into a leaf bowl by using different leaves!
Watch the Video Tutorial!
How to Make a DIY Clay Dish
1. First gather your leaves. We used hydrangea leaves which is recommended for their shape. We did try a maple leaf and due to the shape of the leaf, it did not roll up well (feel free to try different leaf shapes as it is easy to roll out and start over if you do not like the way it looks).
Note – if you want to make a leaf bowl then using a maple leaf would be fine.
2. Cut out a piece of your air dry clay. Roll it out and then stamp your leaf onto it. Press firmly and make sure to press on all parts of the leaf to get a complete imprint.
3. Take off your leaf and cut around the outline of the leaf with a knife (have adults do this part).
4. Now remove the excess air dry clay from around your imprint.
5. Gently start to roll up sections of your clay. There is no specific pattern required, just leave a bit of space in between the rolls. Leave the tip of the leaf intact. If any portions of the clay are not smooth, dip a sponge in a bit of water and use it to smooth out portions of the clay.
Note: If you’d like to make a leaf bowl instead, place your leaf inside a small bowl to shape the clay into a bowl shape.
6. Allow the clay to air dry and harden. Preferably on a cookie drying rack so that the bottom gets exposed to air as well. After 24 hours, check if the top of the clay is hardened. If it is, flip it over to allow the bottom to air dry. If not, let it dry for another 24 hours and then flip it the next day if needed.
7. Once your clay dishes are dry and hardened, you can now paint them! We did 2 coats but if you really want to ensure coverage for gold, it may require 3 coats. Darker colors would be fine with 2 coats, while lighter colors like gold and yellow may need 3.
8. Seal them with mod podge gloss or a more heavy duty sealer if desired.
Note: If you would like to use these leaf clay dishes as soap dishes, you will need to use a heavy duty waterproof sealer.
Now you can enjoy these beautiful keepsakes for years to come!
More Fall Crafts for Kids
Get a free leaf template to create these beautiful leaf silhouettes – this is an easy craft for kids of all ages!
For more fun fall crafts, check out our fall potato stamping quick and easy tutorial for making potato stamps!
How to make a Flower trinket dish
Hi Bella, if you search pressed flower on our site we have a pressed flower clay dish tutorial also!
would it be possible to press the leaves to do this later?
When you press leaves they get really dry and brittle so I’m not sure they would be strong enough to make an impression in the clay without breaking.
Great idea
I don’t understand the “rolling “ out part! Won’t the leaf impression disappear? Do you have a video link?
Roll out the clay before you do the leaf impression and then you can gently roll up the edges with your fingers to make the outer design. The video is before the instructions.
Is it not necessary to put it in oven for strengthening? only drying in air will suffice for the hardening of the product?
Yes this is air dry clay. If you use oven baked clay then you need to put it in the oven. Follow the directions on the package of the clay you purchase.
How many leaf prints would one package of that clay make? I have 15 adults that will be doing this craft and wondering how many packages of clay I would need for 15 leaf molds. Thanks!!
That really depends on the size of your package and the leaf sizes you choose. If you need to make a lot, get the largest air dry clay package you can. You might be able to do 4-5 per package.
Do I use a specific type of clay? Ty
No brand specifically but we link to the type of clay we used above.
What is a heavy duty sealer you would recommend if we wanted to use this as a soap dish?
It needs to be a sealer that is waterproof. If you head to Michaels they should have a few options there. 🙂
Is the dish with mod podge safe for candy? I wanted to make s candy dish with my niece.
Yes definitely! Just make sure to wash and read the instructions of the mod podge before using with food.
Have you tried this with salt dough?? I think I’m gonna give that a go before buying any clay
We haven’t – but let us know how it goes!
These are beautiful and very easy to . I have placed them “standing” next to picture frames, in a lantern and nestled in a basket with mini faux pumpkins. They could also be a great a ring dish by the sink or to hold items such as spare change, paper clips, hair accessories. Thank you, Kim for a wonderful idea!
Thanks Stella! Glad you had fun!
Could you use oven bake clay
We haven’t tried that but if you try it let us know how it goes!
Nice
Thanks hope you have fun making it!