Pumpkin spice-flavored anything, falling leaves everywhere, and the perfect time for sweater weather and family get-togethers, fall can be so cozy and comforting! It’s also a fantastic season to slow down and treat yourself to a bit of self-care, relaxation, and a dash of creativity with some fun and easy art therapy activities. So let’s jump into this cozy season and get started with 9 comforting fall art therapy activities for adults and kids!

9 Comforting Fall Art Therapy Activities for Beginners, Kids, & Adults

1. Make a Simple Leaf Drawing

If you can, find a leaf or handful of them & tape them onto a page. You can arrange them any way you’d like.

Or if you don’t want to use actual tree leaves you can draw some simple leaf doodles using fall themed colors like in the picture below.

Then, just draw lines & patterns around the leaves, like an outline. Keep drawing outlines until you have a minimum of 3-5. But make sure to try not to touch the leaves or other lines while doing it.

You can even draw simple patterns around your leaves for more fun and relaxation.

This art exercise is therapeutic and fantastic for anxiety because it brings your mind out of racing thoughts and into the present, grounding you.

Slow and precise motions force you to focus and concentrate on the here and now instead of the past or future. They also help in slowing down your mind, making you take your time to think about each movement.

Tip: On the same page, you can write down little notes of how the leaves make you feel- describe the emotions you get from looking at them/ describe your experience when picking them up.

2. Jack-O-Lantern Emoji

Think about your current mood.

How are you feeling right now? It can be any emotion from being happy to sad, angry, anxious, or bored – there’s no wrong answer. The important thing is to be honest with yourself and really get in touch with your emotions.

All good?

Great, now try to draw that emotion in the form of a Jack-O-Lantern, with your emotion being the pumpkin’s face!

You can get as spooky or cute as you’d like.

You can even write down a little description of why you’re feeling a certain way to help understand your emotions better.

3. Thankful Plate Gratefulness Drawing

There’s nothing better than cozying up with your family and loved ones for Thanksgiving and just simply appreciating what you have.

For this fall art therapy activity, let’s make a plate drawing.

• Draw 2 Circles – one for the plate and one for the plate’s rim
• Doodle 5-10 Things You’re Grateful For Inside the Plate
  • They can be very simple, like taking a nap or having internet
• Then, Write Why You’re Grateful for Each Item on the Plate’s Rim

This art therapy idea helps teach gratefulness and being thankful for what you have now, rather than what you wish you had. It can help put things in perspective and even make us a bit happier just from admiring the simple things we get to experience.

You can even doodle in a knife and fork on either side of the plate and add a place mat in the form of a simple pattern!

4. Self-Esteem Tree

Now, let’s build up that self-confidence with an easy self-esteem tree drawing.

• Start by Sketching the Branches & Trunk
• Next, Add Leaves to Each Branch
  • Make sure there is enough space to write something in the leaves
  • Draw at least 5 leaves but no more than 10-15
• Then, In Each Leaf, Write 1 Unique or Positive Quality About Yourself that You Appreciate
  • What do you love about yourself?
  • You can list qualities that other people admire about you as well

• To go even further, you can write down some personal qualities you’d like to improve on, at the tree’s roots
  • Use this as a reminder to work on yourself in areas you don’t feel 100% confident in.

What I love about this activity is that it helps remind us of who we are as individuals and the incredible qualities we bring to ourselves and others. It can be so easy to spend more time worrying about everyone else that we forget to appreciate how awesome we are.

So take some time to build yourself up!

5. Self Care Bear Doodle

Teddy bears are cute, fuzzy, and enjoyable to snuggle up with – all feelings of warmth, safety, and positivity. Now let’s mix it up with art therapy!

• Draw a Simple Teddy Bear or Bear
• Sketch the Bear’s Tummy
  • You can make the tummy as big or small as you’d like, just make sure there’s enough room to draw inside it
• Last, inside the tummy, draw hobbies & activities that you would like to do during this fall season (you can draw clothing on the bear to dress it up)

I chose to doodle a book and bath because I really want to have time to read a good story or also take some time to relax with a warm bath. I also doodled a little bag to remind of holiday shopping, since I love picking up cute gifts for my friends and family.

This fall art therapy activity is fantastic because it reminds you to take care of yourself for much needed me-time while appreciating this cooler season.

6. Sketch a Mug & Make it Personal

Who doesn’t love a nice warm mug of tea, coffee, or hot cocoa? It gives us a feeling of warmth and tastes so good on a cold day.

Let’s draw a mug but we’ll make it a personal!

Draw a mug outline. Make the sketch around the size of your hand or a bit smaller. It’s okay if it’s not perfect.

Now, think of 5-12 things you love about autumn. Is it the falling leaves or all the pumpkin spice flavored items at your local market?

Once you’re all set, decorate the the mug with those items you listed.

You can color in your drawings with fall colors or stick to your favorite ones.

I drew candy, Thanksgiving, and pumpkin spice because I love experiencing all of those during fall, especially when I’m with other people. I even added caramal apple marshmallows on top because caramel apple flavor is too good to pass up.

The point of this exercise is to bring some positivity and happiness by thinking of things that you positively associate with fall. It’s a great reminder of all the fun and activities during this time, to really boost your mood.

7. Make a Yummy Candy Bag Drawing

Like the activity above, we’ll be focusing on things that bring you joy. All you need to do is draw an outline of a bag. You can make it any shape you want.

Then, think of your favorite candies. Is it M &M’s? Chocolate? Gummy bears? I chose Reese’s peanut butter cups and red licorice because they taste so darn yummy!

Last, draw or doodle in your favorite candies inside the bag. Fill it up as much as you’d like.

It’s a great fall art therapy activity to get you into the Halloween spirit while adding a sweet reminder of things you personally enjoy and connect with.

8. Calming Abstract Autumn Painting

Making abstract art is soothing because it mainly focuses on the process and physical movements of art making rather than the end result. There is no wrong way to create and it gives a sense of mental and creative freedom to express and connect with ourselves.

To make an abstract fall painting or drawing, stick with the traditional autumn colors, such as dark saturated reds, every shade of brown, deep yellows, and oranges. You can add black or white as well.

Mix these colors up to get interesting color combinations and just start painting /drawing.

You don’t need to make anything in particular. Just go with the flow of your hand and try using large movements.

9. Fall Art Lettering

Drawing text and words is a great art therapy activity that’s simple, fun, and the possibilities are endless!

It helps in not only drawing out your feelings in recognizable words but puts a physicality to them that you can actually see, helping you to express your feelings and understand your thoughts.

Try drawing words in fall-themed styles and colors, such as leaves, candy, oranges, and yellows. You can even sketch words of how fall makes you feel. Make it your own!

What Are Fall Art Therapy Activities?

Fall art therapy activities are autumn-inspired visual art activities and prompts that help with processing and understanding your emotions while providing mental awareness, relief, and a productive yet creative outlet to express yourself.

These activities use common fall themes, warm colors, and imagery, such as leaves, pumpkins, scarves, and warm foods.

They can use a combination of traditional journaling (written words) along with different mediums of art including pencil, different types of paint, and anything else you can make art with!

What is the Most Popular Form of Art Therapy?

The most popular and common forms of art therapy are drawing, painting, and art journaling.

These types of art therapy use a variety of mediums including but not limited to pencil/graphite, colored pencils, watercolors, acrylic paints, and collages using magazine/book pages, photos, and other flat-paper items.

For a more in-depth look at art journaling and how to start your own art journal, check out my in-depth article on Art Journal Therapy for Beginners.

Can You Do Art Therapy on Your Own?

The answer is yes! You can absolutely do art therapy on your own and you don’t need a licensed (art) therapist to start gaining its amazing mental and creative benefits.

How Do I Start Art Therapy at Home?

Starting any art therapy activity at home is insanely easy and you can get started now.

All you need is any type of drawing or writing tool, something to make your art on, and a few simple art therapy prompts to kickstart your creativity. That’s all!

See?

I told you it was super easy to get started.

If you’re looking for different types of art therapy ideas to try, check some of these out below:

More Related Art Therapy Activities:

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Which fall art therapy activity do you want to try first? Leave your comments below and see you in the next post!