Fall is coming at a snail’s pace over here in the south, but it’s starting to roll in for all of us. Your morning walk is probably a little colder, and you might begin to zip up in the early evenings. This post includes the best 50 Fall activities for preschoolers.
Soon, the leaves will change color, and you’ll start bundling up with your children.
Both you and your kids probably feel the change in seasons, so it’s the perfect time to start autumn play!
The article is broken down into the following fall sections:
- Best fall Sensory Play Activities
- Best fall Breakfast Invitations
- Favorite STEM fall activities for kids
- Best fall Book Recommendations and Activities
I’m sure you’ll want to prepare autumn activities for toddlers (and older kids, too!), so let’s get started!
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RELATED: Autumn activities for kids call for a fun list of art supplies. Here are some of our favorite supplies for arts and crafts that you can keep on hand for some fun in the fall.
50 Fall Activities for Preschoolers
I’ve found some wonderful ideas you and your toddler can try to fill your hours this fall so that you can skip the endless search!
Sensory Play Fall Activities for Preschoolers
Sensory play will always have its place in fun activities for kids.
They allow your children to investigate objects and feel new textures in their hands. It’s a way of letting them explore the world!
Using play dough, slime, or even water can help kids develop their motor skills too, so I was sure to include a bunch of these activities in the list!
Fall sensory activities for preschoolers:
- Apple Cinnamon Playdough- Natural Beach Living – make special autumn-themed play dough.
- Apple Oobleck – Little Bins Little Hands – create Oobleck and add apple-shaped cutters.
- Apple Wash – Busy Toddler – get your child to wash apples in this fun water play!
- Eyeball Soup – Days with Grey – add some spooky eyeballs to water.
- Fall Art – Mess Free Painting – Happy Toddler Playtime – use different colored paint to make a messy fall tree.
- Fall Leaf Bath – Mama Papa Bubba – put sticky paper on the bathtub wall so your child can stick up leaves over bath time.
- Fall Leaf Paintings – Days with Grey – draw leaves on a roll of paper and watch your child paint them.
- Fall Leaves Slime – Kori at Home – make this autumn slime for kids to experiment with!
- Fall Pour and Scoop – Days with Grey – mix seeds and fall items in a sensory tray, then add measuring jugs.
- Fall Rock Soup – Happy Toddler Playtime – paint different leaves on rocks for your toddlers to explore.
- Fall Sensory Bin – Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds – add an array of fall-themed colors, textures, and objects to a sensory bin.
- Fall Sensory Bottle The Chaos and Clutter – sequins and fake leaves in a water bottle look so beautiful!
- Farm Theme Sensory Activity from Little Blue Truck – Stay at Home Educator – make a mini farm scene and add fall objects.
- Little Blue Truck Playdough Kit – Mama Papa Bubba – this Playdough is perfect for creating over autumn.
Pumpkin sensory activities for preschoolers:
- Muddy Pumpkin Patch – Nerdy Mama – make a muddy, messy play and include fake pumpkins.
- Pumpkin Bath – Busy Toddler – mix up bubbles and foam for your child to wash pumpkins.
- Pumpkin Cloud Dough – The Chaos and Clutter – create pumpkin pie cloud dough for an autumn touch.
- Pumpkin Gak – Busy Toddler – make orange Gak (or Oobleck) and add pumpkins!
- Pumpkin Slime – Little Bins Little Hands – use the insides of a real pumpkin for gooey slime!
- Sticky Pumpkin – Days with Grey – tape pumpkin-shaped sticky paper to the wall and add tissue paper for your toddlers to stick on.
- Tissue Paper Pumpkin Art – Days with Grey – a similar activity to the one above but instead, give your little one glue and paintbrushes.
10 Breakfast Invitations for Autumn
What better way to keep your Breakfast Invitation rotation going than to add some fun ideas for fall! – You know I couldn’t leave this category out. You can spend your mornings together making conversation with your toddler while they have a lot of fun.
If you’re new to Breakfast Invitations, START HERE.
- Apple Dot to Dot – Days with Grey – place apple stickers on a sheet of paper and see if your child can use a marker to join the dots.
- Apple Sticker Sort – Busy Toddler – give the kids different colored stickers so they can match them up to the same colored apple.
- Autumn Apple Gluing – Days with Grey – draw some apples and give your child textures such as pompoms to stick on.
- Autumn Place-settings – Days with Grey – make place settings into mini autumn activities.
- Fall Lacing Wreath – Happily Every Mom – give your child the materials to lace together a fall wreath.
- Fall Leaf Crown – Mama Papa Bubba – everyone likes a crown! So why not make one out of leaves?
- Fall Tinker Tray – Left Brain Craft Brain – add a collection of fall objects to a sensory tray for your child to explore.
- Ghost Counting Eyes – Days with Grey – place the correct number of sticker eyes on each ghost.
- Glue the Fall Leaves – Days with Grey – grab the leaves, grab the glue, and make some fun art!
- Turkey Hole Punch – Happy Toddler Playtime – make a paper turkey so your child can punch the correct number of holes in each tail feather.
Pumpkin Breakfast Invitations
- Fall Pumpkin Roll and Color Math Game – Fantastic Fun and Learning – draw out numbered pumpkins on a sheet of paper. Roll the dice and see if your child can place a pumpkin on the correct number.
- Pumpkin Faces – Days with Grey – cut out shapes for your child to make a pumpkin face.
- Pumpkin Memory Game – Days with Grey – see if your child can remember which number is under which pumpkin!
- Save the Pumpkins – Days with Grey – get a pair of tongues and mini pumpkins. Let your child pick them up and place them in jars.
- – make a paper turkey so your child can punch the correct number of holes in each tail feather.
STEM Fall Activities for Preschoolers
Getting your child exposed to a bit of science and the arts is never a bad idea. Balancing apples on paper rolls or making a clock out of a pumpkin are examples of science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (or STEAM activities).
- Apple Balance – Days with Grey – watch your kid balance apples on cardboard tubes.
- Fall Engineering Challenge – Capri Plus 3 – grab autumn-colored materials for your child to make a structure.
- Falling Leaf Art and Science – Fun Fantastic Learning – grab some real leaves and discuss with your child how gravity works and where the leaves land.
- Five Little Pumpkins STEM Challenge – Little Bins for Little Hands – build a structure using pumpkins, cardboard rolls, and pegs!
- Pumpkin Clock STEM Project – Little Bins for Little Hands – make a pumpkin clock with wires.
- Why Do Apples Turn Brown? – Left Brain Craft Brain – explore and talk with your child about why apples turn brown.
Craving a calmer morning?
Breakfast Invitations are simple learning games to begin the day with play.
Books and Book Activities for Autumn
Reading with your child is always a great way to bond. Spending time with books will also help your kids on their way to literacy, making it another way to have educational fun.
Reading books that include the changing color of leaves, apples, and all the other frills of the changing season is a great autumn activity for toddlers.
Autumn Books Activities
- Pumpkin Faces – Days with Grey – make shapes to build pumpkin faces using the book, It’s Pumpkin Day, Mouse! By Laura Numeroff.
- Pair Books with the Perfect Fall Children’s Book – Happily Ever Mom – create funny leaf faces inspired by Leaf Man by Lois Elhert.
- Retell Tree: A Peek Through Picture Book – Days with Grey – make a colorful lollipop stick tree with Patricia Hegarty’s Tree: A Peek-Through Picture Book.
- Room on the Broom – Days with Grey – you can’t go wrong with easy puppets and Julia Donaldson’s Room on the Broom!
There are so many more books that you can explore with your child!
You can check out this fantastic Fall Book List by Happily Ever Elephants or explore some of our other best choices below:
Apple Books for Autumn
- Apples for Everyone by Jill Esbaum
- Ten Apples Up On Top by Theo. LeSieg
- Bad Apple: A Tale of Friendship by Edward Hemingway
- How Do Apples Grow? by Jill McDonald
Autumn Season Change Books
- Apples and Pumpkins by Ann Rockwell
- Goodbye Summer, Hello Autumn by Kenard Pak
- Sophie’s Squash by Pat Zietlow Miller
- Leaves – by David Ezra Stein
- Because of an Acorn by Lola M. Schaefer
- Autumn by Gurda Muller
- We’re Going on a Leaf Hunt by Steve Metzger
- How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin? by Margaret McNamara
- Fall Leaves by Loretta Holland
Autumn Activities are a Great Way to Learn and Play!
These different autumn activities for toddlers are great ways to help your kids learn through play and fill your hours with warmth as the days get colder.
Which preschool fall activity will you try out first?
RELATED: You might also be interested in going straight for 31 Days of Halloween Ideas.
Frequently Asked Questions
Preschoolers enjoy learning about the change of seasons, investigating fall leaves, and activities involving apples or pumpkins. Think about what interests your child and allow them to revisit favorite activities.
Fall is fun to head outside and watch the natural environment change. My favorite fall activity is this outdoor sensory hunt that collects nature for a fun collage.
The MVP of fall is this leaf painting activity. I like to find an outside space to hang the kraft paper. Leave this mural out to paint throughout the day!
