Apple-picking season, colorful leaves, crisp air, and plenty of opportunities to engage your child’s senses and inspire awe and wonder make the fall season a special time of year. Explore our list of the best autumn-inspired hands-on crafts and outdoor adventures that will help your preschooler develop their cognitive, creative, social-emotional, and problem-solving skills.
Top 10 Fall Activities For Preschool-Aged Children
Autumn offers a variety of outdoor and indoor activities for young preschooler children to enjoy. These can be done in small groups with friends and siblings or with an entire preschool class.
1. Apple Tasting
This activity allows you to teach your child about healthy eating habits, as well as letting your child explore their senses of color, smell, taste, and texture. You can use these Apple Taste Test printable worksheets to take notes about the different types of apples you and your child try, or you can keep it simple and just verbally discuss them.
Buy (or better yet, pick your own!) a variety of different types of apples, such as Fuji, Gala, Granny Smith, and Pink Lady apples. Cut them into small pieces and put each kind of apple into its own bowl. Have your child smell and eat samples of every kind while paying attention to how each one smells, tastes, and feels.
2. Autumn Leaves Art
This is one of many fall-themed activities that will stimulate your child’s imagination. This art project is simple and cute, but it develops fine motor skills, too.
Supplies you will need:
- Crayons
- Glue stick
- Leaves
- White construction paper
Steps to make this craft:
- Have your child go outside and collect some leaves.
- Take the construction paper and use a crayon to draw a bare tree.
- Have your child color in the outline of the tree trunk and branches.
- Let your child use the glue stick to glue the leaves on the tree branches.
3. Autumn Songs
Choose a few fall-themed songs your child can sing and dance to, such as “Autumn Leaves Are Falling Down,” “Pumpkin Patch,” and “Ten Little Turkeys.”
4. Corn And/Or Pine Cone Painting
This activity provides an excellent opportunity for your child to learn about the various fruits and vegetables harvested during the fall season.
Supplies you will need:
- Brown, orange, and red paint
- Paint brush or foam brush
- Paper
- Two ears of corn on the cob and/or two pine cones
Steps to make this craft:
- Take the husks off the two ears of corn and/or gather pine cones from outside.
- Use the paint brush or foam brush to paint sections of each ear of corn or pine cone in different colors.
- Roll each ear of corn or pine cone all over the paper to make different patterns.
- Let the paint dry and display your child’s painting.
This is a fun activity that leaves some things like color choices up to your child so that each painting is unique.
5. Leaf Observation
This gives preschooler children a chance to practice observing and communicating. Take your child on an outdoor expedition to collect leaves. Encourage your child to describe to you each leaf’s color, shape, and size.
You can also expand this activity by preserving the leaves your child has found. This is a cute way to commemorate this project and can even become a yearly fall tradition for your family. There are a variety of DIY methods to preserve leaves at home, including pressing them in a book or even using your microwave to dry the leaves.
6. Nature Walk
Going outside for a nature walk gets children to exercise while learning about the environment. Take your child for a short walk to observe and discuss the nature of the season. To build excitement and incorporate crucial early literacy skills, consider reading books about the fall season before your nature walk.
7. Pumpkin Decorating
This is a great Halloween activity for young children because it is much safer and easier than pumpkin carving. All your child needs for this activity are small pumpkins, markers or paint, and some creativity and Halloween spirit. Each child can decorate their own pumpkin, or they may choose to team up with their friends and siblings, which will help them practice collaboration and teamwork.
8. Rainy Day Craft
Rainy days are an ideal opportunity to teach children about the weather and create weather-themed art projects, such as a rain cloud craft.
Supplies you will need:
- An empty cereal box
- Blue paper
- Cotton balls
- Dark blue and light blue crepe paper
- Glue
- Pen
- Paintbrushes (to apply the glue)
- String
- Tape
Steps to make this craft:
- Cut the blue sheet of paper into the shape of a cloud.
- Glue the cloud onto the empty cereal box. This makes it more sturdy.
- To make the raindrop shapes, fold the crepe paper in layers and use a pen to draw a small teardrop shape, then cut it out.
- Use the paintbrush to apply the glue to the cloud cutout.
- Take the cotton balls and gently and carefully pull the fibers apart to spread the cotton out a bit. Stick the cotton balls onto the glue and let the glue dry.
- When the glue is dry, turn the cloud over and tape a few pieces of string on the back so it dangles down at different lengths.
- Tape the raindrops to the string.
Your child can put their rain cloud on display in their room or in a window.
9. Scarecrow Craft
A paper plate scarecrow craft will inspire your child’s creativity.
Supplies you will need:
- Black marker
- Brown, orange, white, and yellow construction paper
- Glue
- Large paper plates (one per child or one for each scarecrow craft being made)
- Scissors
- Stapler
- Tan tissue paper
Steps to make this craft:
- Cut the tan tissue paper into small squares.
- Put glue all over the paper plate.
- Completely cover the plate with the tissue paper squares.
- Take the construction paper and the scissors and cut out the scarecrow’s eyes, hat, mouth, and nose.
- Trace your child’s hands on a piece of construction paper and cut them out. This will form the scarecrow’s hair.
- Staple or glue all the scarecrow’s features onto the paper plate. It is best to start at the top of the plate and work your way down from there.
- Display your scarecrow for everyone to see!
This craft is a fun way for your child to work on coordination and motor skills, and help them get familiar with arts and crafts supplies.
10. Thanksgiving Handprint Tree
This craft offers a fun way to teach your children about thankfulness.
Supplies you will need:
- Brown, green, orange, red, and yellow construction paper
- Poster board
- Glue stick
- Marker
- Scissors
Steps to make this craft:
- Have each member of your family choose a different color of construction paper and trace their hand on it.
- Cut out the tracings of each person’s hand.
- Have each family member write their name and what they are thankful for on their handprint cutout.
- Draw a bare tree on brown construction paper and cut it out.
- Use a glue stick to attach the tree cutout and the handprint leaves to the poster board.
- Write “(Your Family’s Last Name) (Year) Thanksgiving” at the top of the poster board.
This can be a fun Thanksgiving tradition to let you see how your family grows and changes over time.
Enroll Your Preschooler At Parkland Children’s Academy
Parkland Children’s Academy is a top-rated preschool in Broward County that uses a hands-on, curriculum-based methodology, which allows children to learn through interaction and play while preparing them for the school environment your child will encounter when they reach kindergarten.
Please call us at 954-688-5877 for more information or to schedule a tour of our Parkland preschool today!