I absolutely love fall! It’s my very favorite time of year with all my favorite holidays on the horizon, the beautiful colors, the warm cozy scents, and ALL the super fun toddler crafts and activities that go along with everything! I’m so excited to share these with you guys- and prepare yourselves for tons more fall themed activities in the coming weeks (Apples! Camping! Pumpkins!)! Happy fall y’all!
–Indoor leaf raking: Where we live I like to joke that we have to “fake fall”- we’re in the south, so fall is HOT! We don’t get those cool breezes or colorful leaves until December (and even then it’s very rare to see a colorful tree because they grow better up north)! Because of all of this I was SO excited when I came across this “indoor leaf raking” activity at Mrs. Plemon’s Kindergarten! I got 1000 leaves for $10 on Amazon (now full disclosure here: the set I ordered had reviews that said they STINK and they were not lying. I don’t know if it’s the dye they used or what but they smelled like fish. They also took about 897 hours to separate, however, it was worth it for the amount we got at that price. I just spread them out as I separated them and lightly sprayed them with Mrs. Meyer’s Acorn Spice All Purpose Cleaner and they smelled fine!) Anyway, you just throw the leaves all over the floor, give your kids a toy rake (or leaf blower!) and let them play! They ended up putting them all in our mini ball pit swimming pool so they’d have a pile to play in!
–Fall soup: This was a HUGE hit with both of my boys who spent 20-30 minutes playing with it- bonus: it smells amazing too! I just placed a large bowl of water on a cookie sheet (to catch any spills) and placed fall items around it for “soup ingredients”- we used dried corn kernels, dried split peas, fall leaves, acorns, pinecones, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon sticks. For the spices, I just put little piles on the cookie sheet and let my littles practice their pincher grasp to sprinkle them in! They had so much fun putting in different ingredients and stirring, stirring, stirring! NOTE: If your toddler is closer to 1, modify the “ingredients” so that any choking hazards are removed- you could still do the powdered spices, larger pinecones and large leaves and let them stir, but if they still like to put things in their mouths you might want to skip the acorns and maybe the corn and peas! In any case, be sure to fully monitor your littles during this activity! I got this idea from Happy Toddler Playtime and just added the fun spices!
–Fall sensory bin: My littles loved this activity, and it was so pretty! I put unpopped popcorn kernels in a cake pan along with other fall items like mini gourds, pumpkins, leaves, and a silk sun flower. Then I gave them some scoops and let them play! (The blanket is key for catching any rouge kernels and making clean up super easy!) I got this idea from The Relaxed Homeschool.
–Leaf wreath making: These came out so pretty (don’t you just love warm fall colors?!) and were super easy to make! I just cut a hole from the center of a paper plate and had my little glue fake leaves all around it! I put the glue on for my toddler, but my preschooler did it himself. I got this idea from Spit Up and Sit Ups (best blog name ever, right?!)
–Fall leaf sticker tree: Kids LOVE stickers, and they are a fantastic and fun way to encourage fine motor practice at a young age! To do this project, I just cut out a tree trunk and branches from construction paper, glued it on a sheet of light blue and had my little place leaf stickers on the tree!
–Fall leaf painting: My littles went “creative” with this one and decided to paint their leaves any old color, but it was a fun activity that they both enjoyed! I just drew some large leaves on cardstock and had them paint them with watercolors!
–Leaf color sort: I gave my little some yellow and red leaves, then showed him how to sort the yellow into a pile and the red into a pile. Then I let him try!
–Supply/shopping list:
- 500-1000 fake fall leaves (unless you’ve got a ton in your yard already!)
- kid’s sized rake
- paper plate
- leaf stickers
- popcorn kernels (bulk in a jar)
- mini pumpkins
- cinnamon sticks
- nutmeg
- cloves
- dried peas
- acorns
- pinecones
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