20 Exciting Fall Activities For Toddlers And Family
Are you looking for ideas for exciting fall activities for toddlers?
Look no further because you found them.
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Fall is a magical season, especially for the little ones. Leaves are changing colors and falling down and this alone provides tons of opportunities for play and exploration.
So grab your calendar and start planning for an awesome season.
Outdoor fall activities for toddlers
Rake leaves
It does sound like a boring chore for adults, but for toddlers raking leaves is actually quite an adventure.
They get to “help” and it gives them a boost of confidence. And they also have tons of fun chasing around the run-away leaves.
Just be careful and don’t leave them unattended around sharp objects like the rake.
Play in a pile of leaves
Done raking? Great, now take the rake away and let them jump right into the pile.
Yes, it’s messy and it will undo all the raking, but the smile on their face is so worth it!
Collect fallen leaves
Autumn leaves are a great material for many indoor fall activities for toddlers. All collecting them is a fun activity all by itself.
Simply picking the best ones will take them quite a while. In the meantime, encourage them to count them or sort them to add a learning curve to it.
Have a bonfire
If your toddler is going to bed early as mine does, take advantage of the early sunset and have a bonfire in the backyard.
To make it even more memorable, get some kids-safe barbeque forks and roast some marshmallows, veggies, or hotdogs.
Fall scavenger hunt
Have I mentioned I love scavenger hunts? And so does my toddler.
And if your little one likes them too, there’s a free template in the workbook.
What can you look for in a Fall scavenger hunt?
- Acorns
- Pumpkin
- Maple leaf
- Twig
- Pile of leaves
- Pinecones
- Squirrel
- Tracktor
- Scarecrow
- Something red
- Something yellow
- and Something orange
Ride a tractor
Do you like going to the country? I bet your kid will love it. Take them to see the fields of wheat, the haystacks, and the animals outside a zoo.
And if you ask nicely, I bet they’ll agree to take your little one on a quick ride too.
Walk in a forest
Forests in the autumn are truly mesmerizing.
Take your toddler and let them run, jump, and play in the fallen leaves. Watch out for squirrels and see how many different types of leaves you can find. (Psst, there’s a cheatsheet to help you out).
Visit an apple orchard
Give your little one the chance to harvest an apple themselves before eating it.
How?
By visiting the nearest apple orchard.
Pro tip: Before you head out to the orchard, call to check whether they have low-hanging branches that your kid can reach and which times are less busy.
Indoor fall activities for toddlers
Carve a pumpkin
Carving a pumpkin used to be one of my favorite fall activities when I was a child.
You obviously can’t give your toddler the knife but you can give them a spoon and show them how to take the inside out.
When done, put a tea candle inside and light it up in the evening.
Not sure what to carve? Check out these easy and awesome ideas from Country Living.
Fall tree crafts
There are dozens of fall tree crafts that you can try at home. Pinterest is full of them. But let me share with you a couple of my favorites first.
Glue the leaves
You’ll need:
- A very large piece of paper (about the kid’s height)
- Some scotch tape
- Those leaves your kid collected
- Non-toxic liquid glue
Draw the trunk and branches of a tree on the paper. Don’t worry, it doesn’t have to be perfect, your kid is not an art connoisseur.
Tape the paper to a door you don’t use very often and scatter the leaves in front of it. And now for the fun part. Let your kid glue the leaves back on the tree.
You can also use the activity to teach the different parts of the tree to your toddler.
Fall tree finger painting
You’ll need:
- Red, orange, and yellow finger paint
- A drawing of a tree trunk (a picture is available in the free workbook).
- 3 small plates, one for each color
Print the tree from the fall activities workbook or draw one on a piece of paper. Put a bit of each paint on a plate, and show your toddler how to make leaves from palm prints.
This activity can get a bit messy but it’s really fun for your little one.
Play dress up
Trick or treating is not popular around here. But this doesn’t mean we cannot enjoy costumes and pretend play.
And if your little one is still not familiar with cartoon characters or Disney princesses, you have plenty of other options:
- Butterfly wings made of felt
- Quick and easy mermaid tale
- Printable costumes like this cute kitten setup
- Animal onesies from Amazon
Make a fall wreath
Making a wreath is both fun and easy enough to keep your toddler occupied for at least an hour.
What you need is a paper plate, that non-toxic glue, and some fall-themed materials to glue.
If you want to keep it natural, stick to the small leaves you’ve collected playing outside. If you want a more colorful wreath, you may also get:
- some fabric leaves
- pompoms in autumn colours
- pieces of fall-colored paper
- small acorns, leaves, and twigs (natural or foam).
Cut out the center of the plate and give it to your toddler along with the sorted materials. Show them how to start with the flat materials.
Once the plate is covered, you can guide them on how to start adding some of the pompoms, acorns, and twigs.
Fall sensory bin activities for toddlers
Sensory bins are tons of fun for all young kids. To create one you would need to collect items that:
- Are different shapes, sizes, and colors (sight)
- Have different texture (touch)
- Make different noise (hearing)
- Have different scent (smell)
- Taste differently (taste)
To make one you don’t have to provide materials for all 5 senses. Personally, I skip the tasting part unless everything in the bin is edible.
Here are a few ideas for fall-themed sensory bins.
Hide & Seek
You’ll need:
- Autumn leaves (as many as you can fit in the bin)
- Some twigs
- Real or plastic fruits (for example 1 pumpkin, 2 apples, 3 pears, 4 acorns)
Make a list of all the fruits you’ll include. Put them on the bottom of the bin and cover them with the mixed leaves and twigs.
Let your toddler look for the fruits and count how many have they found and how many are still in the bin.
Autumn Soup
You’ll need:
- Vinyl or plastic leaves
- Water
- Orange food coloring (or red+yellow)
- A scoop
- A big bowl or pot
This one is even quicker to set up. Put some warm water in the bin, add some food coloring to get a nice golden look, and put the leaves inside. Stir it and let your toddler use the scoop to pour the “soup into the bowl”.
Want to keep them occupied for longer? Tell them that they need to catch all the leaves with the scoop.
The Scent of Fall
You’ll need:
- corn kernels (lots of them)
- cinnamon sticks
- acorns
- a few leaves
- several scoops or small bowls
- kitchen tongs or tweezers
This scented bin is a great fine motor activity. Make them catch all the acorns with the tongs and put them in a bowl or pour kernels from one scoop to another. Practice counting, sorting, or just let them smell the different materials.
Note: Corn kernels are small enough to swallow. Make sure you watch your kid at all times!
Learn fun facts about the fall
What you could learn depends on the stage your toddler’s at and what you have discussed already. Here are some topics you may want to cover:
- Learn new autumn-related words with flashcards (available in the free workbook)
- Where do the birds go in the fall?
- Why are the leaves falling from the trees?
- Why does it get dark earlier?
Color sorting
Autumn is all about warm colors. But for a toddler yellow, orange, red, and brown could look very much alike.
So help them practice with this easy game.
Print, cut, and laminate the color sheet.
Place an object in the white space and ask them which color is this – yellow, orange, red, or brown. Objects can be anything from a fallen leaf or a small pumpkin to a color crayon.
Your kid can point or name the color or pin a clothespin to the relevant box.
Shadow matching
This is another one that is pretty quick to set up.
All you need are two print sets of identical images. Leave the shadows one whole and cut the colored images.
Then ask your toddler to match the image to the right shadow.
Conclusion
Fall can be as fun as we make it to be.
So if you like these ideas, grab your FREE workbook with fall activities for toddlers. Inside you’ll find all the printables you need for an amazing season.
If you want to see more visual ideas, check out the Pinterest board I created just for you.
Now tell me, which are your favorite fall activities with your kids?
