Awesome Fall Activities for Preschoolers
I love planning fall activities for preschoolers as much as I love maple leaves, cozy blankets, and pumpkin spice! These fall ideas are just what you need to get ready for crisp Autumn days!
Fall Activities for Morning Arrival Time
I like to have familiar activities on the tables for our morning Table Time. The class really enjoys getting to play a favorite game again or doing a tray task we practiced earlier in the week. Providing these well-known and well-loved activities gives your children a sense of stability. It makes planning easier, too!
ABC Apple Dominoes and the Alphabet Sorting Mats are two favorites your preschoolers will love to see on the table as they walk into the classroom! Activities like these are a great way to work on visual discrimination skills which are so important for reading success.
Morning arrival activities can be super simple like yellow, red, and orange colored playdoh with lots of leaf cookie cutters! And don’t forget, kids love to make basic color collages, too! These pumpkin shaped collages included orange tissue paper, stickers, fake leaves, foam pieces, and more!
Fall Ideas for Large Group
Are you always on the lookout for books to add to your teacher collection? Me too! I compiled this list of Fall books to read during Circle Time. If I had to pick a favorite, my choice would be A Tree is Nice. I actually read it several times during the school year since the book shows the changes of a tree throughout the seasons. What’s your favorite book about fall?
Click on the book title for more details and to order it for your classroom library!
This Pumpkin Number Sort is an ideal math activity for a fall circle time! Start your large group meeting with the book Too Many Pumpkins and then do the number sort. Students take turns counting the pumpkins and sorting the cards in the pocket chart. There are plenty of cards so everyone gets plenty of turns! The number sort is sure to become one of your favorite fall activities to do with your preschoolers!
My other favorite fall circle time game is the Scarecrow FIND IT Game!
Read the book Otis and the Scarecrow and then play Find It. Students try to guess which letter the little scarecrow is hiding behind.
Shhh! Don’t tell your class they’re learning while they play these large group games!
Small Group Activities for Preschool in the Fall
Looking for something new to do with your small groups this fall?
Have you played the Cover It Up Game? You’ll love this one because it’s an easy way to sneak in some uppercase letter practice. Your class will want to see who will be the first to cover up all the apples on their game board and win!
Apple Seed Counting is the best small group math activity when it’s apple picking weather! I like to use real apple seeds for counters but you can also count tiny brown pom poms, too.
Younger students will enjoy the process of printing and stamping with these leaf cookie cutters. But older preschoolers will discover it’s fun to write letters, numbers, or sight words! Fall activities like this are a great way to mix the learning with the fun at your small group table!
Autumn Themed Sensory Tables
Sensory experiences are plentiful in the fall! During an Apple unit, fill your sensory table with big plastic apples, aluminum pie pans or muffin tins, and all sorts of cups, scoops, and tongs. Several bags of dried green split peas makes a great filler for this table. When it’s time for your Farm theme, just reuse the green peas and add a variety of toy farm animals. I used pieces from a wooden farm puzzle but you can always grab a few bags of tiny farm animals at the dollar store, too.
Preschool Art Activities for Fall
One of my goals is to provide a variety of art experiences for my preschoolers. Some art that’s completely open-ended and some where they’ll be following specific directions.
These apple mobiles are a little of both and make a stunning display! In advance, cut the centers out of big, construction paper apple shapes. During art time, students will watercolor a paper towel. You can use fall colors or let the kids paint as they wish. When the paper towels are dry, attach them to the back of the paper apples. Students can then decorate the apple shape with markers, paint, glitter, and craft sequins. Let them make a few smaller die cut apples to hang from the big apple.
These tissue paper apples are one of my favorites! They are definitely a must do on my list of fall activities for preschoolers! You’ll need a roll of contact paper, plenty of tissue paper squares, and small construction paper scraps for stems and leaves. Give each student a piece of contact paper with the sticky side facing up. Then, lay the apple frame on top. I cut the black frames freehand and you’ll notice they aren’t quite an apple shape! Have your students fill the inside of the frame with tissue squares and add a second piece of contact paper on top. Finally, add a stem and leaves to the apple. Hang in your classroom and enjoy the twirling apples!
Now, this next fall activity is one you might think you can’t do with preschoolers, but I promise you can. Yes, you’ll need all the patience you can find within your teacher body. And yes, some children have a difficult time. But Paper Weaving is a wonderful learning process and the results will be incredibly rewarding.
Fall Bulletin Board
And finally, here’s a beautiful kid-made bulletin board that can be displayed throughout the autumn season!
First, students will use fall watercolors and paint on large pieces of white construction paper. Be sure they cover the entire paper for best results. Once that’s dry, use your school die-cut machine or cut out leaf shapes and pumpkins. Next, make a tree trunk with brown bulletin board paper. Twist lengths of the paper to form the branches. What a gorgeous fall display!
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