The season of fall is a time of change, and there are so many discoveries to be made and opportunities to learn, especially through these fall activities for preschoolers. From the moment a patch of yellow or red appears in the trees to the time when the branches stand bare, our world is our classroom. Check out our week of fall activities here:
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Fall: Books We Love
A grandfather and his granddaughter find beauty and joy in all of the different changes that fall brings. Honk with the geese, laugh with the mums, and tell your secrets to the pumpkins with Hello, Fall! by Deborah Diesen. This is a great introduction to all things fall for little ones!
I love how Lauren Stringer refers to autumn as “Yellow Time” with this next book. As the trees cover the world in a blanket of yellow, people and creatures alike get ready for fall. Another great book with so many references to how our world changes in the season of autumn.
In Bear Has a Story to Tell by Philip Stead, Bear so badly wants to tell his story to his friends, but everyone (mouse, duck, and toad) are so busy getting ready for winter that they don’t have time to listen. After Bear helps all of his friends prepare for the upcoming cold, he is too tired to tell his story. I personally love how this incorporates how different animals get ready for winter.
It is bear’s first autumn in Leaves by David Ezra Stein, and he doesn’t know what to do when the leaves begin dropping to the ground. He desperately tries to reattach them, but to no avail. Soon, bear gets sleepy and lays down for a rest. He awakens to trees full of brand-new leaves and brand-new hope.
Our last book of the week was Fall Mixed Up by Robert Raczka. We saved this one for last because it is a silly book about how the pumpkins turn red and the apples turn orange in the fall, and everything is mixed up. I love how this is a fun way for the kiddos to share all that they have learned about the wonderful season of fall.
Fall: Literacy Activities & Centers
Leaves Are Falling
Fall leaves are such a magical sight, especially in the majestic Colorado mountains! With this fall leaf activity, start by placing the leaves (uppercase, lowercase, or initial sound pictures) in a tub (I added in some silk leaves for fun, too). Sing the “Leaves Are Falling” song, grab a leaf, and name the letter! Perfect for circle time, but this can also be used as a matching activity during centers or used with a salt tray for writing.
Corn Maze Letter Hunt
I am all about puzzles and mazes and especially corn mazes! We have to go every year just for me. For some letter identification practice, we used daubers to find our way through these winding letter mazes. So much fun!
Alpha-Bear
“Alpha-Bear, Alpha-Bear. Stomp, stomp, stomp! Which letter will you eat? Chomp, chomp, chomp!” Draw a card to see which magnetic letter to feed to the hungry Alpha-Bear, who is getting ready for winter by eating all of the letters of the alphabet.
Migration Move
I was truly amazed at how many different animals migrate! I knew about geese and salmon, but I didn’t know zebras migrate! Mind-blown. Migration Move is the perfect way to practice syllabication and learn about different types of migrating animals / insects. Just draw a card and move the same number of spaces as there are syllables.
Fall Clothes Match
I have wanted a miniature clothesline for a long time, and finally built one (well, watched while my husband built one). These fall clothes with rhyming pairs were the perfect outfits to hang out on the new clothesline. I love these little things that really amp up the engagement!
Fall: Math Activities & Centers
Counting Acorns
These furry squirrels are getting ready for winter and hiding acorns in all of the trees. Count up the number of acorns and hide them in the tree with the matching shape! Easy to set up and reinforces multiple math concepts! Grab your Counting Acorns activity here!
Harvest the Number
The corn, squash, and pumpkins are ready to be picked with Harvest the Number. First, draw a card with a numeral on it. Find a corn with dice, a squash with tally marks, or a pumpkin with ten frames to match! I especially love that they are hooked on with Velcro. We even put out harvested foods in a basket to add in some extra fun!
Stacking Pump-“Cans”
I absolutely love, love, love these pumpkin cans that the pun-master in me has deemed “Pump-cans.” See those goofy grins? Count the teeth in their mouths (arranged like ten frames) and set up the cans according to the numbers on the cards. Not only is there a ton of counting in this activity, but fine motor skills, and teamwork (since I only made one set of cans)! The cards come with 3, 4, 5, or 6 cans to easily differentiate the task.
Sorting Fall Leaves
We used snap cubes to measure these fall leaves that I printed on colored cardstock and then sorted them according to their size. Adding in some real fall leaves would be great for this, too!
Missing Acorn Numbers
For our final math activity of the week, we determined the missing numbers on these adorable woodland animals inside of acorns. We just added magnetic numbers on top, but these could also be used with dry erase markers if laminated. Grab your Missing Acorn Numbers here!
Fall: Other Activities
Making Soup
Now that summer is drawing to a close, it’s time to whip out those soup recipes! Can’t wait! This making soup set of directions and labels is perfect to add to your dramatic play kitchen to incorporate following multi-step directions and environmental print. Of course, for those of you starting to catch on, I love me some songs! I made up this song all about making soup! By the way, we love our pot and pan set and the salt and pepper shakers from Melissa & Doug!
Hide the Acorns
Scurry and hurry to hide the acorns just like the squirrels do in the fall! I love how this sensory bin incorporated that little aspect. We just used dried black beans, silk fall leaves, acorns, cardboard tubes, and small wood slices. The background picture is a bonus file if you buy the bundle!
My Leaf Investigation
The leaves have just started turning color here, so we decided to go on a nature walk to observe some of the brilliant colors in the trees. We picked our favorite leaves, and used this Leaf Investigation sheet to measure our leaf, and record the color, shape, and size.
Hammer the Pumpkin
Next up, we hammered golf tees into the pumpkin for some fine motor practice. We first tried this with a plastic hammer, but it wasn’t firm enough, so we had to get out our metal hammer. I’m pretty sure a wooden hammer would work, too.
My Counting Trees
Last but not least, we used our fingers to paint red and yellow leaves onto these counting trees. The number of leaves matches the number on the trunk to add in some counting.
This week has been full of fun, fall, and fantastic learning! We hope you enjoy these activities as much as we did! Please let me know if you need anything to make these activities work for your little learners by emailing me here. As always, the entire bundle is discounted! Check it out here:
