Fall Activities for Toddlers
By LAURIN BRAINARD Updated Feb. 10, 2024
Nothing gets me more excited than thinking about the fall season… The air turning crisp, the leaves turning gorgeous shades of orange and red, and raking large piles of leaves for my toddlers to jump in. It’s the perfect season to cozy up with our little ones while we read books, eat too much pumpkin, and create fall themed toddler activities for our little ones. So, let’s dive right in to our fall lesson plans for toddlers!
Fall Toddler Lesson Plans
This Fall Toddler Unit is made up of 20+ autumn activities you can use for the entire fall season:
- literacy and language activities
- sensory bins
- math activities
- fine motor activities
- art activities
- gross motor activities
Interested in downloading these fall activities that you can print and use right away? Click on the image or button below to check them out in my TpT shop!
Fall Sensory Bins for Toddlers
I love to begin every new theme with a sensory bin that introduces the theme we are learning through for the week. To set up your bin, fill a large bin with your favorite sensory bin filler. I used black beans, pinto beans, and red and yellow rice. Give your child time to dig their fingers in to experience the colors of fall! Then, you can add in some fall letter cards for your child to use to learn the name of each letter.
I love using sensory bins to practice a wide variety of skills. In this bin, your child will build puzzles by matching two pieces to complete the picture. You can also take the opportunity to practice the name and color of each shape on the completed puzzles.
New to sensory bins? Check out this blog post for a few of my favorite tips: How to Set Up a Sensory Bin
Fall Math Activities for Toddlers
Do you have any of these little candy pumpkins on hand? They are an excellent tool for working on counting! In this activity, your child can match an item to the picture of a pumpkin on the counting card. You can use this opportunity to work on number names and counting objects.
Another great way to work on counting is by stacking blocks on top of a number. In this example, we use unifix cubes, but you could also use Legos, wooden blocks, or any other block you have on hand. Then, watch your child learn to build towers by stacking their blocks to show each number.
Our little ones need as much fine motor practice as we can give them to help build strong muscles in their little hands. I love to use clip cards to work on counting to give our little ones the opportunity to squeeze and clamp the clothespin onto the card. This will provide counting practice while also building fine motor skills.
Fall Crafts for Toddlers
Dot markers make everything more fun! To complete this activity, all you have to do is give your child a leaf cut out of paper. Then, watch as your child dots fall colors onto their leaves to create a work of art! If you need a leaf printable, you can grab it in my Fall Toddler Unit.
Fall Fine Motor Activities for Toddlers
Here is another art activity that puts our dot markers to great use! In this printable activity, your little ones will feel like they are completing a craft, but they are also building hand control. Your little one will work on hand-eye coordination as they use controled motions to stamp the ink dot right inside each circle.
This is also a great way to practice the vocabulary words inside and outside as your little one dots their dot marker on the page.
Here is another fine motor activity that will also work on hand control! To make it easier to lace the card, I find using shoelaces with the stiff tips are much easier than yarn. If this is your child’s first time lacing, you may need to model how to put the lace through the hole with hand over hand movements.
Fall Toddler Curriculum
If you want to bring some seasonal fun centered around learning into your home this year, then this Fall Toddler Unit is a perfect choice. It’s full of 20+ activities that will get your toddler excited about learning, all while working on their developmental needs.
If adding learning activities into your home this year sounds like something you would enjoy, then you can save money on this unit by purchasing it as part of my Seasonal Toddler Curriculum. This seasonal toddler curriculum includes activities for fall, winter, spring, and summer! Your toddler or preschooler will be ready for Kindergarten before you know it! You can check it out here:
If you want to learn more about how to get started planning activities for your little ones, download my FREE guide for everything you need to know about the skill areas we incorporate into toddler school:
Here are some other blog posts to help you keep planning activities for your little ones:
A Free Set of Fall Alphabet Puzzles
I hope these activities give you the tools to play and learn with your little ones all year long! Feel free to send me a message on Insta @theprimarybrain if you have any questions and I would love to chat about all things toddler learning with you!
This post may contain Amazon affiliate links. I earn a small commission each time someone makes a purchase through one of my affiliate links, which helps to support The Primary Brain blog. As always, I only recommend products that I love and all ideas shared are my own.
Written on February 10th, 2024 by Laurin Brainard