Fun Fall Activities to Do With Your Preschooler

Autumn is arriving. For those of us in temperate areas, that means it is time to put away sprinklers and bathing suits and start to think about fun fall activities to do with our children. Here is a handy list of activities to get you started.

1. Collect leaves

This is a basic starting point from which you can branch out into all sorts of other fun and educational activities. Sort them by color, shape or size. Look them up online to find of what sort of tree they came from. You can also do a leaf rubbing by putting the leaf under a piece of paper and rubbing the side of a crayon over it to make a design. Another fun activity to do with the leaves is to make a sort of "stained glass" project. Put the leaves between two pieces of waxed paper and iron them, melting the wax together and preserving the leaves inside. This is a pretty thing to hang on a window!

2. Paint acorns

My kids LOVE collecting acorns and then bringing them inside to paint with tempera paints. We put little eyes and mouths on them and paint the cap to look like a hat, or just paint them pretty colors! You can put these in a bowl or a jar to make a fun seasonal decoration. Or paint them to look like little jack-o-lanterns.

3. Make pumpkin play dough

This is a great all-purpose play dough that lasts a long time. Just store it in an air-tight container and you are good to go! To make it pumpkiny, add some orange food coloring (red and yellow will do just fine of course) and some pumpkin pie spices--a combination of cinnamon and nutmeg smells nice, but ginger can also be used. Experiment with different combinations!

4. Read some fun autumn themed books

Here are some that my kids and I like:

Shake Dem Halloween Bones by W. Nikola-Lisa
Ten Little Mummies by Philip Yates
Buscuit Visits the Pumpkin Patch by Alyssa Satin Capucilli
The Ugly Pumpkin by Dave Horowitz
Berenstain Bears Trick or Treat by Stan and Jan Berenstain
Halloween Pie by Michael O. Tunnell

5. Go apple picking

Many pick-your-own orchards have things like corn mazes, petting zoos and playgrounds in addition to the apple trees. You can bring a picnic lunch and make a whole day out of it! And when you get home, you can make some yummy homemade apple sauce from the apples you picked. To make some easy apple sauce, peel the apples, cut them up into small chunks and boil in water on the stove until they are the consistency you want. Add cinnamon if you want and enjoy.

6. If apples aren't quite your thing, try pumpkin picking

When you get the pumpkin home, you can scrape it out and make a jack-o-lantern (make sure to save the seeds for roasting!) or just get out your paints and paint your pumpkin. Use glitter, feathers and sequins to make your pumpkin extra special!

7. Try an autumn themed guessing game

Put a bunch of seasonal objects in a paper bag: a pinecone, an acorn, a leaf, an apple. Have your child close their eyes and pull something out. Then have them guess what they have in their hand, using only their sense of touch.

8. Autumn themed coloring pages

Print out some autumn themed coloring pages and color or paint them together.

9. Rainy day?

Sit inside and have a movie day. Watch some classic Halloween cartoons like It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, Garfield's Halloween Adventures or Witch's Night Out. Pop some popcorn and cuddle on the couch.

10. Bake cookies

Use cookie cutters (dollar stores usually have them) shaped like pumpkins. After they are baked and cooled, have your kids ice and decorate them.

Fall is such a great time to go outside, enjoy nature and help kids learn about nature. Use these suggestions as a starting point and come up with some of your own activities! Have fun!