As the weather cools down and days grow shorter, fall-themed decorations and activities can provide enjoyable learning experiences for preschoolers.

If you're seeking inspiration for your preschool and daycare center, consider incorporating lessons on apples, pumpkins, and leaves. These topics offer creative and interactive lesson plans for kids.

To guide you through the fall season, we've compiled a list of ideas to educate and entertain your young learners!

Nature Activities

• Cut open a pumpkin and let them dig around in it with their hands, or spoons and cups

• Fill a pumpkin with soil and water it and see what grows from it

• Pumpkin seed counting, seed painting, and seed sorting— Try using the “decorated” seeds to spell out the students names

• Rake and jump into a pile of leaves!

• Go on a nature walk and collect leaves, pinecones, and acorns, sort leaves by color

• Collect leaves, pine cones, acorns, conkers etc, and use them for loose parts and art projects or make a nature table

• Make a homemade bird feeder and watch the birds that come to visit!

• Dissect a sunflower — use tweezers to pluck out the petals and let the kids pull apart the seeds with their fingers. Its a great way to teach them about the parts of a plant

• Let a pumpkin rot and turn it into a science experiment!

Arts & Craft Decoration Activities

• Glitter Pinecones — Festive for the fall and winter months! Check out this list of 12 painted pinecone craft ideas

• Make an Autumn wreath out of construction Paper — all you need is construction paper in autumn colors, scissors, colored pencils/pens, and glue

  

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• Paper Plate Scarecrow craft is fun for Halloween or for your bulletin board!

  

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• Decorate pumpkins with paint, glitter, and sequins

• Apple Stamping — cut an apple in half and let the kids dip it in paint and stamp it on a paper. Stab a fork in the back for easy gripping and less messy clean up

• Create a fall leaf collage using small acorns, leaves, and sticks and gluing them on autumn colored cardstock paper

• Leaf people! Take your preschoolers outside to collect leaves of different shapes and sizes and create a colony

  

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• This paper plate sun-catcher craft is simple and beautiful decoration for classroom windows

  

• Leaf Rubbings can help children explore leaves of different shapes, colors, and textures!

  

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• Make a homemade wind chime out of sticks, pony beads, pipe cleaners, and jingle bells

  

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Fall Food Activities

• Corn and Popcorn Science Experiment is a great sensory activity and a great way to educate kids about how kernels turn into popcorn!

• Pumpkin Spice Playdough is safe to eat and fun to mold

• This Dancing Cranberries Experiment only requires a clear cup, dried cranberries, and sprite. Your preschoolers will be mesmerized by the bubbles popping at he surface and the cranberries floating up and down for several minutes

• Check out this roasted pumpkin seed recipe that kids will love to participate in

• Decorate fall themed sugar cookies!

  

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• Why Do Apples Turn brown? Science Experiment is a great way to introduce kids to the scientific method and grow their critical thinking skills. It’s in season and super easy!

• Making a fall sensory bin for your preschoolers is a great way for them to learn about textures, sounds, smells, and colors. Simply add popcorn kernels to your container and other fall items such as acorns, various nuts, small branches, and cinnamon sticks.

  
  

Fall activities are a staple memory for early childhood education. With so much to learn about the changing seasons and natural environment, we hope this guide of fall activities will inspire your lesson plan this autumn!