7 Fall Educational Activities for Preschoolers
Fall is almost here!!! It’s my FAVORITE season and I love EVERYTHING about it! After all, it brings pumpkins, falling leaves, sweaters, cozy blankets and football into our lives again. {Can you tell I am tiny bit excited?}
The teacher in me could not let this season pass without incorporating some fall educational activities at home.
While our crafts and activities don’t always turn out like a Pinterest post, I long ago relinquished my need to be Supermom. So embrace the imperfections and have FUN learning with your children at home!
1. Fall Memory Game
Using the free printable ‘Fall Activity Cards’, print it out twice on cardstock, cut out the individual squares and laminate them {if you choose}.
Arrange the cards face down in rows.
Take turns flipping the cards over and looking for matches with your child. Whoever ends up with the most matches is the winner.
You can either place them all down at one time or for younger kids, place only a few sets down at a time. Narrowing the amount of choices will help children grasp the idea of game playing and feel successful!
2. Pumpkin/Gourd Sorting
Bags of mini-pumpkins and gourds are among my favorite things about fall! I use them everywhere, even with my kids! Have kids sort by size {smallest to largest or largest to smallest}, by color, by shape, etc… You can even compare and contrast, using the terms, “same and different.”
3. Pumpkin/Gourd Counting
Teach numbers and counting with these adorable minis as well! For beginning number sense, line up pumpkins and help children count while pointing to each object. Next group a number of pumpkins together, and help children count how many in each group.
To practice number recognition, have children place the correct number card by the group of pumpkins. Print off these adorable fall numbers to help with number recognition!
Download number cards 1-5 here.
4. Nature Walk Graphing
Head outdoors with your child and a bag to gather fall items from the ground.
Have your child collect leaves, acorns, pine cones, sticks, etc…
Once finished with exploring the great outdoors, help your child sort the items gathered on your walk and count how many of each object you found.
Grab a free blank graph from this adorable site, First Grade Garden, and help your child label and color the graph according to how many of each item was collected. {Note: This activity is a little more advanced, but some children are ready at a young age to be challenged.}
5. Fall Clothing Sort
Have your child help you get fall clothes ready and organized.
Give your child a pile of clothes and have them sort by clothing type {all of the pants in one pile, all of long sleeve shirts together, all of the sweaters together} and talk about the difference between fall clothes and summer clothes and why we have to wear different clothes in different seasons.
Promote independence by encouraging your child to practice getting dressed with fall clothes, even with shoes and socks.
6. Apple Print Patterns
Cut an apple in half to use as your “stamp”. Using only fall colors, dip the apple half in a paint color and then stamp it on a paper.
Alternate colors of the stamp, making a pattern, and have your child tell you what color comes next in the pattern.
Once your child grasps this concept, have him/her stamp a pattern for you
It’s a little messy, but kids love to get their hands dirty! This is a great opportunity for color recognition and labeling color names.
{Note: you may want to have one apple stamp per color so not to get the colors murky!}
7. Find the Pumpkin
The simple game encourages the use of position words and phrases; on, off, under, over, behind, in front of, below, etc….
Hide a pumpkin somewhere in the room and give your child a clue to where it is located.
Once he/she grasps the concept, have him/her hide the pumpkin and give you the clue to its location.
What fall, educational activities do you like to do with your children? Have fun and keep the camera handy!
This post was shared with Pat & Candy, Mommy Moments
