Autumn is here again. The days are getting chillier, big coats are out and wellies are by the front door. Here are 10 activities that you can do with toddlers and young children using autumn leaves – some of which may even give you a few minutes for a nice warm mug of hot chocolate! Wishful thinking, I know! But we can but try!
1. Autumn Leaves Sensory Bin
Grab some autumn leaves, some jelly and some orange pom poms and you have yourself an autumn sensory bin.
You could do this without the jelly for less messy play.
Sitting up babies and toddlers will love to look at the leaves and scrunch them in their fingers. What sounds do they hear? What colours are the leaves? There’s lots to talk about when you’ve got leaves right in front of you.
2. Cutting Autumn Leaves
Cutting autumn leaves is a great fine motor skills practice. Cutting is one of those skills that I see in Year 3’s who still haven’t mastered it, so why not practise early. It helps strengthen their fingers for writing later on. They can just cut the leaves up into bits. Maybe they could then make a cute autumn leaf picture with a tree drawn on paper and then they stick the leaf bits on with glue.
3. Autumn Leaves Sweeping
Teach your kids to be a part of the family and get them helping sweep up the never-ending autumn leaves! It never even crossed my mind when we were purchasing this house that we’d have quite so many leaves to sweep each year.
4. Autumn Leaves Playdough Printing
Make some quick homemade playdough and get stamping. Kids will love the feel of the playdough and the crunch of the leaves.
Find my homemade playdough recipe here: What Is The Best Playdough Recipe? – Fun Family Home
30+ Toddler Activities for Halloween (Digital Download)
30+ Fun Toddler Activities for Halloween
5. Autumn Leaves Painting
Paint the leaves, paint round the leaves, let them paint the leaves, then they use them as stamps. There’s lots of different ways children can use paint and leave together.
6. Autumn Leaf People
Glue an autumn leaf onto a sheet of paper and give your child some pens and let them loose. Mine decided to draw round the leaf and then they drew legs, arms, faces, a bag and a hat.
7. Autumn Leaf Wand
Grab any old stick and go for a walk. Let them collect leaves on the way and poke them onto the end of their stick. It’s a great trophy to come home with.
Autumn Leaves Fine Motor Skills Sheets
An instant download of 5 A4 sheets:
Spirals, straight lines, wiggly lines, shapes and zig zags.
8. Autumn Leaf Crown
Get a piece of card. Cut it into strips and sellotape together into a long strip. Wrap it round your child’s head and secure the ends, cutting off any excess. Now, take some double-sided sticky tape and stick it all the way round the crown. On a walk, your child can pick up leaves and stick them onto their crown as they go.
9. Autumn Leaf Colour Hunt
When out and about, look for all the different colours of autumn leaves. I love the red ones!
10. Autumn Leaf Jumping
Good old jumping in piles of leaves. There’s nothing quite like it.
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