As the leaves begin to change colour and the air turns crisp, autumn unfolds as a season of beauty and wonder that captivates both young and old.
For toddlers, this time of year presents a unique array of opportunities for exploration, creativity, and learning. From the vibrant hues of autumn foliage to the cosy indoor activities perfect for cooler days, autumn offers a bounty of engaging experiences.
Join us as we dive into a world of fun and educational autumn activities that will inspire joy and curiosity in your little ones, both outdoors in the brisk autumn air and indoors amidst the warmth of home.
Preparing for Autumn: Seasonal Transitions
Switching Up Your Wardrobe
As the weather turns a bit cooler and the wind blows a little stronger, it’s time to put away the summer shorts and bring out the autumn casuals.
Ideal autumn clothes for a toddler include layers to keep them warm, and so they can easily get to their required temperature by adding or taking away layers.
Don’t forget wellies for those muddy puddle jumpers.
Autumn-themed Toys
If you want to go all out and completely embrace the autumn theme, reds, oranges and browns are a good colour theme to go with. There are foxes, pumpkins, and deer which can be found as soft toys. Autumn shapes for stencils for some printing, colouring or painting will also get you in the autumn mood. And I’ve found this fab fine motor skill and wooden sorting activity below which incorporates the autumnal colour scheme and animals which we associate with autumn.
Autumn-themed Books
I love switching some of our books over to autumn ones. Halloween is one of my favourite times of year purely for the build up and all the fun activities you can do beforehand. Nothing is ever scary for the little ones, just fun. Autumn is also the time for Diwali to be celebrated by Hindus so we like to get a few books about this religious celebration from the library so we can learn about other cultures.
Have a look at my blog post all about our favourite autumn books here.
Best Autumn Books for Toddlers and Young Children – Fun Family Home
Decorating Your Home
This doesn’t mean redecorate, it just means changing some of the finishing touches around the house. Some ideas for this are:
- Placing painted pumpkins lovingly decorated by your little one on a hall table
- Hanging autumn leaf bunting from the bannister collected by your child on a nature hunt
- Having a bowl of their autumn scavenger hunt treasures on display
- Placing a mason jar filled with their treasures on the mantle piece
Seasonal Meal Planning
With the nights drawing in, food tends to get a bit more comforting, so things like soups, whole grains and seasonal fruit and vegetables start to enter our meal planning.
We get our slow cooker out more now too, to make one meal and freeze another for later.
Meals to eat in autumn:
- Chilli con carne
- Slow cooker sausage casserole
- lasagne
- butternut squash soup
- Stews
- Pies
I like fruit crumbles: rhubarb, apple, blackberries and raspberry are my favourites at this time of year.
Autumn Outdoor Activities for Toddlers and Young Children
Even though it’s getting a little colder, it doesn’t mean we have to miss out on fresh air. Wrap up a bit warmer, grab a jacket and head out to your local park or nature reserve for a good run around.
Leaf Pile Jumping
Get your wellies on and go for a walk. See how many piles of leaves you can find to jump into.
Exploring Local Farms
Autumn is a great time to visit your local farm. They may put on pumpkin picking event or Halloween themed days. You get to see the farm animals in their
Nature Walks and Scavenger Hunts
Go conker hunting or grab a scavenger hunt sheet and have a look for all that nature brings in autumn. Things like conkers, acorns, pine cones, red, yellow and brown leaves and helicopters (seeds) are all pretty easy to find in autumn.
Go Fruit Picking
Autumn and late summer are the time of year to take a tub to your local park and go foraging for blackberries. We love doing this and have done so for many years. Once, I took our dog with us and he decided to roll in fox poo when my back was turned which was not a great experience as he was so smelly after that!
But once washed in a white vinegar solution, your blackberries can be used in smoothies or blackberry crumble or pie. Yummy!
Blackberries can also be used to make your very own natural paint. Get your child to squash some blackberries in a tub then use a stick to paint on a big piece of paper.
Gardening and Planting Bulbs
Gardening is a great sensory activity. You can also be pointing out all the plants, birds and bugs that you spot and having those really important conversations that will help your little one understand the world around them.
Digging in the soil either with hands or with a child-sized trowel are great activities for strengthening those fine motor muscles in their hands.
Get some spring-flowering bulbs and dig holes for them, pop them in, cover them over and wait until spring to see your handiwork.
Mid-September until the end of November is the best time of year to be planting spring-flowering bulbs.
Autumn Indoor Activities for Toddlers and Young Children
Sometimes we just want an activity to do at home and so when the days are getting shorter, and nights are drawing in, the chill in the air means some of us want to spend more time at home. Here are some indoor activities to educate and engage your little learners.
Autumn Art Projects
Go to the park and collect as many beautiful examples of natural items that have dropped off trees and plants as you can. I’m talking leaves and twigs and some stones (though I know they don’t fall off trees!)
Come home and place a large piece of paper on a table. Cut and move around your natural treasures to make a piece of art – it could be a pretty pattern or a picture of something real. Take a photo to keep your picture forever.
Baking Together
Here are some autumn-themed bakes which are perfect for baking with young children:
- Autumn Leaf Butter Cookies
- Individual Apple Pies
- Sweet Potato Brownies
- Apple Cinnamon Rolls
Autumn-themed Sensory Play
Make some orange, brown and yellow playdough for those autumn colours and use cookie cutters to cut out leaves or other shapes. Another great idea with playdough is making prints with their treasures from a nature hunt. Roll pine cones in the dough and see the pretty patterns, or press a leaf in too to see the imprint of the veins.
Create sensory bins or Tuff trays using corn, leaves or dye some dried pasta in browns, oranges and leave as yellow. Add some toys such as diggers or farm animals for a play bin with a hint of autumn.
These fake autumn leaves are ideal for your autumn Tuff trays, if your little one likes to put things in their mouth and you don’t want them putting actual leaves in their mouth:
DIY Autumn Decorations
Make a DIY leaf lantern by collecting big autumnal leaves and gluing them to the outside of mason jars. Then, place a battery-operated tea-light inside for some autumn decor.
Get your little one to collect pine cones, then with their help, wrap the pine cones and string them onto a roll of string or wool for some autumnal bunting to hang over the fireplace.
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