These are the fall activities for kids we all need. These cheap Halloween activities for kids are perfect for keeping busy at home or if you need Halloween party activities for your toddlers!
There’s something for everyone here!!
SENSORY PLAY! – Best Fall Activities for Kids
First, let’s chat sensory play!! Are you looking to add sensory play to your day? Here are fun ideas for sensory activities with your little ones this fall!! Benefits of sensory play include fine motor development, teaching calming strategies, STEAM exploration, hands-on learning, and cognitive development!
Fall Sensory Bins for Babies
- Taste Safe Sensory Bins:
- cooked spaghetti and plastic eyeballs or critters
- orange water (water + food coloring)
- orange bin – find everything you can around the house that’s orange (DUPLO legos, scarves, socks, toys, etc.) – perfect for babies exploring color!
- scary swamp – pudding mix and water (add any creatures)
- jello table – make orange jello with objects inside for kids to find and discover
- orange toys frozen in ice – thaw them out in the shower
- husking corn
- gourd washing
- apple washing (perfect if you went to an orchard!)
- cool whip and orange food coloring
Fall Sensory Bins for Kids
If you’re looking to have fun with sensory bins for toddlers, preschoolers, and bigger kids, you will love these options!
- Fall + Halloween Sensory Bins:
- pumpkin patch: pinto beans with candy pumpkins and toy tractor
- spooky water: water, food coloring, and cornstarch (makes cloudy water)
- black beans, orange pompoms, and scoops
- orange dyed beans – mix great northern white beans with orange acrylic paint in a gallon bag, and then pour in a thin layer on parchment paper to dry.
- green rice + insects
- orange bubble foam (1:1 ratio baby soap and water w/ food coloring mixed with hand mixer)
- yarn bin: fill a bin with orange yarn and spider rings – let child explore cutting the yarn
- fizzy potions: fill small bowls with baking soda, and explore reactions with vinegar (add food coloring for extra fun)
- ookblek – 1 cup water, 2 cups cornstarch, food coloring
- kern kernels and farm animals
- dirt and spiders (I do this outside)
- dyed pasta – shake dry pasta in a bag with acrylic paint and pour on parchment paper to dry
- freeze orange pompoms in an ice cube tray – melt and thaw to release
Fall Sensory Bags for Kids
Sensory Bags are a great option for less mess! We love sensory bags for babies, toddler, preschoolers, and even bigger kids, too! The options are endless with sensory bags.
- Fall and Halloween Sensory Bags:
- hair gel + food coloring + google eyes
- pumpkin seeds + water
- hair gel + water + leaves
- hair gel + corn kernels
- hair gel + candy corn
- pumpkin guts: save the inside after carving a pumpkin – place in a gallon bag with water for little one to explore
- hair gel + orange and black pom poms
- paint bags to mix yellow and red paint to explore making orange
- shaving cream + orange food coloring in a bag
Fun with Leaves in Fall
- Activities with Leaves:
- leaf color sorting
- leaf sorting: collect leaves and sort by size: small and large
- leaf bar graphs: draw a grid on the sidewalk and create a bar graph sorting the leaves by color.
- leaf faces: glue on google eyes and draw on mouth
- leaf coloring: color leaves with kwik stix
- leaf stamping: dip leaves in paint and them stamp them on the paper
- leaf paint brushes: tape leaves on sticks to make your own paint brushes
Art Activities for Fall
You know my kids love crafts and process art! If your kids are the same way, you will have a blast with these fun fall themed crafts!
- Fall Art for Preschoolers and Toddlers:
- pumpkin paper plates – paint plates orange, add construction paper faces
- stamping with Halloween cookie cutters + paint
- toilet paper roll monsters: decorate with google eyes and craft supplies
- monster rocks: paint monster rocks and hot glue on google eyes
- corn prints: roll corn in paint and use it to make prints
- apple stamping: halve an apple, dip in orange paint, and stamp to make pumpkin stamp art
- stamping with orange Duplo legos and orange paint
- family mural – spread out butcher paper and draw giant circles – invite the family to paint the pumpkins together
Fine Motor Activities for Fall
- Fall and Halloween Fine Motor Activities
- play dough monsters: provide play dough, google eyes, and pipe cleaners for kids to create little monsters – PLAY DOUGH RECIPE HERE
- circle tracing: round up circular objects and orange markers – invite kids to trace the objects and draw pumpkins
- pumpkin patch maps: provide chart paper, markers, and pumpkin stickers – let kids draw their own map of a pumpkin patch
- art tray: place out all the orange, black, yellow, purple and green art supplies on a tray – open invitation to create
- magic drawing (crayon resist) fall art – draw images in white crayon and paint over with watercolors to reveal
- giant coloring page – make a big color sheet on kraft paper or a grocery bag
- make and mail Halloween cards
- string penne pasta on pipe cleaners (can paint the pasta first if you’d like!)
- make Halloween ad collages (pull flyers from the mail for candy and halloween decor – let kids cut apart the ads and make a collage with a glue stick)
Fall Snacks for Kids
- Halloween Snack Activities:
- monster trail mix: combine random items from the pantry + candy corn
- DIY haunted gingerbread houses: make mini houses with chocolate graham crackers, frosting, and decorate with candy
- Jack-o-lantern faces drawn on clementines
- dessert popcorn: pour candy melts over popcorn + add holiday sprinkles
- buy candy eyes at the grocery store – put them on anything to make it a monster meal
Looking for more fall snacks and cooking hacks with kids?! Check out this post with 3 easy tips for cooking with kids this fall!
Pumpkin Activities for Kids
Whether you grab your pumpkins at a pumpkin patch or pick them up at a local grocery store, there is so much fun and learning to be had with pumpkins! After buying your pumpkins, you will have a BLAST with easy and fun pumpkin activities!!
- Pumpkin Activities for Toddlers:
- pumpkin painting
- pumpkin painting with shaving cream
- pumpkin washing with soapy water
- pumpkin boats (carve out mini pumpkins – they float and make awesome little boats for pretend play)
- fizzy pumpkins (carve out mini pumpkins – add a scoop of baking soda inside, and then squirt with vinegar)
- thumbtacks in pumpkins
- rubber bands around pumpkins
- pumpkin hide and seek: hide mini pumpkins around the room/yard for your child to find
- mixed media pumpkins – decorate with feathers, glitter, and anything else you’ve got to glue on a pumpkin
- Fall Activities for Kids Outside:
- family research: brainstorm questions about spooky animals (like bats or spiders) and then visit a library to find the answers to kids’ questions
- visit a pumpkin patch
- go apple picking
- find a local farm to visit
- go to a nature preserve and collect fallen leaves
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