My toddler is so interested in the world around her. Kids are expert explorers at this age! Fall is such a beautiful time to encourage this exploring. Open-ended themed activities are a great way to occupy toddlers and keep things fresh and new. Here are some Fall themed activities for toddlers we love.
Pumpkin Spice or Apple Pie Sensory Bin
When R was a toddler, I made an apple pie themed sensory bin for her. This Fall I did the same cloud dough recipe but added pumpkin pie spice, some plastic Pumpkins, some fake leaves, and some Cinnamon sticks to the bin. E is not as fond of sand sensory experiences, but she warmed up quickly. She had fun squeezing the dough together and watching it crumble apart.
For cloud dough, just add some oil to regular flour. The ratio should be 3 parts flour to 1 part oil. I’ve used Baby oil, vegetable oil, and olive oil. The baby oil is usually scented and overpowers any other scents you might try to add, so I prefer olive oil. All are taste safe!
Pumpkins and Gourds Basket Activity
While picking out our Pumpkins for carving, I also grabbed some various small pumpkins and gourds for E. I made sure to choose ones she could easily hold in one hand and ones that were brightly colored and/or had lots of bumps and texture. Once I got them home I washed them like any vegetable we might eat, then put them in her theme basket.
Theme baskets are something I adapted from the Montessori “Discovery Basket.” Basically these are baskets of 5-15 baby-safe items that can be grouped together. It’s an open-ended learning experience for babies and toddlers to explore and discover independently. I’ve done a basket of balls and a basket of kitchen items so far. I look forward to following the seasons and holidays as inspiration for my themed discovery baskets as well!
E spent a long time inspecting, chattering about, and tasting all the gourds by herself. I set out the basket and sat nearby to supervise. She would sometimes bring me the pumpkins or sit in my lap to play with them. E also tried stacking them, rolling them, and enjoyed carrying them from the basket to a table. It’s so fun to see how she interacts with items with no context or instruction on how they are used!
Fall Water Sensory Play
I simply had to recreate this water and pumpkin sensory bin I did for R when she was a toddler. You take a small tub of water, fake leaves, acorns, pumpkins, and other various fall items. Keep the items and the water separate and let the toddler experiment with what happens when each item is introduced to the water. Does it sink? Float? You can also provide spoons for scooping the items back out of the water and transferring them to the other basket.
I made a couple of pumpkin boats too by carving the center out of some little pumpkins. These pumpkins are not as fleshy and soft as jack-o-lantern pumpkins so this was tedious. But this causes the pumpkins to float! Then the girls (because of course R joined in) had fun seeing what items would fit in the boat and float.
Contact Paper
R did a fun contact paper craft for Halloween when she was a toddler. Using contact paper, or self-laminated sheets, draw a ghost, scarecrow, or spider. Then provide the toddler with cotton balls, pom poms, and tissue paper to decorate the picture! You could adapt it to use fall leaves from the sensory bins. We also made nature collages with leaves and flowers we collected. E had fun sticking and unsticking items!
Mess-free Pumpkin Finger Painting
For this Fall themed activity you will need a piece of watercolor paper and a sandwich bag. Any paper will work, but the watercolor paper is thicker and holds up better to a lot of paint. Fit the paper into the sandwich bag then add some red and yellow paint. Tape the bag and paper to a table before letting the toddler spread the paint around inside the bag. Watch as the two colors make orange! Once the toddler is done, take the paper out and let it dry. Then cut out a pumpkin shape and display.
Fall Scents Toddler Activity
If you can sew or crochet a ball or pouch you can make this Fall themed activity basket safe for toddlers to explore alone. But it works just as well with some condiment cups, you’ll just have to be more involved. All you do is place your favorite fall scented spices in separate containers. We used cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon sticks, and pumpkin spice. You could also try orange peels, coffee beans, cedar wood, anything that might give a whiff of Autumn. Give the container to the toddler to sniff one at a time.
Fall Books to Read
Reading is a great activity for toddlers for any season. Here are some Fall themed books for babies and toddlers we are loving right now.
Fall (Bright Baby Touch and Feel)
My First Autumn, High Contrast Baby Book
Fall Themed Activities for Toddlers
I hope you try out a few of these Fall themed activities for toddlers this year. Many of these are in our seasonal rotation and we look forward to them every Autumn. If you have a preschooler, try out some of these Fall activities for Preschoolers! And after the kids have been busy with these Fall activities, maybe you can finally get that Fall Garden started.