The best fall crafts for preschoolers are the ones that are most in line with the season itself: collecting leaves, examining acorns, pressing apples into paint, and using the colors of red, orange, yellow, and brown that fall brings. The eighteen activities in this guide are grouped according to theme and material type, and are appropriate for children ages 2-5, with comments on developmental skill focus and the youngest age each craft can be used with. Most do not require any preparation other than collecting basic materials and can be carried out in one 20-30 minute session.
Key Takeaways
- These are the simplest fall crafts for preschoolers, using nature materials such as leaves, acorns, pine cones and apples along with some basic materials: paint, paper plates, tissue paper, glue and googly eyes.
- Kiddi Kollege states fall crafts are a great way for preschoolers to engage and foster fine motor skills, creativity and cognitive development.
- For ages 2-5, the most developmentally appropriate crafts for fall activities are those that involve pressing, stamping, tearing and gluing rather than cutting and multi-step assembly.
- Handprint crafts are one of the most popular fall activities because they create a keepsake that is unique to a child at a particular time.
- Nature-based crafts like leaf printing, sensory bottles, and pine cone feeders are great since they start by observing and collecting in the outdoors.
- Most fall crafts require 15-30 minutes and materials found at home or in a simple classroom supply cabinet.
- Fall crafts are easily related to science (leaf color change, life cycles), math (counting, sorting acorns), and literacy (storytelling about completed crafts).
Why Fall Is the Best Season for Preschool Crafts
Preschoolers have the most natural craft supplies in the fall. The fallen leaves in four or five different colors, acorns and pine cones on the ground, apples for stamping, and the obvious transformations in the outside world are all inspiration and free materials that don’t need to be bought.
The great thing about easy fall crafts for kids, according to Kids Activities Blog, is that most of them can be created using items you may have lying around your home, and a little imagination. Fall is the cheapest time of year to plan activities, and the children’s observation of the natural materials outside and their creation of these materials inside provides a real learning dimension.
Fall crafts are a great way for preschoolers to practice fine motor skills, be creative, and develop their cognitive skills as well as a wonderful time to bond and learn together, Kiddi Kollege says. The fall season also coincides with the natural themes of season and change, harvest, colors and the natural world that are common to early childhood education.
Leaf Crafts for Preschoolers
1. Leaf Printing
Materials: Fall leaves, paint (Fall colors: red, orange, yellow, brown), white paper, paintbrush.
Method: Leaf printing is a fun and easy activity to do, and is a great way to appreciate fall foliage, according to Kiddi Kollege. Press one leaf on white paper, then firmly press it onto another side and lift it up to see the print. Do the same with different leaves and colours to complete the page.
This course focuses on the understanding of print as a process, controlled pressing, and color selection.
Why it is effective for preschoolers: It is a cause and effect activity that is immediately rewarding when pressing a painted leaf and lifting it to see the impression. Children can take part, even 2 year olds, with little adult support.
2. Sticky Wall Fall Tree (Contact Paper)
Materials: Clear contact paper, tape, leaves gathered in the fall and torn up pieces of tissue paper.
How to: Sticky-side-out a sheet of clear contact paper on a wall at child’s eye level. Children gather leaves, rip up pieces of tissue paper and stick them on the sticky surface to create a color fall tree design. No glue is needed. This beautiful fall tree collage is a great activity for toddlers to make on 123homeschool4me.com!
Development focus: Spatial arrangement, bilateral hand use (pressing and positioning), sensory exploration of sticky surfaces.
3. Leaf Crown
Materials: Fall leaves collected, twine or yarn, hole punch or needle, optional tape.
How Wee Learn: Sewing a fall leaf crown starts with a nature walk to find leaves. Use a hole punch or needle to punch holes close to the base of each leaf. Thread twine through the holes to make a garland that is long enough to wear as a crown. Tie off ends and tie to size.
Skill focus: Fine motor coordination, nature observation, product that can be worn (social and imaginative play extension).
4. The Nutcracker Ballet
Materials: Leaves, white paper, glue, marker.
Method: How Wee Learn suggests children can go on a nature walk to gather leaves and use them to make letter or name shapes on white paper, which they can then glue onto to make a festive decoration. Adult can write child’s name in large letters first, then the child can complete the outline with leaves.
Objectives: To identify letters and names, to recognize the shapes of letters, to understand that letters have shapes, to understand spatial placement of materials.
Create a tree and apple crafts
5. Handprint Autumn Tree
Materials: Brown paint, red, orange, yellow and green finger paint, white paper.
Method: According to Kiddi Kollege, trace the child’s hand and arm on brown construction paper and cut out the shape to create the trunk and branches. Attach the trunk to white paper with glue. Ask the child to dip his/her fingertips in the fall colors paints and stamp the paper around the branches to make fall leaves.
Skill focus: Fine motor finger dipping, choice of colour and creation of a recognisable representational image.
Family keepsakes: Handprint crafts are especially appreciated by families because they capture the actual size of a child’s hand at a particular stage in their development. The fall tree is one of the most consistently suggested fall keepsakes from a variety of early childhood resources for preschool age children.
6. Apple Stamping
Materials: Apple cut in half, paint in red, green, or yellow, white paper.
Method: Cut apple in half across the equator to expose the star pattern of the seeds inside. Dip the cut face in paint and stamp on paper to make apple shapes. Care.com says apple printing is one of the fall-themed crafts available, and it’s great as an introduction to the idea of printing from a natural object. When dry, draw a tree trunk below the stamps to make an apple tree scene.
Skill focus: Cutting exposes the inner parts of the object; printing technique; cause and effect.
7. Tissue Paper Apple on Paper Plate
Materials: Paper plate, red tissue paper squares, brown and green construction paper for stem and leaf, glue.
Method: ABCdeelearning.com says to have children tear up pieces of red construction paper or tissue paper and glue them to a paper plate to fill the plate. Cut out a square piece of brown paper for the stem and a leaf shape of green paper and glue these onto the back of the plate.
Skill focus: Fine motor skills – tearing paper, covering a bounded shape, color matching (red paper with red apple).
8. Handprint Apple Tree
Materials: Brown paint, red and green finger paint, white paper.
Method: Paint the palm brown and press into to make the tree trunk. Allow to dry. Apply apple prints with red and green paint using the fingertips among the branches.
The focus of skills was on sequential two-stage printing, color differentiation and representing a seasonal scene.
Make pumpkin or harvest crafts
9. Tissue Paper Pumpkin
Materials: Orange tissue paper squares, outline of a pumpkin drawn or printed on white card, glue.
Method: Glue inside the outline of the pumpkin. Children crumple orange tissue paper squares and place them in the glue to create the shape. Glue a green piece of construction paper stem.
Skill focus: Muffins, dough, and a bounded shape.Skill Focus: Pincer grip, filling a bounded shape, colour shape association.
How Wee Learn describes it as one of the most popular easy fall crafts for little fingers and says that it is a tissue paper fun for little fingers! The scrunching action is great for developing hand strength that is directly related to writing readiness.
10. Paper Plate Jack-O-Lantern
Materials: Paper plate, orange paint, black construction paper, glue.
Method: a paper plate, paint.Instructions: Paint a paper plate orange and let dry. Cut out simple triangle shaped eyes, nose, and jagged mouth from black construction paper. Attach these to the plate with glue. Use a green paper strip as a stem.
Learning objectives: To identify facial features, position them in space, and glue with precision; to understand the design of a jack-o-lantern.
11. Cork Pumpkin
Materials: Collected wine corks or craft corks, orange and brown paint, green pipe cleaner for stem.
Method: Paint orange and place corks in a circle to make a pumpkin, according to ABCdeelearning.com. Color one cork brown to represent the stem. When dry, glue together and attach a green pipe cleaner tendril.
Skills: Arrangements and composition, 3-D thinking, small object fine motor painting.
Animal and Nature Crafts
12. Pine Cone Bird Feeder
Materials: Pine cone, peanut butter or suet, birdseed, string or twine.
Method: Kids Activities Blog says making a pine cone bird feeder is an easy fall craft for preschoolers of all ages. Dip a pine cone in peanut butter and then roll it in birdseed. Secure a piece of twine around the top and hang outside from a tree branch.
Learning target: To explore texture with their senses, to learn that birds eat seeds, to relate to outdoor observation over the next few days.
Science extension: Science – daily observation of the feeder and identification of birds visiting. This brings in a little observation of wildlife and adds further value to the craft beyond the initial making session.
13. Popsicle Stick Fox
Materials Needed: Popsicle sticks, orange and brown felt/paper, googly eyes, glue.
Method: Kids Activities Blog says the materials for popsicle stick foxes are craft sticks.The Method: Kids Activities Blog says that the Method for creating the cutest felt fox is with craft sticks. Place 6 sticks in a fan for the body. Cover with orange felt and brown with tips of felt. Add ear shapes, a nose and googly eyes.
Skills: Organising flat materials, joining together according to a picture, recognising animals.
14. Acorn Handprint Craft
Materials: Brown and tan paint, white paper, black marker for details.
How to make: The handprint acorn craft is from simpleeverydaymom.com and is the perfect keepsake for the fall. Stamp down with a child’s palm and thumb to make the acorn body tan. To make the cap, when dry, paint the knuckle area brown. Using a black marker add lines to suggest the texture of the cap.
Focus on skills: Two-color painting in sequence, spatial awareness of hand orientation, representational art from a body print.
15. Fall Sensory Bottle
Materials: Clean plastic water bottle or jar with lid, small fall materials (leaves, acorns, pebbles), water, optional glitter or orange food coloring.
The everymom.com says sensory bottles are the ideal activity for preschoolers. Children place fall items in the bottle, adult pours water in and tightly caps the bottle. Children shake, tilt and watch the objects moving in the water.
This is a skill focus activity where children observe and collect items found in nature, and use shaking to create cause and effect while exploring without any mess.
Science extension: Talk about why some things float and some things sink. Encourage children to guess what will happen when they drop each object in.
Scarecrow and Seasonal Character Crafts
16. Paper Plate Scarecrow
Materials: Paper plate, markers, construction paper, hair (yarn scraps).
Method: Kiddi Kollege says it’s fun for kids to make a paper plate scarecrow and practice cutting and pasting. Use markers to draw a face on the plate. Cut out a hat from construction paper and glue on. Cut yarn into short pieces and glue around the edge for straw hair.
Facial feature arrangement, basic scissor work (hats from straight-edged paper), decorative detail addition.
17. Paper Bag Scarecrow
Materials: Brown paper lunch bag, newspaper to stuff, construction paper for hat, markers, yarn.
How to: Theeverymom.com says to stuff a brown paper bag with newspaper clippings. Add a face, hat, and yarn hair to the scarecrow using construction paper to make him come to life. Use twine to tie the bottom of the bag to make the body.
Skill focus: Stuffing a 3-D shape, two-handed coordination, creative play with a completed product.
18. Egg Carton Wreath
Materials: Egg carton, scissors (with adult help), fall colored paint, cardboard or wire ring base, ribbon.
Method: Kitchen Counter Chronicles’ egg carton wreaths are simple to create for creative preschoolers, says care.com. Cut out single egg cups from a carton. Color in each cup with red, orange, yellow or brown. When dry, arrange and glue around a cardboard ring. Attach a ribbon bow at the top.
Skill focus: 3D arrangement on the circle, color pattern, creating something that serves as a piece of home decor.
Matching Fall Crafts to Developmental Stage
| Age | Best Craft Types | Core Skill Focus |
| 2 to 3 | Sticky wall tree, leaf printing, sensory bottle, tissue pumpkin | Pressing, tearing, no-cut actions |
| 3 to 4 | Apple stamping, handprint tree, pine cone feeder, paper plate scarecrow | Tool use, stamping, simple assembly |
| 4 to 5 | Leaf crown threading, egg carton wreath, cork pumpkin, popsicle stick fox | Cutting intro, threading, arrangement |
| All ages | Leaf name craft, sensory bottle, handprint acorn | Adjustable, repeatable, personal |
Materials List: Easy Fall Preschool Crafts
| Material | Used In |
| Collected fall leaves | Leaf printing, sticky wall tree, leaf crown, name craft |
| Apples | Apple stamping, handprint apple tree |
| Pine cones | Pine cone feeder |
| Acorns | Sensory bottle, acorn handprint |
| Orange paint | Pumpkin crafts, leaf prints |
| Brown paint | Handprint tree, acorn craft |
| Paper plates | Jack-o-lantern, scarecrow |
| Orange tissue paper | Tissue pumpkin |
| Construction paper | Multiple crafts |
| Googly eyes | Fox, scarecrow, multiple crafts |
| Popsicle sticks | Fox craft |
| Egg carton | Wreath |
| Contact paper | Sticky wall tree |
| Clear water bottle | Sensory bottle |
| Yarn or twine | Leaf crown, bird feeder, scarecrow |
| Peanut butter | Pine cone bird feeder |
| Birdseed | Pine cone bird feeder |
Tips for Running Fall Craft Sessions with Preschoolers
Start by going on a nature walk. Any craft involving leaves, acorns or pine cones is more meaningful if the child has helped collect the materials. Making is immediately linked to direct observation in a brief five minutes of collection outdoors.
Cut out for ages 2-3. For the youngest preschoolers, scissors should be pre-cut shapes. Avoid introducing scissors into activities that don’t involve cutting; it is only suitable for cutting activities with very clear and simple cuts, like the paper plate scarecrow hat.
Accept and value the diversity. The pumpkin doesn’t have to be the same shape as the example leaf print pumpkin. It is not about matching a model, but about the developmental value of the pressing, the color selection, and the concentration of attention.
Document the process. Take pictures of the child making the craft, not only the final product. Process documentation offers more developmental detail for assessment and a more comprehensive view of the session for the family.
The relationship of the complexity of activity to the developmental stage of the child is discussed in greater detail in the guide to 4th of July crafts for preschool children, which demonstrates that matching the activity complexity exactly to the developmental level of the child yields more successful craft sessions than scaled down versions of activities designed for older children.
Conclusion
Easy fall crafts for preschoolers are best done with the supplies that fall brings freely: leaves in 4 or 5 colors, acorns and pine cones on the ground, and apples for stamping. The most effective craft sessions are ones that start outdoors and then move to the craft table where those items are the main medium of the session.
The 18 crafts in this guide are designed to appeal to children ages 2 to 5, and focus on pressing, stamping, tearing, and basic assembly rather than cutting and multi-step crafts, which are more likely to cause frustration in younger preschoolers. Each is linked to a developmental skill, whether it’s the pincer grip needed to do the scrunching with the tissue paper or the bilateral coordination needed to thread a leaf crown, the craft is used for a real learning purpose as well as for its seasonal and decorative use.
Check out all of Shani Levni‘s content for more seasonal craft ideas and activities for little ones.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are some simple fall crafts for preschoolers?
Leaf printing, sticky wall fall trees (using contact paper), handprint fall trees (using fingertip prints), apple stamping, tissue paper pumpkins and pine cone bird feeders are easy fall activities for preschoolers. These activities involve using natural materials, simple tools and equipment and do not involve any accurate cutting or multi-step assembly.
Are there any other fall craft ideas I can use?
Most fall crafts are made from collected leaves, apples (for stamping), pine cones, fall colored paint, paper plates, orange tissue paper, construction paper (in fall colors), glue sticks and googly eyes. A small collection bucket is a great value addition for most fall crafts, too, since they also have a nature walk component.
How long do fall preschool crafts take?
The majority of the easy fall crafts for preschoolers require 15-30 minutes to complete. Multi-stage crafts like the handprint apple tree are better suited for two short sessions (and dried in between). Most group craft sessions will require a 45 minute block of time, including set up and clean up.
Do they have fall crafts for 2 year olds?
Yes. The sticky wall fall tree, leaf printing, sensory bottle and tissue paper pumpkin are suitable for 2-year-olds who require little adult supervision. These activities are based on pressing, tearing and sensory exploration instead of cutting, gluing precision and multi-step assembly.
What can fall crafts do for preschoolers to help them learn about fall?
Fall crafts are directly related to the things that can be seen in the fall; the change of color in leaves, leaves and seeds (acorns, pine cones), apple picking, and bird migration. A craft using collected real leaves brings the indoor making session to the outdoors what the child saw. Science conversations can be woven into any fall craft session in five minutes, such as why leaves change color, why birds need feeders in the fall and what happens to seeds in the winter.
Which fall craft would be the most good for preschoolers as a keepsake?
Handprint crafts are always the most treasured mementos. The handprint autumn tree and handprint acorn are actually a child’s own hand size at a particular time, and the resulting artwork has a sentimental value in addition to its craft. The most common year-to-year return to handprint crafts is due to the progression of the hand size over time.