Fall Theme and Centers for Preschoolers

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School is well on its way, and fall is upon us. It is a pretty season, especially in places where you can see the change in the leaves.

Here in Florida, heat, humidity, and sun are the same all year round. It’s boring. I’ve been trying to see all those beautiful colors in the leaves in person for years now, but whenever I can go to other states to do that, usually around Thanksgiving, it is already too late.

Anyway, today, I wanted to share ideas and free printables for all your centers, turning your classroom or home into a fall paradise of learning activities where you can address all domains in a fun and educational way.

Circle Time

Circle Time is a significant activity to kick off the day and introduce what you have scheduled for that day. It is also a time for preschoolers to learn how to respect each other and the teacher while together as a large group.

I like to start circle time with a song related to my theme for that week, in this case, Fall, and then continue with a storybook or a short activity. These are some of the songs you can use:

Apple Tree by Nancy Kopman
Have You Ever Seen an Apple?
5 Little Apples in an Apple Tree.
5 Little Pumpkins Jumping on the Bed.
Pumpkins.
Parts of a Pumpkin Song.
Leaves are Falling.
Autumn Leaves are Falling Down.
Scarecrow, Scarecrow.

Literacy

Literacy activities can be as simple as reading a story, writing lists, singing, and playing rhyming games, such as these:

Fall Letter Writing Tray and free printable Pumpkin Letters.
Letter Harvest Corn Craft.
Peel and Pick Alphabet Apple Tree.
Leaf Letter Puzzles.

Maples Leaves Letter Match Activity

Invite your preschoolers to match the uppercase and lowercase letters with this FREE letter match activity! Place the cutout leaves inside a basket on a table, and let them have fun trying to find the matching letters. It’s okay if they want to do it with a partner.

To extend the activity, you can:

Use it as a folder game. Cut out the leaves, divide them in half, and glue one half into a manila folder. Laminate the other half of the leaves and place them in an envelope or a Ziploc bag to keep them safe.
Have the children match the letter with magnetic letters to have another option for them to do.
Copy the letters using pencils, markers, or crayons.
Identify each letter and find a word that starts with each one.
Place the matched letters in alphabetical order.

Library Ideas

Gather fiction and non-fiction books about Fall, apples, pumpkins, and others to support the theme. There are tons of beautiful ones you can use, which could be found at your local library, in a used bookstore, or on Amazon. These are some of my favorites:

The Leaf Thief by Alice Hemming uses vibrant art and captivating characters to capture the magic of autumn on each page as readers tag along with Squirrel’s forest adventure.

Crunchy Leaves, Cozy Sweaters by Essie Bell is an enjoyable book written in rhyme. It shows various activities that everyone can delight in every day throughout fall.

What is Fall? by Random House introduces children to the wonders of fall with illustrations, holes to peek through, an autumnal color palette, and simple, rhyming text.

There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves by Lucille Colandro tells the story of an old lady swallowing some leaves, clothes, a pumpkin, and a rope to welcome the Fall season with funny illustrations and a spin on a classic rhyme!

Pete the Cat Falling for Autumn by James Dean talks about how Pete realizes there’s so much to enjoy and be thankful for about autumn when he discovers corn mazes, hay rides, and apple picking.

A Very Big Fall by Emmy Kastner is the funny and heartwarming story of three adorable autumn leaves, surprised by their turning colors and the promise of the fall to come, perfect for any child who struggles with change.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar’s First Fall by Eric Carle will teach children about seasonal sensory experiences, such as looking at the leaves as they change color, listening to the whooshing wind, feeling the warmth of a warm, cozy sweater, and so much more.

We’re Going on a Leaf Hunt by Steve Metzger uses accessible rhyming text and fun sound effects to tell the story of three friends who have a big adventure hiking over a mountain and through a forest to collect leaves of all kinds and colors.

Fletcher and the Falling Leaves by Julia Rawlinson will encourage children to share feelings of wonder and empathy as they listen to the story of Fletcher the fox, who is concerned about nature and wants to understand the changing seasons.

Science

Science is one of my favorite subjects and an essential part of any preschool classroom. Since young children are naturally observant, science also offers them many opportunities to make observations, use scientific vocabulary, record data, and follow the scientific process to communicate results. Some exciting activities are:

Fall Sink or Float Science Activity by B-Inspired Mama.
Acorn Activities for Fall Early Learning by Little Bins Little Hands.
Apple Science Experiment by Pre-K Pages.

Autumn Leaves Collection

Take a nature walk to collect leaves in different colors and then have the children:

Sort them by color, size, or shape.
Count how many they have in each group and graph the results.
Describe the leaves, talking about how they look, smell, and texture they have.
Study the leaves with magnifying glasses and observe the veins and stems.

Watch Informational YouTube Videos

There are many YouTube videos that you can present to your students to allow them to observe natural phenomena that otherwise will be difficult for them to see or understand why the leaves change colors. These are a couple of those videos that you might find helpful for your preschoolers:

Math

Math helps children solve problems, recognize and use shapes, measure and develop their spatial awareness, recognize and copy patterns, and many other essential skills. Some of the activities you can do are:

Pumpkin Geoboard Stem by Fun-a-Day.
Candy Apple Tree – Estimation and Counting Activity by No Time for Flashcards.
Apple Seed Counting and Subtraction by Stay-at-home-Educator

Counting Nuts

Bring different types of dry nuts and have the children:

Predict how many nuts of each type there are.
Count how many nuts and take away.
Create a sorting game by giving them different types of nuts and creating sets of each type.

Acorn Counting Mats

This activity is excellent for strengthening the children’s adding, concentration, and fine motor skills and working on one-to-one correspondence. It comes in two parts:

In the first part, children will count the acorns on the tree, write the number on the square, and trace the number on the rectangle. For your convenience, the activity includes the numbers 0 to 10 and a blank mat where you can write any other number.

In the second part – children will look at the number on the mat and add acorns to the tree to match the number. It includes two mats on each page, the numbers 0 to 10, and a blank mat.

To extend the activity, you can:

Provide copies of the pages and have your preschoolers glue or draw the correct number of acorns.
Have the children copy the number words using magnetic letters.
Match each number with plastic numbers.

You can grab this FREE activity just by clicking on the link below.

Crafts

Crafts are always fun and an excellent resource to help preschoolers develop their creativity and fine motor skills. Some ideas I have for you today are:

Leaf Rubbings: Use real or silk leaves. Have the children turn them upside down to expose the veins. Place drawing paper on top, and rub uncovered crayons over the leaves to get prints.

Leaf Prints: have the children use natural or silk fall leaves, put tempera paint in fall colors on top, and turn them over to print onto white paper.

Apple Stamping: You just need apples. Cut them in half, and have the children press them against tempera paint in fall colors and then onto white paper to create unique artwork.

Fall Wreath: cut a ring out of a paper plate. Provide children with glue, tissue paper in fall colors, silk fall leaves, buttons in fall colors, acorns, dry corn, and any other items you might think of, and let them use whatever they want to decorate their wreaths. You will be surprised by what beautiful creations they will be able to do!

Tissue Paper Fall Suncatchers: cut out two pieces of clear contact paper for each child and small tissue paper squares and place them in a basket. Tape one piece of contact paper to the table sticky side up for each child and put the tissue paper basket in the middle. Have the children stick tissue paper squares in the contact paper. Cover each creation with the other piece of contact paper when they finish. Then, use the outline of leaves, pumpkins, apples, and scarecrows, trace them on the contact paper with a permanent marker, and cut them outside the line. Make a hole on the upper end, put a piece of string, and hang the suncatchers in front of a window to enjoy the pretty colors.

Music and Movement

Music and Movement are integral to any preschool program, and children always love that part of the day. There are a lot of songs and poems you can teach your preschoolers. These are some you can use:

It’s Fall Again by The Learning Station.
Leaves on the Tree by The Learning Station.
It’s Autumn Again by Easy Monkeys
Orange, Yellow, Red, and Brown by The Learning Station

Sensory Activities

These activities put preschoolers’ senses to work, ask questions to analyze situations, and develop scientific answers. They also promote imaginary play and language development. These are two good ideas for this purpose:

Playdough: This is also an acceptable motor activity. You can offer your children a tray with playdough in fall colors, rolling pins, and fall cookie cutters.

Harvest Sensory Tub: Fill your sensory tub with fall leaves, mini pumpkins and gourds, mini scarecrows, nuts, and hay. Talk to your children about the different textures, smells, and colors. Ask them questions. This is a beautiful opportunity to integrate sensory play with science, language, and vocabulary development.

Dramatic Play

This is an excellent theme for switching things around in your Dramatic Play area, creating a pumpkin patch, and allowing your preschoolers to develop their imagination and creativity.

To make your theme come alive, include plastic pumpkins and gourds in different sizes, silk fall leaves, a cash register, rakes and shovels, a mini wheelbarrow, and anything else you can think of.

Writing Area

Preschoolers are developing their fine motor skills through drawing, coloring, and marking, setting the foundation for their future writing process. Include Fall stencils, stickers, hole punches, stamps, Fall books, cardstock, envelopes, and white paper in fall colors.

Fine Motor Ideas

Even when many of the above activities cross over and help them develop their fine motor skills, I just wanted to mention a few more hands-on activities to help your little learners develop the little muscles on their hands and fingers to prepare them for writing. Some ideas are:

Playdough Pumpkins and Apples: Children roll playdough into balls and add small sticks and plastic leaves to complete their creations.
Cutting Nature: let the children cut real leaves using safety scissors.
Fall Art: let them create Fall masterpieces using tempera paint, brushes, and paper on the easel or simply crayons and paper on a table.

Gross Motor Ideas

Even when you don’t necessarily have to do all gross motor activities outside, I like to do most of them in the playground to have more space. There are many activities that you can do for this purpose. Some activities that come to mind are:

Go on a Nature Walk: you can have your children collect leaves, tiny branches, mini rocks, acorns, etc., and bring them inside to make a nature collage.
Pumpkin Patch: have them play catch using plastic pumpkins.
Play Fall Tag: This is a simple game that children love. They can use plastic or silk leaves or branches to tag their friends instead of their hands.

Block Center

To bring the Fall theme to the block center, add props like mini pumpkins and gourds, fake leaves in fall colors, mini scarecrows, smooth rocks, hay bails, farm vehicles, books about Fall, etc. Let them turn the Block Center into a pumpkin patch or anything they can come up with. The idea is for them to let their creativity run wild and have fun, for hours of learning while they play.

Cooking

This activity is excellent for learning colors and shapes, measuring and counting, and developing fine motor skills and creativity skills. You can use the opportunity to have your preschoolers prepare their snacks. Some ideas are:

Zucchini Pizza Bites by Debbie Madson
Pumpkin Bread by Kids Cooking Activities.
Healthy Apple Pie Smoothie by My Recipe Magic.
Fall Leaves Snack by Pre-K Pages.
Fall Tree from Fantastic Fun and Learning.

Fall Tree Snack for Kids from Fantastic Fun and Learning — Fall Tree Snack for Kids from **Fantastic Fun and Learning**

Decorations

An essential part of any celebration or theme is adding decorations, having your classroom look beautiful, and putting everybody in a good and happy mood. Besides, anybody who enters the classroom must be able to tell the theme you are using that week.

Last Thoughts

I found Fall an exciting season, with all those beautiful Earth-tone colors and textures, the harvest of the apples and pumpkins, and Halloween and Thanksgiving celebrations.

As I said before, the weather doesn’t change much here in Florida during fall, but at least it marks the ending of hurricane season and gives you hope that it will be a little less hot and humid, making it easier to take long walks and observe nature.

I hope this is a great season for you, your family, and your students. Have fun and be safe during this time.

Be happy, safe, and creative. I wish you well.

Love,

P.D. Please let me know if you think these ideas worked for you or if you think I need to add or replace something. My goal is to help you in any way I can, and I wouldn’t say I like anything better than to post something that you might find helpful. Also, if you come up with different ideas and want to share them, I would love to post them.