DIY Fall Montessori Activities for Preschoolers
The fall season is the perfect time to slow down and set up some hands-on fall activities for your preschooler or older toddler. In this post, I’ll share some simple Montessori fall activities that will help foster concentration and develop fine motor skills. For the video version of these ideas, watch this video!
Pumpkin Hammering
Pumpkin hammering may be my favorite fall activity for toddlers and preschoolers. Not only is it a great opportunity for hand-eye coordination, but it is also super engaging and fun for the child. Pumpkin hammering is a great example of a practical life activity that has a twist with the changing seasons. This is also a perfect opportunity for some gross motor work indoors.
What You’ll Need
- A Pumpkin: I like using a pumpkin pie-sized pumpkin becasue it fits on my Montessori shelves, but any size pumpkin will work.
- Golf Tees: I opted for the longer ones to give more opportunity for hammering them into the pumpkin.
- Wooden hammer: I used a wooden hammer we had from a pounding baby toy. You can purchase wooden hammers here.
Tips for Success
From my own expereince doing this activity with my young children (2 1/2 year olds), I would recommend pre-hammering in all of the golf tees one time. Hammer the golf tees down vertically, so that your child can hit the golf tees down into the pumpkin.
For a more advanced challenge, you could place the golf tees in all sorts of different directions to work on hammering at different angles.
Use a pliers to remove the golf tees. Older children may be able to do this part of the activity.
Keep an eye on your pumpkin once you have this activity set up, just to make sure your pumpkin isn’t rotting.
Tweezing Dried Corn from the Cob
This time of the year, you can often find decorative dried corn cobs, which will be a great addition to your fall work shelves. Tweezing dried corn kernels off the cob is a great activity for refining fine motor skills and building concentration. For more ways to develop concentration in your young child, check out these activities.
Setting up an activity like this is a fun way to bring the fall themes into your home while offering engaging hands-on experiences. Here’s what you’ll need to set it up and some tips for success!
What You’ll Need
Tips for Success
Remove a few kernels before offering it to your child. This will ensure that there is room for your child to use their tweezers to get around the kernels of corn.
Offer real tweezers, I have this set of tweezers and I offered the ones with a more straight edge. You want something that will actually be able to squeeze around the kernel well.
This can be an ongoing activity on your shelf throughout the fall season; it does not need to be completed in one sitting.
Fall-Scented Playdough
These three fall-scented playdough recipes are the perfect fall DIY project and activity to do with your older toddler, preschooler, or elementary age child. Cinnamon, apple pie, and pumpkin pie playdough is such a perfect fall DIY! It offers a sensory expereince, in more than just one way!
What You’ll Need
- Ingredients to make homemade fall-scented playdough (get the 3 different recipes here!)
- Seasonal press-ins
- Playdough tools
- Rolling pins
- Seasonal cookie cutters
- Playdough knives and scissors
Tips for Success
Store playdough in small quantities. I like to use small condiment containers for offering a few varieties of scents in manageable quantities.
Use these food storage containers to store playdough for months (it fits one batch worth perfectly!) A large Zip-Lock bag works well, too.
Store it all in a ready-to-go Montessori-inspired playdough kit. For more details on how to set up your playdough kit, check out this blog post!
Number Symbol & Quantity with Acorns
During the preschool years, we can introduce our child to the number symbols and quantities. Print off this free PDF with the number symbol and quantity boxes. While out on a fall nature walk, we collected acorns, which are abundant during the autumn season. There are a lot of great ideas for things to do with acorns, but using the acorn tops to show different quantities seemed like an engaging way to use them!
What You’ll Need
- PDF with Number Symbol and Quantity boxes
- Acorn tops
- You could use another object to count with: corn kernels, pumpkin seeds, mini plastic pumpkins, small pinecones
- Small bowl or basket
- Mini tongs (optional)
- Laminator (optional)
- Laminating Sheets
Tips for Success
If this is your child’s first introduction to number symbols and quantity, start with just a few of the numbers at a time. I am starting with 1-3.
Only have as many objects as the number of boxes you have on the sheet. So, for example, if I have cards 1-3, I will have 6 acorn tops in my small dish.
Leaf Rubbing
The seasonal changes make it a great time to do leaf rubbings. There are lots of different ways to learn about leaves, but doing hands-on activities like leaf rubbings makes it fun, beautiful, and engaging.
What You’ll Need
- Pressed leaves
- Tracing paper
- Crayons or colored pencils
- Painters tape
- Tray
Tips for success
Tape the leaf to the tray or table. Also, tape the corners of the tracing paper. I found that painter’s tape did not tear the tracing paper when removing the tape.
Use pressed leaves; this will keep them flatter.
Extentions
- Name the leaf shape and what tree it comes from
- Make a collection of them, cut them out, and string them as a fall leaf garland.
Leaf Shape Plate Sewing
There are so many educational activities out there, but sometimes the practical life activities, like sewing, have some of the most engagement and offer so many great skills for the child. Plate sewing is an activity I have seen in a Montessori classroom. Using paper dessert plates, you can trace any fall shape; leaves are a great option this time of year. Using an awl, poke holes around the perimeter of the shape, spacing the holes 1/4 inch apart or so.
Your child will sew using a blunt tapestry needle and yarn. Offer red, yellow, brown or orange yarn to make them fall leaves. You can repeat this throughout the season with different leaf shapes or other fall shapes.
What You’ll Need
- Chinet Paper Dessert Plates
- Awl
- Protective mat when poking holes
- Tapestry needle
- Yarn
- Tray
Tips for success
Start with a simpler shape for younger children.
Space holes further apart for younger children.
Sew through the holes on the plate one time before offering it to your child, so the holes are easier to sew through.
Pouring Acorns
While out on our nature walk, there was an abundance of acorns on the ground, so we collected some to bring home. I set up a super simple pouring activity with the acorns. Transferring them from one pitcher to another.
What You’ll Need
- Acorns
- 2 Small Pitchers (We love these stainless steel 5oz ones!)
- Tray
Tips for success
You can take the tops off of the acorns so they pour easier.
Pouring Popcorn with a Funnel
Pouring popcorn kernels using a funnel is a variation on a pouring activity with a fall twist. I set this up with two 3-oz stainless steel pitchers and this funnel. I will say that pouring into the funnel, not all of the kernels go into the pitcher right away, and it requires a bit of fanagaling.
What You’ll Need
- 2 pitchers
- Popcorn kernels
- Funnel
- Tray
Tips for Success
Use a funnel with a large enough hole for the kernels to go down.
Offer pouring without the funnel if that is causing frustration.
Hole Punching Leaves
While out on a nature walk or playing in the yard, collect various leaves. Press them in books to flatten and dry them out. Using a hole punch or paper punches, your child could punch out shapes from the leaves.
What You’ll Need
- A variety of pressed leaves.
- Hole punch or shaped paper punches
- A tray
- Small dish for the cut-out leaf punches
Tips for Success
Use pressed leaves; this will avoid the frustration of the leaf getting stuck in the paper punch.
Use paper punches rather than a traditional hole punch, as it will be easier for young children to do independently.
More Fall Fun
These are just a few of the fall activities that are possible this fall season. There are lots more where this came from!
Living Montessori in our home has been so fun, because it brings a lot of joy and meaning to simple fall activities like raking leaves, baking an apple pie, and family pumpkin carving. For a fall bucket list to do with children, check out this blog post!
Fall-Inspiration Blog Posts
- 6 Cheap & Easy DIY Montessori Fall Tray Ideas for Toddlers
- How to FALL In Love with Your Child: 20 Fall Ideas
- Fall Toddler Practical Life Activities in a Montessori Home
- 16 Fun and Simple Fall Activities for Toddlers
Related Fall Videos
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