25 Easy Fall Activities for Toddlers, Preschoolers & Big Kids
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Fall is here, and while we love all things pumpkins, apples, crunchy leaves, and cozy afternoons, keeping kids entertained all season long can feel like a full time job. 🍂 And honestly? I don’t want to spend an hour gathering supplies just to hear, “I’m bored!” five minutes later.
That’s why I put together 25 easy fall activities for toddlers, preschoolers, and big kids that are simple, screen free, and actually fun. From sensory play and imaginative activities to movement games and easy setups you can pull together at home, these ideas are designed for real life families, not perfectly curated Pinterest moms.
Whether you’re looking for something to do on a rainy afternoon, an easy activity while you make dinner, or a fun way to bring a little fall magic into your home, you’ll find something here for your crew. And the best part? You don’t need a closet full of craft supplies to make fall fun. 🍎🎃 Let’s get playing!
🍎 Apple Themed Fall Activities
1. Create Your Own Apple Juice Sensory Play
Turn sensory play into a little pretend apple orchard!
Set out a fall colored sensory base with small apple themed pieces, scoops, containers, and play pieces. Kids can scoop, pour, sort, and create their own miniature apple trees.
For toddlers: Focus on scooping, transferring, and exploring textures.
For preschoolers: Encourage them to build apple trees and pretend they’re running their own orchard.
For big kids: Challenge them to create an entire apple farm or orchard scene.
WigglePop idea: Bring this apple-themed activity to life with our Apple Themed Sensory Bin.
→ Shop the Apple Themed Sensory Bin 🍎
2. Make your own apple juice serving station
Grab your sensory Kit and the play prompt card and let your kiddos imagination take over.
Add tongs for an extra fine motor challenge.
Level it up: Give your child a color or number to look for: “Can you find three red apples?”
This simple fall activity works on fine motor skills, color recognition, counting, and imaginative play.
3. Build an Apple Tree
Grab some brown paper or cardboard for a tree trunk.
They can add paper apples, pom-poms, stickers, play dough apples, or whatever you already have at home.
For older kids, turn it into a STEM challenge: How many apples can your tree hold before it falls over?
4. Apple Color Sorting
Gather red, green, and yellow objects and create three simple sorting areas.
Kids can sort pom poms, play apples, blocks, buttons, or other age appropriate objects by color.
For younger children, keep it simple with two colors.
For preschoolers and big kids, add counting and simple math challenges.
Try asking:
“Which color has the most?”
“Which has the least?”
“Can you make each group equal?”
5. Apple Basket Toss
Turn a laundry basket, bucket, or box into an apple picking game.
Use soft balls, bean bags, or play apples and have your child toss them into the “apple basket.”
Move the basket closer for toddlers and farther away for older kids.
This is an easy way to add movement to fall play while working on hand eye coordination.
🎃 Pumpkin Themed Fall Activities
6. Make Your Own Pumpkin Patch
Create a miniature pumpkin patch using a sensory base, toy pumpkins, farm animals, scoops, and containers.
Let kids arrange their pumpkins, build rows, scoop “dirt,” and create their own little farm.
There’s no right way to do it, and that’s exactly what makes open ended play so great.
7. Pumpkin Movement Game
Write or draw simple movement prompts on pieces of paper.
Try:
- Roll like a pumpkin
- Waddle like a turkey
- Stomp like a scarecrow
- Crawl like a spider
- Jump over a pumpkin
- Spin like a falling leaf
Pick a card and do the movement together.
For toddlers, demonstrate each movement.
For older kids, let them invent their own.
8. Pumpkin Scoop & Transfer
Grab small containers, scoops, tongs, and pumpkin themed objects.
Have your child transfer the items from one container to another.
This is an easy fall sensory activity for toddlers that also gives little hands a chance to practice coordination and control.
Level it up: Add a timer for older kids and see how many they can transfer in 30 seconds.
9. Pumpkin Hide & Seek
Hide small toy pumpkins around the room or inside a sensory bin.
For toddlers, keep the pumpkins easy to find.
For preschoolers, give clues such as:
“Look somewhere that is cold.”
For big kids, create a scavenger hunt with multiple clues.
You can make this activity as simple or elaborate as you want.
10. Pumpkin Patch Pretend Play
Turn a sensory bin or play tray into a pumpkin farm.
Add pumpkins, farm animals, trucks, scoops, fences, and containers.
Then let your child take over.
Maybe they’re a farmer harvesting pumpkins. Maybe they’re running a pumpkin stand. Maybe they’re loading pumpkins onto a truck.
The goal isn’t to tell them how to play. The goal is to give them the invitation and let their imagination take over.
🍂 Fall Movement Activities
11. Leaf Jumping
You don’t even need real leaves!
Cut out paper leaves and scatter them across the floor.
Call out a color and have your child jump to that leaf.
Or simply say:
“Jump from leaf to leaf!”
For younger kids, place the leaves close together.
For older kids, spread them farther apart or create a movement path.
12. Pumpkin Relay Race
Grab a small ball, bean bag, or soft pumpkin and create a simple relay course.
Kids can:
- Carry the pumpkin
- Walk around cones
- Crawl under a table
- Jump over a line
- Place the pumpkin in a basket
- Run back to the starting point
This is perfect for high energy kids who need to move, not sit still.
13. Fall Animal Walks
Pretend to be fall animals!
Try:
🐿️ Scamper like a squirrel
🦃 Waddle like a turkey
🦊 Sneak like a fox
🐻 Stomp like a bear
🐸 Hop like a frog
🕷️ Crawl like a spider
Have your child choose the next animal.
For big kids, let them create a full obstacle course for each animal.
14. Scarecrow Says
Put a fall spin on “Simon Says.”
Instead of “Simon says,” use “Scarecrow says!”
Try commands like:
- Scarecrow says touch your toes.
- Scarecrow says jump five times.
- Scarecrow says spin around.
- Scarecrow says freeze!
- Touch your nose!
It’s easy, requires almost no supplies, and can be played indoors or outside.
15. Fall Color Movement Hunt
Pick three or four fall colors: orange, yellow, red, and brown.
Call out a color and have kids run, hop, skip, or crawl to something that color.
For toddlers: Keep the hunt simple.
For preschoolers: Add counting.
For big kids: Give them a time limit or have them find multiple objects.
This is a great way to combine movement, observation, and color recognition.
🌽 Farm & Nature Fall Activities
16. Fall Nature Scavenger Hunt
Head outside and look for simple fall treasures.
Create a list such as:
- Something red
- A crunchy leaf
- A pinecone
- Something smooth
- Something tiny
- A stick
- Something yellow
- Something that smells good
You can make this a quick 10 minute activity or turn it into a longer nature adventure.
17. Build a Pretend Fall Farm
Use whatever you already have! Blocks, toy animals, trucks, containers, craft sticks, leaves, or sensory materials.
Challenge your child to build a fall farm.
Where will the animals live?
Where will the pumpkins go?
Can they build a road for the tractor?
Can they create a farm stand?
This is a great open ended activity for preschoolers and big kids because there isn’t one correct finished product.
18. Farm Scoop & Pour
Create a simple farm themed sensory invitation using a sensory base, cups, scoops, funnels, and farm toys.
Kids can scoop “feed,” fill containers, pour, transfer, and create their own farm scenes.
This type of sensory play for toddlers and preschoolers is simple but can keep little hands busy for surprisingly long stretches.
19. Backyard Bug Hunt
Fall is a great time to get outside and notice the tiny things around you.
Give your child a magnifying glass or small nature container and look for bugs, leaves, sticks, rocks, and other interesting finds.
Talk about what they see:
- How many legs does it have?
- What color is it?
- Is it moving?
- Where did you find it?
Let your child lead the investigation.
Our Nature explorer play box is perfect for this kind of play!
20. Nature Sorting Tray
After your nature walk, bring some of your discoveries inside.
Create groups for:
🍂 Leaves
🌰 Acorns
🌲 Pinecones
🪵 Sticks
🪨 Rocks
Let kids sort their finds by type, size, color, or texture.
For older children, encourage them to create their own categories and explain why they chose them.
🧡 Easy Fall Activities for When You Need 20 Minutes
Because sometimes you don’t need a Pinterest worthy activity, you just need something they can do while you make dinner.
21. Fall Play Dough invitation
Put out fall colored play dough with simple accessories.
Add:
- Cookie cutters
- Rolling pins
- Leaves
- Plastic animals
- Small containers
- Craft sticks
Tell your child:
“Can you make a fall scene?”
Then let them create.
22. Fall Slime Play
Set up a simple fall slime invitation with autumn colored slime and a few themed accessories.
Add leaves, mini pumpkins, googly eyes, or other age appropriate play pieces.
For older kids, let them choose the color, scent, and theme of their slime.
Mom tip: Keep a dedicated tray or play mat underneath sensory activities to make cleanup easier.
23. Make a Fall Sensory Jar
Fill a clear jar or container with fall themed materials.
Depending on the child’s age, you might use things like colorful pasta, pom poms, leaves, or other sensory safe materials.
Let your child shake, observe, sort, or simply explore. For toddlers, always choose materials appropriate for their developmental stage and supervise closely.
24. Create a Fall Busy Tray
When you need something quick, think three simple activities—not 20 supplies.
Try setting out:
- A container for scooping
- A small sensory base
- Tongs or a scoop
- A few fall themed objects
That’s it.
Kids can scoop, transfer, sort, count, and create.
This is one of the easiest ways to introduce sensory play at home without creating a giant setup.
25. Create Your Own Fall Sensory Scene
Put out a tray and let your child create their own fall world.
Maybe it’s an apple orchard.
Maybe it’s a pumpkin patch.
Maybe it’s a farm.
Maybe it’s a forest filled with animals.
Give them a few open ended materials and let their imagination decide what happens next.
And remember: it doesn’t have to look like the picture you saw online.
If your child turns the pumpkin patch into a dinosaur jungle, congratulations! You just created imaginative play. 👏
🍁 Make Fall Play Easier With WigglePop
We believe kids don’t need more random toys—they need better ideas for play.
And as a mom, we know you don’t always have the time, energy, or desire to spend your evening searching Pinterest for activities and then shopping for 14 different supplies.
That’s why we created WigglePop Play Co.
Our activity boxes, sensory kits, dump andplay bags, slime, Play dough, and on the go play products are designed to make screen free, hands on play easier for busy families.
Whether your kid needs to wiggle, create, scoop, squish, imagine, or simply stay busy for a little while, there’s a WigglePop way to play
Because childhood doesn’t need to be perfectly planned.
As always for more play inspiration and ideas follow along on our social media page @wigglepopplayco! For Done for you activities and play kits, shop our website!