Little Ones Learning: Fall Playtime

There are SO many great ways to play in fall.  First, the obvious:  rake leaves and play in them!  Kids of all ages love to play in leaves.  Here are a few other fall-themed play ideas for your little ones!

Autumn sensory jar

Fall sensory jar from Fun Things To Do With Ur Kidz

Fall sensory bin

For our sensory bin, I used the items that the kiddos collected at the park and the yard, like leaves, acorns, sticks, and pine cones.  I also put in some fake leaves, felt leaves, brown pipe cleaners, pom poms, and the same green and white Easter grass that we used for the farm sensory bin.  Just like last time, we also had measuring cups and spoons in the bin.

You can tell from the pictures why we explored in the sensory bin outside.  The kids really enjoyed this one.  Ada took a liking to the pom poms and was searching around for those, while Grace made "acorns" out of the pipe cleaners.  And Lucas loved throwing around the leaves and grass.  After about 20 minutes, Grace decided that they should try crunching up all the leaves, so they started gathering leaves from the bin and the deck for a leaf crushing party.

Good times!  Here are some other ideas for fall sensory bins:

from Mama Bee From the Hive

from Finding the Teachable Moments

from Stir the Wonder

from Happy Hooligans

from Blog Me Mom

Fall play-dough playtime

My three little friends LOVE play dough.  I'm not sure my carpet loves it as much, but that's how it goes.  Right?  The weather has been gorgeous, so we took it outside.

To make some homemade play-dough, follow this recipe, and for fall-themed play dough, you can add food coloring (orange, red, yellow, or brown) and a spice, like cinnamon, cloves, or nutmeg.  

For our fall play-dough fun, we used the apple cinnamon play dough from our apple unit.  I just don't quite have it together enough to make a variety of fall play dough.  Maybe someday!  I set out leaves, pine cones, pipe cleaners, leaf-shaped cookie cutters, and some other fun play dough tools.  The kids had a ball!  They made mini-trees, cookies, and just smashed and poked.  I'd say it was a success!

MORE fall music!

To add to our collection of fall-themed music, my very talented and awesome brother-in-law Bryan created a song just for us.  It's called Autumn Leaves!  



Also, check out his page on Sound Cloud!

Hope your little one enjoys these fun fall playtime activities as much as mine did!

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!

- Jessica