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25 Simple Fall Activities to Do With Toddlers at Home
Easy, cozy fall activities for toddlers and preschoolers that make an ordinary day at home feel special—without requiring an elaborate setup or a giant craft supply closet.
Fall Activities Don't Have to Be Complicated
One of my favorite things about having little kids is how easy it can be to make an ordinary day feel exciting.
Give them a bucket and tell them we're going to collect leaves?
Best day ever.
Put their snack in a muffin tin instead of on a plate?
Suddenly lunch is an event.
Let them paint a pumpkin?
Apparently we've created the greatest activity of all time.
And fall makes this especially easy.
There are leaves everywhere, pumpkins become decorations and craft supplies, the weather practically begs us to bake something, and rainy afternoons give us the perfect excuse to stay home in pajamas.
But I don't want our fall activity list to become another thing I feel like I need to accomplish.
These aren't 25 activities we're checking off before December.
They're simply ideas I can pull from when we have a slow morning at home, need something to do before dinner, or it's raining for the third day in a row.
Some take five minutes to set up.
Some require absolutely no preparation.
And a few are the kind of activities we'll make an entire morning out of.
1. Go on a Backyard Leaf Hunt
Give each child a small basket or bucket and head outside.
That's the entire activity.
Look for:
Red leaves.
Yellow leaves.
Orange leaves.
Tiny leaves.
Really big leaves.
Pinecones.
Interesting sticks.
Acorns.
When you come inside, spread everything across the table and look at what you found.
Toddlers are basically professional collectors anyway.
We might as well make it an activity.
2. Make Leaf Rubbings
Remember doing these as a kid?
Put a leaf underneath a piece of paper and gently rub the side of a crayon across it.
Watching the shape and veins suddenly appear feels like magic to little kids.
Use several different leaves and fall-colored crayons to make one big piece of artwork.
3. Paint Mini Pumpkins
This is one of my favorite alternatives to carving pumpkins with little kids.
Grab a few inexpensive mini pumpkins and washable paint.
I usually stick with a small palette of colors so the finished pumpkins still look cute sitting around the house afterward.
Cream.
Orange.
Muted green.
Brown.
Maybe a little gold.
Although realistically, toddler art tends to become brown regardless of what colors you start with.
4. Make Apple Stamps
Cut an apple in half.
Dip the cut side into washable paint.
Stamp it onto paper.
You can use red, green and yellow paint or lean into fall with rust, mustard and muted green.
This one gets messy.
Put something underneath the paper.
Learn from me.
5. Bake Apple Cinnamon Muffins
Not every toddler activity needs to be a craft.
Some of my favorite activities with the kids happen in the kitchen.
Let them pour pre-measured ingredients into the bowl.
Stir.
Sprinkle cinnamon.
Add apple pieces.
And, obviously, taste-test the finished muffins.
The activity ends with your house smelling incredible, which feels like a bonus.
6. Create a Fall Sensory Bin
Keep this incredibly simple.
Fill a shallow bin with larger fall-themed items appropriate for your child's age.
You could use:
Large faux leaves.
Mini fabric pumpkins.
Wooden scoops.
Large pinecones.
Wooden acorns.
Small bowls.
Always choose pieces that are developmentally appropriate and supervise little ones closely, especially if they're still putting things in their mouths.
7. Have a Fall Book Picnic
Spread a blanket on the living room floor.
Bring over a stack of fall books.
Add a little snack.
Read together.
That's it.
Somehow calling it a "book picnic" makes reading books we've already read 47 times feel brand new.
8. Make a Nature Collage
Remember all those things collected during the leaf hunt?
Use them.
Tape leaves onto cardstock.
Glue lightweight nature finds with help.
Add crayons or paint.
It doesn't need to look like anything specific.
Let them create.
9. Make Pumpkin Play-Doh
You can make homemade pumpkin-colored Play-Doh or simply use orange store-bought dough.
Add child-safe tools like:
Rolling pins.
Pumpkin cookie cutters.
Wooden stamps.
Large leaves.
Then let them play.
I love activities like this because they can stay out for several days instead of being something we do once for ten minutes.
10. Build a Cozy Reading Fort
Blankets.
Pillows.
Books.
Flashlights.
Maybe a stuffed animal.
Instant rainy-day activity.
This is also perfect for the afternoon when everyone is starting to get tired but it's nowhere near bedtime.
11. Make Cinnamon-Scented Paint
Add a tiny sprinkle of cinnamon to washable brown or orange paint.
The kids get a sensory activity and your table smells like fall.
Use the paint for pumpkins, leaves or completely abstract toddler masterpieces.
12. Have an Indoor Pumpkin Hunt
Hide mini pumpkins around the house.
Then give the kids a basket and let them find them.
This can be as easy or difficult as you want depending on their ages.
And yes, you can immediately hide the exact same pumpkins again.
Toddlers do not care.
13. Make a Fall Snack Board
This is less of an activity and more of a very strategic way to make snack time entertaining.
Use a muffin tin or divided tray and add age-appropriate foods such as:
Apple slices.
Cheese.
Crackers.
Berries.
Pretzels.
Mini muffins.
Banana.
Add a tiny pumpkin to the center of the table and suddenly it's a "fall snack board."
14. Decorate Paper Pumpkins
Cut pumpkin shapes from orange, cream and kraft cardstock.
Set out crayons, stickers and washable markers.
Let everyone decorate their own.
Hang them on the refrigerator or string them together to make a garland.
15. Make a Leaf Garland
This is one I actually love displaying afterward.
Collect pretty leaves or use faux leaves.
For younger kids, punch holes yourself.
Then help them string the leaves onto twine or ribbon.
Hang it across a playroom shelf, window or little reading nook.
16. Have a Fall Movie Morning
Some days the activity is a movie.
I fully support this.
Make popcorn or a toddler-safe snack.
Pile blankets on the couch.
Put everyone in pajamas.
Choose a cozy family movie.
A rainy morning suddenly becomes something everyone looks forward to.
17. Paint With Leaves
Instead of using a paintbrush, use leaves.
Dip the edges or entire leaf into washable paint and press or drag it across paper.
Different leaves create completely different textures.
It doesn't have to become a recognizable picture.
The process is the activity.
18. Make Pumpkin Faces
Cut eyes, noses, mouths and silly shapes from felt.
Give the kids a felt pumpkin and let them create different faces.
Happy pumpkin.
Sad pumpkin.
Silly pumpkin.
Surprised pumpkin.
This is especially fun for toddlers learning emotions.
19. Have a Teddy Bear Fall Picnic
This one is so simple and so cute.
Everyone chooses a stuffed animal.
Set up lunch or snack on a blanket.
The stuffed animals get their own little plates.
You could do this outside on a sunny fall day or right in the living room.
20. Make a Thankful Tree
I love starting this before Thanksgiving.
Draw or create a simple tree trunk and branches.
Cut leaves from fall-colored paper.
Every few days, ask everyone something they're thankful for.
Write it on a leaf.
Add it to the tree.
With toddlers, the answers can be hilarious.
Mommy.
Daddy.
A favorite snack.
The garbage truck.
All valid.
21. Wash Pumpkins
This sounds ridiculous until you give toddlers a bowl of water and a scrub brush.
Put a few pumpkins into a shallow bin.
Add warm water.
Give them small brushes and towels.
Let them wash the pumpkins.
This has entertained my kids far longer than crafts I've spent actual time preparing.
22. Make Fall Window Art
Use washable window crayons or removable fall stickers.
Create leaves, pumpkins and trees on a low window the kids can reach.
It makes the playroom feel seasonal without adding a bunch of decorations.
23. Have a Flashlight Scavenger Hunt
Fall evenings get dark earlier, which makes a flashlight suddenly very exciting.
Turn off some of the lights.
Give the kids flashlights.
Ask them to find things around the room.
Can you find something orange?
Can you find a pumpkin?
Can you find a book?
Can you find a teddy bear?
Simple.
And somehow wildly entertaining.
24. Make an Autumn Soup Together
Choose a simple soup and let the kids help add ingredients.
They can pour in broth.
Add pre-cut vegetables.
Sprinkle seasoning.
Stir with help.
Then you have an activity and dinner.
This is the kind of efficiency I appreciate.
25. End the Day With Hot Cocoa
This might be my favorite activity because it requires almost no activity at all.
After baths, put on pajamas.
Make warm cocoa.
Add whipped cream.
Read a fall book together.
You could even take the mugs outside and sit on the porch under blankets if the weather is nice.
Sometimes the simplest traditions are the ones kids remember.
Our Fall Activity Basket
One thing that makes actually doing these activities much easier is keeping a few supplies together.
I don't want to search five closets every time we decide to paint a pumpkin.
I keep a basket with basics like:
Washable paint.
Paintbrushes.
Crayons.
Glue sticks.
Construction paper.
Fall stickers.
Child-safe scissors.
Play-Doh.
Twine.
Cookie cutters.
A magnifying glass.
Small nature-collection bags.
Then when we have a rainy morning, I can grab the basket and figure something out.
A Note About Toddler Activities
If an activity lasts seven minutes, it still counts.
This took me awhile to learn.
I'd set something up, imagine this beautiful 45-minute morning of crafting together, and then someone would be completely finished before I'd even put the supplies away.
That's normal.
Little kids move quickly.
Sometimes they'll surprise you and spend an hour painting pumpkins.
Sometimes they'll paint one stripe and announce they're done.
The goal isn't to keep them occupied for a certain amount of time.
It's simply giving them opportunities to explore and create.
You Don't Need 25 Perfect Fall Days
This list isn't meant to become another fall checklist.
I don't expect us to do all 25.
We might do the pumpkin painting three times and never get around to apple stamping.
We might spend an entire rainy morning building a fort.
We might abandon a craft halfway through because everyone would rather go outside.
That's part of it.
I want our kids to remember fall as a season when home felt cozy.
When there were pumpkins sitting around.
When we baked things together.
When leaves came inside in everyone's pockets.
When rainy days meant blankets and books.
And when ordinary afternoons could become something special simply because we decided they were.
That feels like enough.
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