When the fall season arrives, the weather is cooler, and you’re spending more time indoors, it’s time to cozy up with the family and make some crafts together. And if you’re looking for simple, fun, and beautiful fall craft activities for preschoolers, you’ve come to the right place.
We’ve rounded up the ultimate list of apple, leaf, and pumpkin crafts. We’ve mixed in some corn, acorns, foxes, trees, and a few other fall goodies, too. Pine cones would also be a perfect inclusion in an autumn themed craft! Looking specifically for ideas for Halloween or Thanksgiving? We have you covered there too!
Preschoolers and toddlers LOVE it when you make time to craft with them – it’s the perfect toddler activity for indoors, (especially when we’ve moved past summer activities for preschoolers).
With more than 50 fall crafts for preschoolers, you’re bound to find something to do with your kids or students to get into the spirit of the season.
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Apple Crafts
When Back to School season kicks off, it’s time for apple everything! Here are some of the simplest (and cutest) apple crafts for preschoolers to make this fall.
Paper Plate Apple Craft
Simple Everyday Mom has a tutorial for an adorable paper plate apple, complete with a printable template to make it easy for crafting in the classroom or at home. If you have plenty of time, paint a white paper plate red or green, as you see here. If you’re short on time, start with red or green plates instead.
Apple Stamping Pop Art
Give young kids a quick lesson on Andy Warhol while you make apple pop art. Grab the pop art template from Messy Little Monster, and color in the boxes using markers. Cut an apple in half, and grab some paint for dipping and stamping. This project is so colorful!
Egg Carton Apple Trees
Save those cardboard egg cartons for fun crafts like this apple tree from Taming Little Monsters. Fruit pouch caps make fantastic apples that kids can pop in and out of the egg carton cups to practice counting and one-to-one correspondence.
Pinecone Apples
Painted pinecones are such fun! First, you can go on a nature walk together to collect some (or grab some from the craft store). Then, you have the fun of painting them to turn them into apples. Add some sticks for apple stems and green leaves made with construction paper to finish your simple apple craft from Non-Toy Gifts.
Tissue Paper Apple Craft
Scrunching and crumbling paper is wonderful for developing fine motor skills for little hands. Use red, green, and brown tissue paper to make this fun tissue paper apple from The Suburban Mom.
A is for Apple Craft
Work on letter recognition beginning with the first letter of the alphabet, A! The Best Ideas for Kids blog has the cutest A is for Apple craft made with foam sheets. Print out the template, and trace it onto foam sheets to make your letter. Let your preschooler cut out all the pieces to get in some practice with their scissors.
Leaf Crafts
Autumn is the season of gorgeous colorful leaves, so what better way to celebrate this time of transition than with some lovely leaf crafts?
Leaf Paper Plate Wreath
This fun and colorful paper plate wreath craft from Messy Little Monster is sure to be a hit with your preschooler. Trace the leave templates onto cardstock or construction paper in orange, yellow, and red to get all those gorgeous colors in.
Leaf Hedgehogs
You can’t get much more adorable than Crafty Morning’s hedgehogs covered in leaves instead of spines. It’s the perfect fall craft!
Leaf Suncatchers
Your windows will look stunning with these leaf suncatchers from The Best Ideas for Kids. You’ll need black cardstock, clear construction paper, and tissue paper in red, orange, and yellow to make leaves that look like stained glass.
Leaf Puppets
Puppets are wonderful for capturing the imaginations of kids during pretend play. Make some easy leaf people following the instructions from Barley and Birch. Add sticks, tree bark, torn leaves, and paper pieces to make funny faces! While you can use real leaves, making them out of cardstock or cardboard means they’ll hold up better during playtime.
Leaf Art
Gather leaves, glue, and other craft materials to make leaf art like this collage from Take Them Outside. It can be as simple or as complex as you’d like. Grab the book called “Look What I Did With a Leaf” for inspiration for your art.
Leaf Faces
Leaf faces are another fun nature art idea that will have kids giggling and smiling this fall. You can use only leaves for your projects or gather things like acorns, pinecones, and sticks to use along with the leaves.
Falling Leaves Sensory Jar
Call it a snow globe or a sensory jar, there’s no denying this leaf jar will be relaxing and calming. Plus, it’s easy and inexpensive to put together. Recycle an old jar, find a small twig or branch in the backyard, and add some leaf confetti along with water and glycerin. De-stress from the day by watching the leaves fall through the liquid.
Autumn Crowns
These autumn crowns from Picklebums will make your kids feel like forest fairies or princes! Maple leaves are perfect for crown-making since they have lots of natural points, but use whatever you can find.
Pumpkin Crafts
For some people, fall is the time for pumpkin EVERYTHING, and we have to admit that we’re a little obsessed, too. Here are some totally easy fall crafts featuring pumpkins that the kids can help make to spruce up your home or classroom.
Egg Carton Pumpkins
With some egg cartons, paint, and a little imagination, you can make cute egg carton pumpkins in minutes. This is a budget-friendly project using materials that would normally go in the recycling bin. Don’t forget the green pipe cleaner stems to complete your pumpkins.
Pumpkin Apple Stamping
Yes, it’s another stamping activity, but this time you’ll use apples to make pumpkins. It’s as simple as swapping out the red paint for orange. Stamp some pumpkins on brown Kraft paper for gorgeous homemade gift wrap that’s perfect for autumn birthdays or hostess gifts on Thanksgiving.
Potato Stamping Pumpkins
Potatoes make excellent stamping implements because they’re firm and can withstand repeated dipping and stamping. Try to get nice, round potatoes so they’ll look more like pumpkins. Adults can carve a simple jack-o-lantern face into the potato and then let the kids get to work pumpkin printing all over the paper.
Paper Plate Pumpkin
Fireflies and Mud Pies has the cutest tutorial for a paper plate jack-o-lantern. However, you can also skip the pumpkin face and leave it as an orange pumpkin if you’re not ready for Halloween decorations yet. Threading the green pipe cleaner through the plate is such a smart idea for creating those twirly vines for the pumpkins.
Tissue Paper Pumpkin
Print the pumpkin template and fill it in with orange and green tissue paper for a great fall craft that kids can complete in minutes.
Halloween Crafts
Halloween shouldn’t be relegated to a single day at the end of October. Celebrate all month long with a few of these great ideas for mummies, ghosts, and other spooky characters.
Halloween Handprints
Parents love handprint crafts. They serve as reminders of how small their kids’ hands were and can be turned into anything you can imagine. Use handprints to make Dracula, Frankenstein, a pumpkin, or a ghost. They’ll make super fun decorations or Halloween cards to give to friends.
Toilet Paper Roll Mummies
This craft from Glue Sticks & Gumdrops is the perfect activity for little kids in preschool or elementary school. Paint toilet rolls black, wrap them in gauze, and leave a little bit of space near the top for some googly eyes.
Halloween Paper Plate Wreath
For a fun take on the usual paper plate craft, make a Halloween wreath like this one from Fun-A-Day! Cut out the center of the paper plate, paint it orange, and add some orange patterned cupcake liners near the bottom.
Easy Ghost Craft
Painting with pom poms is lots of fun because the clothespin is easy to grasp, plus it’s always cool trying new tools. Use pom poms to paint a not-so-spooky ghost on a colorful background. Add a face made of black construction paper, and you’re done with this super quick project from Crafts On Sea.
Paper Plate Spider
Turn a paper plate into a creepy, crawly spider! Okay, this one isn’t that creepy—it’s pretty cute, in fact, with its legs made of pipe cleaners and those big googly eyes and silly smile.
Halloween Boo Ghost Handprints
Make a cute keepsake that’ll make a fun fall art project for the scrapbook—ghost handprints! It spells out the word “Boo” and will look cute on the fridge for Halloween.
CD Frankenstein Craft
Recycle those old CDs that you’re probably not using anymore to make a fabulous Frankenstein craft with your younger kids. Not only is crafting with felt fun, but it gives kids a new material to practice their scissor skills on.
Halloween Headbands
Preschoolers love headbands, and they’re great for pretend play. Grab the printable templates to make your own Frankenstein, pumpkin, ghost, mummy, cat, witch, skeleton or bat. Make one or try them all! They also make excellent photo booth props for a Halloween party.
Thanksgiving Crafts
From turkeys to corn to pumpkin pie, you’ll find lots of cute fall crafts here to celebrate Turkey Day. Make crafting together one of your new Thanksgiving traditions!
Popsicle Stick Turkeys
Create adorable turkeys out of popsicle sticks! Making the face, feet, and pilgrim hats is super easy with the printable template. Add colorful craft sticks or craft feathers to the back to make the turkey’s tail feathers.
Edible Pumpkin Slime
If you’re worried about your toddler or preschooler putting slime in their mouths, the answer is simple: edible slime. This is a jiggly pumpkin version that’s not only fun too play with, but it smells so yummy! And if your kiddo takes a bite, no problem.
Paper Plate Candy Corns
Candy corn—do you enjoy it? Even if you don’t, this paper plate candy corn craft is so much fun! Simply add orange and yellow paint to a white paper plate and add a face (or not).
Pumpkin Pie Craft
Your kids might not be crazy about pumpkin pie, but they’ll still love this paper plate pumpkin pie craft from Glued to My Crafts. Make the pie “filling” with orange tissue paper squares, and top with “whipped cream” made of cotton balls.
Toilet Paper Roll Pilgrims
Learn about the pilgrims’ first Thanksgiving with a cute pilgrim craft made with toilet paper rolls. There’s a colorable version that’s great for preschoolers or a craft version for older kids with a template to cut out and trace.
Paper Plate Turkey
Little Bins for Little Hands has an incredibly easy paper plate turkey with colorful construction paper letters.
Easy Corn Craft
Corn has been a Thanksgiving staple since the first Thanksgiving was celebrated. It was an important crop for Native Americans—one of the Three Sisters—corn, beans, and squash. Help kids appreciate this starchy vegetable’s role in the food economy with this sweet corn craft.
Fall Art Projects
Feeling artsy? Try one of these fall arts and crafts to learn about making collages, paintings, leaf prints, and more.
Fall Handprint Art
Some paint, a black marker, and your kids’ hands are all you need to make these fun fall handprints featuring an apple, a pumpkin, a turkey, a leaf, and an acorn.
Watercolor Resist Fall Leaf Painting
This idea from Projects With Kids combines oil pastel resist art with watercolor painting for a stunning piece of art you’d be proud to display on the wall or fridge. Although preschoolers may need a little help with the tracing, they can have loads of fun filling in the image with color.
Autumn Leaf Mosaic Collage
Tear or cut leaves to make a stunning mosaic art piece! Once you have your leaf outline and your leaf pieces, it’s as simple as filling in the shape.
Autumn Tree Painting
This autumn tree art can be a collaborative project with your younger kids and older kids. After the background and tree branch are painted on, preschoolers can use pom-poms or cotton balls to stamp out colorful bunches of leaves.
Warhol Inspired Leaf Art
Pop art is everywhere! Add this leaf art to your list of Warhol-inspired crafts for preschoolers. Use crayons and watercolors to make colorful leaves on your paper or canvas. The wax from the crayons will prevent the watercolors from bleeding into the leaves.
Fall Newspaper Art Collage
Recycle old newspapers to make a vintage-looking collage for fall. If you have any old yellowed newspaper, even better! But if you don’t, you can make it look that way with a bit of watercolor or food coloring thinned with water.
Leaf Prints
Instead of leaf rubbings, try making leaf prints by dipping leaves lightly into various colors of paint and printing them on the page. This can get a little messy, so make sure you use washable paint and wear gloves. Turn the leaf prints into gorgeous handmade cards to send to family and friends.
More Fun Fall Craft Ideas For Preschool
Need more preschool crafts for fall? Check out the cute scarecrows, acorns, and more below.
Cute Paper Plate Scarecrow
This smiling scarecrow is absolutely precious. It’s easy to make, too. Kids can paint the paper plate or leave it as is, adding on googly eyes, a pipe cleaner mouth, and a hat, cheeks, and nose made out of paper. The burlap ribbon and leaves on the hat are such a pretty touch.
Fall Suncatchers
These simple fall suncatchers from Crafts by Amanda are perfect for the entire autumn season, September through November. Put them in a sunny window to enjoy the gorgeous colors when the light shines through.
Cute Acorn Craft
Don’t these acorns look so happy? You only need construction paper, pipe cleaners, and the template to put these charming little guys together.
Fall In a Bottle
Here’s a fun memento to make with your preschooler when you go on a camping adventure or nature walk. Gather leaves, twigs, and seeds to put inside the bottle along with your child’s picture. Adorable!
Paper Bag Scarecrow Craft
Scarecrow puppets are perfect for pretend play during story time. There are so many sweet books about scarecrows that kids will love, like “The Scarecrow’s Hat.”
Handprint Autumn Tree
This is a fun fall craft for siblings to make together. Each of them can contribute a handprint or two to make the leaves that adorn this fall tree.
Scarecrow Stick Puppets
Play with these scarecrow stick puppets or pop them into your potted plants as a fun homage to the usual scarecrow out in the corn fields.
Acorn Necklace Craft
If you’ve gathered some acorn caps, use them to make acorn necklaces like this one from Homeschool Preschool. You can use entire acorns, really, but if you only have tops, make the bottom part of the acorn with a paper ball covered in yarn or embroidery thread.
Yarn-Wrapped Fox
Upcycle old cardboard to make these foxes wrapped in yarn. These creative and cunning creatures are wonderful muses for fall crafts.
Crumpled Paper Sunflower
Crumple up some paper to make a stunning sunflower to display this fall. Follow the instructions at Artsy Craftsy Mom to find out how.
Pin this list of fall craft activities for preschoolers to come back to each year as the weather begins to cool and you’re spending more time indoors with the kids.
And when you’ve exhausted these fall themed craft activities?
Then it’ll be time to move on to making Christmas cards with little kids!