As temperatures begin to cool and we welcome fall, the possibilities for playful learning are endless. Here you’ll find a wide variety of engaging September preschool activities to welcome fall with preschoolers.
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The free printable September kids’ activity calendar includes a ton of fun fall activities to do with kids at home or in the classroom. Use it yourself, or send a copy to parents so they have a little inspiration for hands-on fun and learning.
Read over the brief descriptions of the September preschool activities below. Then grab your own free printable September activity calendar, and you’ll have a full month of activity ideas at your fingertips. The free printable includes links to each post so you can click through online for more information, and you can also print it out to use as a quick reference.
We’re also always creating new activity ideas, and I know you want to stay up to date on those was well. In addition to an introduction to the activities originally included in the free printable calendar, I also add new activities we create related to each theme so you’ll have more options to choose from. Those are listed below each week’s original activity suggestions but are not reflected in the free printable calendar.
For some themes we have full theme planning guides and printable lesson plans. If those are available for a particular theme, there are also links to those resources included with the related weekly theme.
September Preschool Activity Themes
For our September preschool activities we’re exploring the following topics:
Week 1: Apples
Week 2: Leaves
Week 3: Fall
Week 4: Pumpkins
Note: The free printable does not include dates. Simply pick and choose which theme you want to do for each week in September, and change the order as necessary.
Week 1: Apples
LOW-PREP IDEAS…
For this week try these… You’ll need apples in a variety of colors and kinds.
- APPLE MATH: First discuss that we have to be gentle with apples or they get bruised if we drop them and are rough with them. Then get your basket of apples from the store and use them for math activities. You can….Sort them by color, sort them by kind, sort them by size. Count how many of each color/kind/size you have. Count how many you have in all. Make patterns with them. Create a real graph with them. Model addition and subtraction story problems with them. There are so many possibilities!
- APPLE TASTE TEST: This one’s easy! Grab a few different kinds of apples. Taste each one. Discuss the similarities and differences and see if there is a favorite in the bunch. Extend this activity by discussing the 5 Senses and using each one to examine an apple. Discuss what you SEE by looking at the inside and outside of the apple. FEEL the inside and the outside and compare the textures. LISTEN as the apple is cut open and as you chew a piece of one. SMELL the scent of the apple. And of course TASTE the apple!
- APPLE ART: Cut an apple in half vertically so that you have two equal parts. Use a large piece of paper and tempera paint. Have kids stamp paint with the apples and create their own apple art.
Apple Activities from the Free Printable September Activity Calendar
Apple Cinnamon Sensory Bin: Set out this invitation to play during your fall or apple theme activities. Toddlers love to scoop, pour, and line up the materials. While preschoolers will often use it for sorting, counting, and pretend play. PLUS it makes the play area smell amazing!
Apple Roll and Color Math: Use this quick prep apple math freebie to practice shape recognition in preschool or kindergarten.
Apple Play Dough Invitation: We used apple scented shampoo to scent our dough. You can add in some apple pie spice too! Set it out with some loose parts…don’t skip the worms! They are always a hit and the texture provides an added sensory experience for little hands.
Bobbing for Apples Fine Motor Play: Our germ-free twist on bobbing for apples! If your little ones love water play, set up this simple “bobbing” for apples fall activity. It’s a fun way to practice fine motor skills. You can also incorporate counting and sorting activities as a way to extend the fun and learning.
Ten Apples Play Dough Math: Ten Apples Up on Top by Dr. Seuss is a must read for an apple theme. The counting, the rhyming, the repeated text, the silliness…kids love it! To continue the fun make a Ten Apples Up On Top inpsired play dough invitation.
Additional Resources
Preschool Apple Theme Planning Guide
Apple Theme Preschool Lesson Plans
Get a full week of apple theme lesson plans and activity ideas.
Week 2: Leaves
LOW-PREP IDEAS…
For this week try these… You’ll need real leaves in a variety of colors and kinds (or a mixture of fake leaves from the fall section of your local store. Dollar Tree usually has some!)
- LEAF HUNT: Head outdoors to gather leaves that have fallen to the ground. Take time to observe the similarities and differences.
- LEAF MATH: Use the leaves you gathered on your nature walk or a store bought set for math activities. You can….Sort them by color, sort them by kind, sort them by size. Count how many of each color/kind/size you have. Count how many you have in all. Make patterns with them. Create a real graph with them. Model addition and subtraction story problems with them. There are so many possibilities!
- LEAF PEOPLE ART: Gather some twigs and acorns to go along with your leaf collection. Spend some time creating people and creatures with these loose parts. If desired glue a favorite creation to paper and use a marker to add additional details.47w
Leaf Activities from the Free Printable September Activity Calendar
Roll and Count Fall Leaves Math: Seasonal table scatter sets make wonderful manipulatives for math and other learning activities. For this math activity we used our leaves to practice beginning addition and subtraction.
Fall Leaf Painting: Sometimes (okay, rarely) we use baking tools for actual baking, and sometimes we use them for art! Here we used a rolling pin to roll out some gorgeous fall art.
Roll and Say Fall ABC Game: This fall ABC game is quick to prepare and fun for kids to play.
Leaf Suncatcher Craft: This is one of our favorite fall crafts. They look GORGEOUS hanging in windows as the light shines through them. And if you live where the leaves don’t actually change color like we do, the added burst of color really helps it feel like fall even when it’s still 90 degrees out.
Leaf Name Art: Head outdoors on a nature walk and gather some fallen leaves. Then exercise those fine motor muscles to crunch them up into tiny bits…do not understimate how much fun this will be for little ones! Then use your bits to make name art, or mix it up to make your own creative leaf collages.
Additional Resources
Preschool Leaf Theme Planning Guide
Leaf Theme Preschool Lesson Plans
Get a full week of leaf theme lesson plans and activity ideas.
Week 3: Fall
LOW-PREP IDEAS…
For this week try these…
- MAKE A FALL BUCKET LIST: Together brainstorm a list of simple activities you’d like to do together during the fall season.
- GO ON A FALL NATURE WALK: Take a walk together to look for signs of fall arriving in your area. Collect fallen leaves and acorns to use for learning activities and art projects.
- CREATE A FALL NATURE COLLAGE: Use some of the items you collected. Glue them to a piece of card stock or canve to make some fall art.
Fall Activities from the Free Printable September Activity Calendar
Fall Sensory Bin: Put together a sensory bin of fall materials. The bin is full of items that remind us of the colors, scents and symbols of fall.
Roll and Color Fall Math: For this roll and color addition game all you’ll need is the free printable game sheet, the printable number cube, and some crayons. It might also help to provide a math manipulative so kids can model adding the concrete objects before recording their answers.
Leaf People Fall Collage Art: Set out collected nature materials, glue, and paper and let kids put together their own nature art.
Tissue Paper Art Fall Tree Craft: Here we’re using bleeding tissue paper to create gorgeous fall tree colors on our watercolor paper. Then we turn those creations into the crown of our fall tree crafts.
Fall Sticker Scene Invitation: Stickers are the best, aren’t they?! They can be used for so many different learning activities, and kids love them!
Set up this simple sticker scene invitation for kids to create their own fall art.
Additional Resources
Preschool Fall Theme Planning Guide
Fall Theme Preschool Lesson Plans
Get a full week of fall theme lesson plans and activity ideas.
Week 4: Pumpkins
LOW-PREP IDEAS…
For this week try these…
You’ll need a set of mini pumpkins…they usually sell a mixed bag with 5-7 of them in the produce section this time of year.
- PUMPKIN SCAVENGER HUNT: Hide your mini pumpkins indoors or outside and have kids find them. Weave in some extra learning by labeling the pumpkins with number or letters, and have kids say the name of the label as they find the pumpkins.
- PUMPKIN SINK OR FLOAT: Predict whether the mini pumpkins will sink or float when placed in water. Then fill a big plastic bin (or use a sink) with water and test the prediction. Allow kids time for water play when you’re done. Add in some spoons and let them make “pumpkin soup” (You could even cut open one or two of the pumpkins to investigate what’s inside and add the ingredients to the “pumpkin soup”
- PARTS OF A PUMPKIN: Read a book about pumpkins or look up some kid-friendly information together online. Then examine your pumpkins and discuss the parts of the pumpkin. Extend the activity by having kids draw and label the parts of a pumpkin in a science journal.
Pumpkin Activities from the Free Printable September Activity Calendar
Pumpkin Patch Names: Set up your own little mini pumpkin patch this fall. Not only is it fun for pretend play, you can easily weave in literacy by labeling your pumpkins with letters. We used ours to practice name recognition, but you can switch it up to focus on the ABC order or sight words, too.
Pumpkin Roll and Color Math: This free printable excerpt from the full pumpkin math games set can be used to practice doubles facts.
Pumpkin Name Craft: When possible I like to turn crafts into interactive activities that kids can use over and over again. Sometimes we turn crafts into items for pretend play. Other times we turn them into learning games. That’s what we did here with our pumpkin craft.
Pumpkin Seed Shape Mats: Here we’re using our free printable pumpkin shape mats and dried pumpkin seeds to practice shape recognition and help kids learn to make construct 2D shapes.
Runaway Pumpkin Painting: During the fall we always read The Runaway Pumpkin and Sixteen Runaway Pumpkins, so I thought it would be fun to do some fall process art inspired by these stories. You guessed it! We’re painting with pumpkins in a big way with Rolling Runaway Pumpkin Painting.
Additional Resources
Preschool Pumpkin Theme Planning Guide
Pumpkin Theme Preschool Lesson Plans
Get a full week of pumpkin theme lesson plans and activity ideas.
Get the Free Printable September Activity Calendar
Note: Updated version is slightly different from the one pictured here. It does not have dates listed so that it can be used again and again from year to year.
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