Fun Fall Crafts for Preschoolers

The autumn brings crisp days and beautiful leaves of gold, orange, and red…and great ideas for fall crafts for preschoolers at our Raleigh preschool! With the start of a new season and Thanksgiving in the season, ideas for creative activities abound. Preschoolers can make things for you to use on mantles and tables, not just the refrigerator.

Arts and crafts are important for preschoolers because they foster communication, listening, attention, and imagination. Activities involving arts and crafts support development skills such as fine motor skills, identification of shapes, color, and texture, as well creativity. 

At Primary Beginnings, we integrate arts and crafts into our regular curriculum. In this article, we share a few of our favorite simple fall crafts for home or school that your preschoolers will love!

A Fall Leaf Potato Stamp

Preschoolers are learning about the change of leaf color all around them so an activity that has them create colorful “leaves” reinforces what they are seeing. Creating stamps out of potatoes is something that has been around forever. (Most parents probably did this craft when they were young!) It’s easy and requires very few supplies.

Supplies:

• Potatoes – the long thin ones work the best
• Paint – orange, red, and yellow
• Paintbrushes
• White paper

Instructions:

1. Cut the potatoes in half
2. On the cut side of the potato, the adult cuts a stem and three little veins on each side of the stem
3. Pour paint into containers
4. Show the children how to hold the paintbrush and paint the ends of the potatoes
5. The children take the painted potato and press onto the white paper
6. The painted potato may be slippery, so show the children how to put it on the paper and hold it still to make the best stamps

Fall Tree Branch

Here’s another simple craft activity from HowWeeLearn that follows the colorful leaves theme. You can use these as centerpieces for your autumn table!

Supplies:

• Small tree twigs and branches
• Orange, red, and yellow tissue paper squares
• White glue
• Paintbrushes

Instructions:

1. Have the preschoolers paint the branch one segment at a time
2. Take a tissue paper square and wrap it around the branch
3. Repeat step 2 over and over with a different color each time until all of the branches are covered, leaving the base free
4. Put into a mason jar

No-Cook Natural Apple Play Dough

In addition to pumpkin, apples are an important part of the fall. We love the smell of apples and the fragrance of apples in this play dough from Natural Beach Living is delightful. Putting apple pie spice in play dough, coloring it red or green, and molding it in the shape of an apple is a sensory craft your preschoolers will truly enjoy.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all purpose Flour
• 1 cup Salt
• 2 Tbsp. Cream of Tartar
• 3 Tbsp. cooking oil (we use Coconut oil)
• 3 Tbsp. Apple Pie Spice
• Optional food colors 

Instructions:

1. You and the kids can measure everything together in a large bowl and stir to combine them
2. Slowly add 1.5 cups of very hot (around 180 degrees) water and stir to form a ball
3. Let the dough sit and cool for a few minutes before playing with it
4. Color one half of the dough with green and one half with red.
5. Mold the dough into little apples that are fun for sorting and counting. You can also use cookie cutters and shapes.

Color one half with green, one half with red and make little apples that are fun for sorting and counting, break out some plastic cookie cutters and shapes, or just let them have fun creating!

Puffy Paint Pumpkins

Part art project, part sensory fun, these puffy paint pumpkins from Emma Owl are great for a rainy day! You may want to break out an old sheet or shower curtain as well a wear some old clothes as this could get messy. However, it’s such a neat texture and your child can make a really creative pumpkin or other any other project that it’s a craft that is definitely worth doing!

You’ll need:

• White shaving foam
• Clear school glue
• Orange food coloring (1 drop red for every 3 drops of yellow to get a good orange shade)
• Decorations (pumpkin seeds, glitter, rice, etc)

Instructions:

1. Add equal parts shaving foam and glue (depending on how much you want to make) and mix well
2. Continue adding shaving foam until you see stiff peaks (usually 2:1 ration of foam to glue)
3. Add food coloring, just a tiny amount does the job!

You can draw outlines for the pumpkins first or just let your child free hand their own pumpkins. They can swirl with a paint brush, finger paint, use sponges, or try other techniques, and once the pumpkin is finished, they can sprinkle seeds, glitter, or other decorations on it. Because of the glue, the decorations will easily stick to the painting. 

Contact Us for Information on Our Five-Star Preschool Program

At Primary Beginnings in Raleigh, we love letting the kids experience fall through all types of activities, including arts and crafts, stories, outside exploration, and special events! Our five-star preschool program instills confidence that children in our care are getting great opportunities to learn through play, discovery, and fun.

To learn more about our preschool and take a tour, call our North Hills Drive location at 919-785-0303 or our Spring Forest location at 919-790-6888, or fill out our convenient contact form to get started!