Fall in the Forest Toddler Activities
Fall is a magical time for toddlers to discover the world around them. I still remember the first time both of my daughters tossed leaves into the air with glee and wonder. So to help capture some of that wonder of fall and bring it into our home, here are some Montessori and Waldorf inspired “Fall in the Forest” toddler activities.
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Key Texts
Autumn Leaves Fall and Forest Friends Sleep
I love this series from Amber Hendricks. They’re so sweet and the rhyming words really get toddlers’ attention. Through these books toddlers will learn about the changes that happen in the forest during fall.
They’re available on Amazon here.
Baby Animals in the Forest
This book is absolutely adorable. It’s a chunky lift-the-flap book, and little toddler hands will absolutely love pulling back the flaps to learn what baby animals in the forest are doing.
It’s available on Amazon here.
Language Activities
Identifying Colors of Different Leaves
At some point during the early toddler years, toddlers will start to identify different colors by name. Fall is a great time to build on this in the simplest of ways. Ask them to identify the colors of different leaves or have them sort the leaves into different piles based on color.
Forest Animal Language Cards
Toddlers also love to MATCH and at this age, they’re learning that images represent real life objects (which is an important skill to build up for later helping children recognize that letters represent sounds). I love the look of glee that both my daughters have had when they first start to match real objects to images. (They both would even say “match!” I’m not sure if this is a universal toddler thing or just a genetic thing, but it was the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.)
An easy activity with this is to grab a set of forest animal figurines (we love the Toob ones that you can find here) and print off a set of language cards. (You can download mine here if you’d like.) I cut mine and them laminate them for use after use because language cards are a GREAT resources to use for different stages of language development.
Set your child up with a basket of forest animal figurines and the language cards, demonstrate placing the figurine on the matching image, and then watch them match to their little heart’s content. As they match, repeat the name of the animal back to them.
Family Activities
Leaf Hunt/Nature Walk
Take advantage of the great fall weather, get your toddler outside, and let them gather as many leaves as their little arms can hold. (And if you have any preschoolers or older children in tow, challenge them to find specific kinds of leaves.)
Hike in the Forest
If a leaf hunt isn’t enough- go on a full hike. The fall is my favorite time to hike in the forest. I love the crunch of leaves, the crisp air, and the distinct lack of mosquitoes. Point out to your toddler all the signs of fall you see along the way. (And if you’re looking for tips on hiking with littles, check out my post here.)
Fall Camping Trip
And if hiking isn’t enough time to soak in fall in the forest, go on a fall camping trip! Cozy nights and cool mornings make for incredible family memories.
Science Activities
Sorting/Matching Leaf Types
After you’ve gone on your leaf hunt, see if your toddler can sort and match leaves by either type or color.
Or if you’re wanting to keep this a little cleaner/easier, give them some fall colored bulletin board leaves and let them match those.
Practical Life
Gathering Leaves for a Bouquet
While toddlers are known for the mess they tend to create, they also really enjoy beautifying areas. Take the leaves they gathered, tie them up with some twine, and place it a vase. They’ll be proud to see something they collected in a place of honor.
Arts and Crafts
Wooden Leaf Painting
Toddlers are working on their fine motor skills, and painting with Q-Tips and sponges is a great way to encourage that while also letting them be creative with paints and colors.
Set them up with some washable paint, some Q-tips, some sponges, and a wooden leaf cutout (I snagged mine at Dollar Tree). Let them paint in the leaves red, orange, and yellow. Hang it up in their room as a fall decoration and they’ll be so proud!
Leaf Stickers
And if you’re not ready to give your toddler access to paint, let them create leaf sticker art! Find some leaf stickers on clearance (because at places like Hobby Lobby- they’ll be on clearance by August), and let them make a tree out of the fall stickers.
Sensory and Fine Motor Activities
Pouring, Scooping, and Transferring with Leaf Manipulatives
I found these acrylic leaves at Hobby Lobby and absolutely love them. The sound they make when they’re being poured is so relaxing. The bright colors and translucent plastic had my daughters mainly just looking through them and saying “everything is soooooo pretty!!!!!”
Toddlers love to pour, scoop, and transfer, so set them up with some bowls, scoops, and these leaf manipulatives and they’ll be occupied for a while. (Just be sure to keep an eye on them- these could definitely be a choking hazard.)
Playing with Magnetic Forest Animals
Toddlers LOVE magnets. I found this set of magnetic forest animals at Target in the Dollar Spot, but Melissa and Doug have some FANCY ones here.
Keep it simple with letting them play with them on a cookie sheet or get fancy by also adding in magnetic leaves, trees, etc. to let them create a forest scene.
Playing with Magnetic Leaves or a Leaf Puzzle
Again- toddlers love magnets and puzzles. I found these great magnetic leaves in the Target Dollar Spot one year and they have a permanent spot in our kids’ activity bag on our fall camping trips.
Toddlers would also love a leaf puzzle like this one to practice matching the shapes.
Create a Forest in the Fall Sensory Bin
I love sensory bins for my littles- they’re cheap, easy to put together, and easy to swap out with the seasons.
For this one, I found some silk fall leaves at Hobby Lobby and some decorative acorns. I tossed them in a bin, added in the woodland creature animals, and let my daughter explore.
Tree Sticky Wall
I love a good sticky wall activity. Tape some contact paper (sticky side out) to a wall and then have your toddler place paper or silk leaves on it. If you want to get fancy you could add brown construction paper for a trunk and branches so that they’re actually making a tree.
If you’re feeling less fancy, just watch them run back and forth to the sticky wall while you hopefully get to finish a cup of coffee while it’s still warm.
(And we always like making our sticky walls on our glass patio door to let the light come through it some!)
Another fun variation is to make a tree out of construction paper and then adhere Velcro dots to the branches the backs of bulletin board leaf cutouts and have your child stick the leaves to the branches with the Velcro.
Math Activity
Counting on Tree Sticky Wall
Counting isn’t something that I stress about with my toddler, but just recently I did hear my two year old start to repeat my cadence as she was pretending to count. So to give her a chance to either practice real counting or just feel like she’s counting, simply count out loud with them as they’re adding leaves to the sticky wall described in the previous activity.
Placing Leaf Manipulatives on Counting Cards
If you notice your toddler working on their understanding of one-to-one correspondence (an early math concept), a great way to encourage this is to use counting cards. Have them place some acrylic leaves on top of the leaves on the counting cards. As they do, count with them so that they can start to hear that each number represents a finite, and different, number of objects.
They’re probably not ready to count with you yet, but again- this is just about laying the foundation.
If you want the leaf themed counting cards I made for my own daughters, you can download them for free here.
Check Out More
And if you have a preschooler as well, and you’re looking for “Fall in the Forest” activities to do with them,, check out my post here. Many of the activities will go great together so that you can work with your preschooler and toddler at the same time. And many will use the same materials, keeping everything budget friendly! (And if you don’t have a preschooler yet, make sure you pin the post for when you do have a preschooler and can repurpose some of these materials in the years to come!)
