Autumn is the perfect time for nature crafts and activities. There are so many natural materials that you can collect for free. You can use them in many fun crafts and activities. I’ve collected together loads of ideas for fun autumn leaves activities for toddlers. These make great Autumn activities for toddlers.
The ideas include sensory activities, leaf art and crafts and so many more fun ideas. I hope you find a different way to use some beautiful leaves in this new season.
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Preparing your leaves for crafts
Before you begin any of these leaf activities you will need to go on a walk and collect lots of fallen leaves. Autumn is a great time for doing this but you’ll probably find some all year round.
There are loads of different shape, size and coloured leaves that you may find. Find out How to preserve leaves (for crafting) here.
Autumn leaves activities for toddlers
Help your toddler start to recognise the alphabet with this fun autumn leaf alphabet matching game. It uses real leaves and is really quick and easy to set up.
This painting activity uses fall colors of paints with a pom pom on a clothes peg. It's a really fun painting technique that is suitable for little hands to do.
I can't think of a better way to create art with autumn leaves than this fun process art activity. You can also add other fallen nature that you will find at this time of the year such as acorns and conkers.
These beautiful leaf lanterns will make a gorgeous decoration this autumn and they are so simple to make. They're a great way to use those real leaves you collect on all your autumn walks.
I have a set of autumn colouring pages that you can download for free. These are perfect for toddlers and there is a sheet of leaves to colour included in the set.
This sensory bin is a simple way to bring autumn into your sensory play. You'll need some fake leaves and a little bit of food colouring to make the autumnal-coloured water. I'm sure your toddler will have so much fun and they'll be developing their fine motor skills too.
This is a really simple autumn craft that uses a free printable with some leaf shapes on a crown. Print it out and see how your toddler chooses to decorate it. I'm sure they'll have lots of fun in the process.
This is another fun way to use leaves collected on a nature walk. So grab your free printable and some glue and let your toddler create their own work of art.
This fun tree craft uses real leaves and some sticky back plastic taped to a window. You can't get much simpler than that but I bet your toddler will have a lot of fun.
These suncatchers are an easy way to create art with your little one. Simply tape some sticky back plastic (or contact paper), some autumn (or fall) coloured tissue paper and some leaf shape templates.
How cute are these leaf puppets? and so simple to create with toddlers too. Can you create a whole family together? Start with a simple leaf man and add as many as you can before your toddler loses interest.
You might need to help your toddler with cutting leaves but older toddlers and preschoolers will have a great time cutting up real autumn leaves. It's a perfect mix of crafting and fine motor skills practice.
Make your very own leaf garland with lots of autumn leaves and beads too. A great nature activity to practice threading for older toddlers and preschoolers.
Not only are these leaf puppets super cute but you can use them in this song which is great for developing language skills.
This is a really fun craft using items you will probably already have in the house. It's great fun for kids of all ages but easy enough for toddlers with some help.
This is a sensory bottle that you can make in advance and use with older babies and toddlers (under supervision). They'll be mesmerised by the falling leaves in this sensory experience.
This is a really fun autumn craft that is perfect for toddlers and a great introduction to sticking.
This is another really fun leaf painting activity. This time the idea is to paint on the leaves!
How adorable are these little leaf men? Find out how to make them here,
Autumn leave craft and activity supplies
Here are a few supplies that you’ll find useful for autumn activities. All links are affiliate links.
Where to next?
If you’ve enjoyed this post then you might find this one on Autumn art projects for toddlers.
Reading seasonal books to your toddler is a lovely thing to do. If you’d like some new autumn ones then this is the post for you Autumn books for toddlers. It’s filled with seasonal board books that they’ll love to look at.
Nature walks are great for toddlers all year round but I think autumn is a particularly great season because in my experience they love collecting things. I created a simple Free autumn scavenger hunt printable a couple of years back which is great for children of all ages including toddlers. Can they use it to make some very simple mark-making on your next walk?
Find more seasonal activities for kids here.