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Ideas and resources

Fall Learning Activities with Leaves and More

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I know it’s not technically fall yet but I’m so ready, and there are a lot of great ideas for learning with fall items like leaves and acorns that you should have in mind when the time comes. Here are (more than!) a few to get you started. Check out this article on the best STEM gifts for kids.

I’d love to know if you incorporate natural materials into learning during the fall or any other time of year!

Fall STEMfall STEM activities for kids

Leaf Chromatography — remove the color from leaves — Schooling a Monkey

Measuring Leaves —  And Next Comes L (she also has a great math tray using fall materials)

Tracing the Veins of a Leaf — Go Science Girls

Counting Nature — Mom Explores the Rockies

Subtracting with Ten Frames — Leaf Theme — Life Over Cs

Math Activities Using Natural Materials — The Usual Mayhem

Activities for Little Learners

Leaf Number Sort and Alphabet Leaf Activity — A Dab of Glue Will Do (check out this great list of fall books for littles, too)

Fall Sensory Bin — Ms. Jones’ Creation Station (also grab her colors of fall printable coloring book for emergent readers)

Acorn Fine Motor Activities — Little Bins for Little Hands (don’t miss her fall discovery table, sensory bottles and fall slime, too!)

Fall Sight Word Flashcards — Look We’re Learning (also fall play dough mats)

More Fun Activities

Tree Leaf Collection — with identification cards — Preschool Powol Packets

Leaf Identification Printables — Look We’re Learning (also check out Scarecrow Syllables for second graders and her All About Leaves printable pack)

Comments

Have you read?

Book Review: The Festival of Lights

As if Diwali weren’t colorful and fun enough, The Festival of Lights: A Lift-the-flap Diwali Celebration by Namita Moolani Mehra, illustrated by Darshika Varm, makes it even more fun to read about with flaps and things to lift and pull to see more information or details in the illustrations. 

The book is a story about a family getting ready for Diwali and what happens on the different days of the five-day celebration. There’s cleaning, shopping, crafting, food preparation and getting the home altar ready for the big day. 

It covers decorating the outside of the house with rangoli, diyas and lanterns, buying sweets to share with family and friends, the sights and scents of the mandir (home temple), getting dressed up in new fancy clothes, the story of Diwali and celebrations with relatives.  

Flaps (there are more than 140 in all) give you vocabulary words for different foods and definitions, as well as fun things like what’s inside the shopping basket or where the cat is hanging out. They also help illuminate the story of Diwali, which is the triumph of good over evil as Lord Ram defeated the demon Ravana to save his wife, Sita. 

This pretty and colorful book helps kids understand what Diwali is and how it is celebrated, regardless of whether they practice it at home. This would be a nice book to keep in a classroom (it’s rated for kids ages 3-7) or to have at home to teach kids about Diwali even if it’s not something you celebrate. Where I live there are a lot of people from India so we are probably exposed to Diwali more than some other regions of America, but it’s a nice holiday to know about wherever you live. 

Combine with the book Diwali and check out some fun lantern crafts and printables for kids to round out your experience. 

About the book: 24 pages, hardcover, published 2025 by Wide Eyed Editions. Suggested retail prices $22.99.

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