🍁 15 fun fall activities your K-2 students will love

💡 Tips, Tools and Templates

15 FUN Fall Activities for K-2

As the leaves change and the air gets crisp, it's the perfect time to bring the magic of autumn into your classroom. Fall offers so many wonderful learning opportunities for young students, from exploring nature to developing critical thinking skills. We've gathered 15 fun and free activities—a mix of hands-on projects and engaging digital games—perfect for your K-2 learners.

💻 Digital Activities

🔐 1. FREE Fall K-2 Virtual Escape Room

In this interactive, K-2 friendly virtual escape room, students will join Poppy the Puppy on a fall-tastic adventure through the pumpkin patch to find the missing Golden Pumpkin! Along the way, they’ll solve logic puzzles, sort colorful gourds, and navigate a corn maze—all designed with early elementary learners in mind.

Students help Poppy the Puppy find a missing Golden Pumpkin by solving early math, reading, and logic puzzles. The game includes audio support for young learners, built in hints, K-2 friendly locks, and a printable certificate available upon completion.

Want to try out other K-2 Virtual Escape Rooms? Check out all of the adventures available (more coming soon!)

• 🎃 Midnight’s Halloween Adventure

• 🎒 Max’s Missing School Supplies

• 🦃 Gobble’s Great Thanksgiving Escape

🍂 2. Observing Fall Landscapes

Help your students visually understand seasonal changes with this resource from PBS Learning Media. Using the provided media assets, children can create their own art pieces to explore the different colors of Fall.

🍏 3. Apples to Apples Science Edition

This resource from the Van Andel Institute for Education provides an engaging, science-themed variation of the popular card game, Apples to Apples, for kindergarten through second-grade students. Designed to be played in about 15 minutes, the game helps build science vocabulary and reinforces key concepts by having students match adjective cards to a category card.

🍎 4. Apple Picking Game

This online game from PBS helps children reinforce reading, writing, and representing numbers.

🍂 5. If You Find a Leaf

Aimée Sicuro shares a fun tutorial on collaging with leaves in this episode of Ready Set Draw! Start by collecting a few leaves, observing their different shapes, and spark your imagination.

🖨️ Printable Activities & Games

6. Autumn Activity Book

This Autumn Activity Book from @sevcanbarutedu on Canva includes a variety of engaging, autumn-themed activities like a scavenger hunt, a maze, counting and phonics exercises, and creative writing prompts. It is designed to help children develop their vocabulary and writing skills, while also providing fun puzzles and games. Open the template on Canva or click here to download the PDF.

7. Nature Scavenger Hunt

Take your students on a walk around the schoolyard or a nearby park to search for acorns, colorful leaves, and other fall treasures. This activity gets kids moving, encourages observation, and connects them with the natural world right outside their door. Grab this template from Canva and use as is or edit it to make it your own.

8. Leaf Shapes

This activity from Mystery Science that asks students to describe a leaf they have found. The activity sheet provides prompts to help them describe its characteristics, such as size, shape, and the texture of its sides.

🤚🏾 Hands-on Activities

These activities use simple, everyday materials to foster creativity, exploration, and scientific thinking.

9. Science Experiment: Why Do Leaves Change Color? This experiment uses a simple process to demonstrate why leaves change color in the fall. Students use rubbing alcohol and hot water to separate the different color pigments hidden inside a green leaf, revealing the yellows, reds, and oranges that are normally covered up by the dominant green chlorophyll. Get the activity.

11. Leaf Rubbing Another simple yet engaging art project! Place leaves underneath a sheet of paper and have students gently rub crayons over the paper to reveal the leaves' textures and patterns. They can layer different colors and leaf shapes to create a unique fall collage.

12. Pumpkin Painting Skip the messy carving and opt for a safer, more creative alternative. Provide mini pumpkins and a variety of paints and brushes. Students can paint bright designs, silly faces, or patterns, making each pumpkin a unique masterpiece.

13. Apple Stamping Cut apples in half to create a unique stamp. Dip the flat side into paint, and then press it onto paper to create fun patterns. This is a simple and effective way to teach about symmetry and patterns.

14. Fall Sensory Bin Create a tactile play experience by filling a bin with dried corn, leaves, pinecones, and mini pumpkins. Students can scoop, pour, and explore different textures, which helps with fine motor skills and sensory development.

15. Fall-Themed Storytime Gather your students and read aloud books about autumn, pumpkins, harvest, or animals preparing for winter. This promotes literacy and helps build a shared sense of community in the classroom. Visit KidLitTV Fall Arts and Crafts for lots of ideas.

📺 Teaching with Teachflix Junior

 🍁 The Science of Fall

🎥 Video Link: The Science of Fall on Teachflix

Fall is here, and Jessi and Squeaks are celebrating by exploring the science behind the season. The videos in this compilation explain why leaves change colors and fall from trees , how different animals prepare for the winter, and what makes a pumpkin a fruit. They also share some surprising facts about turkeys

Key points covered in the video:

• Why leaves change color

• The role of shorter days

• Why leaves fall

• Animal preparations for winter

• Squirrels' hibernation and food storage

• The parts of a pumpkin

• Turkey facts

🍂 The Science of Fall Activity Packet

This packet includes a variety of activities that accompany the Science of Fall video and extend the learning and fun. It can be used as is or choose which activities work best for your class.

🛍️Teacher Finds for the Classroom

🟣 Numbered Carpet Markers

These Carpet Markers are a simple yet effective tool for K-2 classrooms. They're a set of 36 durable, numbered circles that stick to the classroom carpet to help with organization and a variety of activities. They're great for creating seating charts, designating spots for story time, or for use in games and other learning activities. Plus, the set includes a handy zipper bag for easy storage, making them a reusable and convenient tool for any classroom.

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