MONTESSORI INSPIRED FALL ACTIVITIES

Welcome! :-)

First of all I would like to thank you for taking the time to go through this e-book. I really
appreciate it.

For the activities on the following pages we used our own pictures and also got inspiration
on the internet. Every picture has a link that will lead you to the original site (blog, web page,
social media profile) - to the source.

I believe you will find inspiration for the free time with your dearest ones. If you want, you
can share pictures of your Fall DIYs with us!

Lucie
 Acorns from bowl to bowl Transferring leaves according to the
color

Tweezer Transferring
The use of the tweezer develops fine motor
skills as well as the ability to concentrate.
Everything can be transferred - pompoms,
leaves, acorns, beads, small cones,
marbles… Try different types of materials.

You can also try different types of tweezers

and grippers including the chopsticks. Transferring corn kernels to the
bottom of a soap pad
3
 Cutting with scissors

Fine Motor Skills Development

Cutting with scissors might not seem difficult to grown-
ups but it is a challenge for a 2-3 year old on his way to
independence! That is why we cut straws, play-do and
stalks at first. Then we start to cut the paper starting from
straight lines to curved lines and finally shapes.

Corn kernels removal is useful for the development of the

fine motor skills. The children can use their tiny fingers or
tweezers.

Corn kernels removal 4

 Gluing
Paper is not the only option when you want to do
some gluing projects. Try to shred the colorful fall
leaves in a mortar. The leaves can be divided and
shred separately according to their color.

Collage made with The children will enjoy the shredding part itself. You
tiny colorful leaves can also use small beans, mungo beans, rice or you
can buy a mini leaf shape punch and make a collage
with a bunch of mini colorful leaves.

Leaf made of beans Collage made with shredded Shredding leaves in a mortar
leaves 5
 Turkey and its feathers Owl and its feathers

Buttons
Leaves on the three
Cut out a tree shape from felt and sew colored buttons in
various sizes on it. Than cut out leaves in different shapes
and make a hole in the middle.

The turkey is also made from felt and the owl is made of
fabric and the feathers from felt.

Make sure to secure the end of the button snake so the

children don’t loose the threaded leaves.

Button snake made with leaves

 Snap Fasteners
Beautiful things can be made of felt!

Leaves, blossoms or fruit (apples in the Fall) can be

attached on the tree. Leaves can be divided according to
their color or number. You can also use velcro fastener
instead of the snap fasteners.

Attaching leaves on the tree

according to the season

Attaching leaves on the tree according 7

to the color

Leaves threading
For small children threading might be difficult especially when
using a string or a ribbon that slips and moves. That's why we
start with tiny twigs, wooden skewers or fuzzy wires (pipe
cleaners). When moving to the next level and putting objects on
a string, it is helpful to firm one end of the string.

Threading apples according to

numbers

Felt tree and leaves, fuzzy wires Artificial leaves and a fuzzy wire Threading a string with firmed
branches or a tiny twig from the woods end 8
 Winding
The children can stretch their wrists when winding yarn
around paper hedgehogs, leaves, apples and other shapes.

You can prepare an activity to connect trees with the fruits

they give or animals and their footprints.

The children can connect the letters on the spiderweb to

form words or their names.

Connecting leaves and fruits

Spiderweb with letters Yarn winding - hedgehogs Yarn hedgehogs

9
 Lacing
Punch holes around the edges of a laminated leaf
or apple picture or a foam or felt shape so that
the children can lace the yarn through each hole.

As true for most practical life activities, these

A worm on his way
through a felt leaf and
activities help children develop their fine motor
apple skills, their fingers get stronger and ready to start
writing. It also helps concentration.

A laminated picture of an apple A laminated leaf Foam shapes

10
 Sewing
Embroidery

From threading we get to sewing.

As with every activity that you prepare for your child at

home, it is good to have everything ready on a tray so the
children do not have to look for anything around the house.

Threading a needle

Tray preparation Leaf lacing Embroidery on a cardboard

11
 Tray with a pad, a pin punch and a Pin poking and gluing of a leaf
poking sheet

Pin Poking
For this activity you will need a pin punch, poking sheet
and a foam block or a piece of felt (or any other material
which is soft and strong at the same time - cardboard
will be fine as well). The pad won’t allow the printable to
slip and it will protect the surface of the desk. Pin poking
helps to develop patience and gets the hand ready for
writing.

Pin poking sheets

12
 Other practical life activities
You can find many treasures on a fall walk -
chestnuts, acorns or pebbles can be used for many
beautiful crafts. Children can use patterns or their
own imagination.

Nails can be used as an alternative to the golf tees for

the pumpkin activity. Make sure that the hammer is
Hammering golf tees in a pumpkin the correct size for the child’s hand.

Pebbles craft Chestnut craft

13
Fall Color Matching
Fall invites us to work with colors. Match the colored bars
with leaves or vegetables. Leaves can be crafted or
collected outside. The children will enjoy the opportunity
to realize how many colors exist in the nature.

Leaves on the clothespins Leaves and the colored bars Leaves and matching pebbles
matching dots on the tree 14
Other Inspiration Full of Colors
Transfer pompons with tweezers to make a nice practical
life activity. Pumpkin seeds can be used to create
beautiful designs when you color them with food coloring.

Triangles of different sizes can make not only a kite but

many other shapes. You can get inspired by a tangram. Kite made with different triangles

Matching pompons to the Matching pompons according to Crafts made with pumpkin seed
15
picture color
 Corn Animal figures

Sensory Boxes for Toddlers

Children can use sensory bowls to transfer materials from one to

another.

Even though activity is more Reggio inspired, we wanted to share

it as an inviting sensory exploration.

Fall leaves and fruits

16
 Seeds and Herbs
Sensory activities keep our senses busy.
Have a look at these that will play with
the touch and smell of our young ones!
Fill balloons with different seeds to make
a tactile memory game. Make cards to
match to the balloons.

Fill small jars with herbs and spices to

train the olfactory system.

Seeds can be also used for beautiful

Seed craft
crafts.

Jars with spices Matching seeds to plants Tactile memory game Seed craft 17
 Maths
In maths it is important for children to understand the meaning of
the quantity and symbol and to understand the link between them.
The fact a child can tell numbers by heart doesn’t mean he will be
able to tell you the number of e.g. leaves he is holding in his hands.

When learning the link between the quantity and the symbols it is
important to have a control of error built in the activity. Put in the
bowl the right amount of leaves, cones or other objects that need
to be counted to finish the task. If there is a mistake, there will be
Matching the quantity to the an object missing or there will be one left in the bowl.
symbol

Counting cones, matching the Acorns - matching the symbol Leaves - matching the symbol
Leaves - number line
symbol and the quantity and the quantity and the quantity
 Jigsaw with digits

Following a pattern Matching shapes with objects

Math with Pictures

For these activities you will only need a paper,
printer and a laminator. To match the symbol to
the the right amount, you can use clothespins.
Make a dot on the other side of the card as a
control of error.

19
Matching quantity to the symbol
 Language Activities
Here is some inspiration for uppercase and lowercase letter
matching.

Before you give your child a pen to start writing, try writing into
sand - using fingers, brush or a stick. Of course it would be
great if the children can touch the shape of the letters, using e.g.
the sandpaper letters, before they write them.

Sorting uppercase and

lowercase letters

Matching Writing in the sand

parts of
pictures with
uppercase
and
lowercase
letters

Matching uppercase letters on

leaves with lowercase on pins
Matching cardboard
 Language Activities
Learning to find the first and the last letter in the word is
important for the future building of words.

Words can be formed with movable alphabet. If you

don’t have it at home, you can try to make it from paper,
cardboard or foam.

Forming words using pins

Forming words in the nature Finding the first letter

Pairing the first letter with the

object 21
 Parts of fruits and vegetables
Dissecting an apple is a great way for kids
to discover different parts of the fruit and
inspire their interest in botany. Little
decisions can change the story! E.g. if you
cut the apple from the side in half, or from
up to down - it gives you a different picture
of the inside!

Use the three part cards to learn the parts

of fruits and vegetables and to practice
Part of an apple made with felt language skills.

Three part cards - apple Pumpkin parts made of 22

cardboard
 Life Cycle of Plants
There are many ways to explain the life
cycle of plants (and animals). You can
use plastic replicas, e.g. from Safari
ltd., or three part cards made from
paper.

Oak tree life cycle

Life Cycle of A Pumpkin Life Cycle of an Apple Oak tree life cycle 23
Trees and their leaves
Children can collect fallen leaves outside and at
home they can explore them.

They can make a herbarium, draw shapes of the

leaves and laminate them, match the leaves to
the card with the corresponding tree or prepare
and use the three part cards.

Herbarium

Leaves matching Three part cards Matching leaves with shadows

 Matching leaves and cards Botany cabinet with cards Leaf parts booklet

Parts of a Leaf
Use the botany cabinet cards to recognize the
different shapes of leaves.
leaf puzzle, three part cards

Cards can be also crafted at home and matched

with leaves collected outside.

The leaf parts can be explored with Montessori

leaf puzzle. Children can color and label the

parts of the leaf and make their own booklet.

Three part cards - parts of the 25

leaf
 Animal Tracks
Cards - animal tracks
You might be lucky enough to find animal tracks in
the woods. Use this opportunity to show children
how to recognize them.

You can find many three part cards on the internet

ready to be downloaded, printed and laminated.

Tracks can be made also at home with good quality

animal replicas using play-do or paint.

Making tracks with animal replicas Making tracks using animal replicas Tracks - drawing
Fall Experiments
What happens to a pine cone when you put it for
hours or days in a bowl of water? And what happens
when you dry it afterwards?

What color will water have after putting colored leaves

in it? What is chlorophyll? What would be the color of
a leaf lacking chlorophyll?

Why Do Pines Open and Close? Colored Experiments with Chlorophyll 27

Leaves
 Drawing
Put the leaves on a cardboard and draw their
outlines. Paint them with watercolors.

Painting with watercolors

Use cutters and a knife to make potato stamps.

Parts of a leaf can be discovered by rubbing the

crayons on a paper with a leaf underneath.

Drawing outlines of the leaves

28
Potato stamps Rubbing crayons to discover parts of the leaf
 Being Creative with Leaves
The best hairstyles of this fall are made with leaves
of different shapes and colors. Draw faces on a big
cardboard and let the children complete the project
using leaves and glue.

Glue, wooden sticks, leaves found on a walk and a

cardboard can make a rainy afternoon much
happier!

Best leaf hairstyles

Play starring leaf animals

Leaf animals 29
 Decor Crafts
Colored leaves can be used in mandalas and
dream catchers.

The crafts can be laminated and decorated

with a string. The lantern or the frame can be
a nice touch for your living room.

Leaf lantern

30
Leaf lantern Mandala Frame
Pumpkins, Chestnuts and Cones
Are you bored of the ordinary pumpkin carving? Try it with a drill. The kids will appreciate such
experience (under surveillance of course). A pumpkin with some leaves, cobbles, wood and
animal replicas can be transformed into a beautiful home with a yard. And what about the
chestnuts? Buy some googly eyes and a chestnut wood drill and get creative!

Chestnut figures Cones and felt owl

31
Carved pumpkins House for wood animals
 Thank you!

Thank you for your attention and for taking the time to read this e-book. We will
appreciate your comments and your feedback.

You can check our online courses at MontessoriParenting.org

We wish you a wonderful fall season filled with love, peace, joy and laughter!


This book was prepared by Lucie Tamášová and Elička Němečková.