Each year, we head out for a trip to a special conservation area over the Thanksgiving weekend (perhaps it seems early to be talking about Thanksgiving, but for us here in Canada, Thanksgiving is only a week away!). One year, I brought this little fall craft for preschoolers along. It worked out beautifully for the little 2-year-olds! I thought I would share it again with you in case you missed it.

Before we get into the leafy jack-o’-lantern activity, you’ll also want to grab this FREE Nature Scavenger Hunt Printable!

This sweet printable encourages you to use all of your senses as you explore the outdoors. Do you hear those birds singing? Feel the prickly pine needles? Nature walks are such a magical experience with little ones, and these printables are the perfect addition!

I hope you are having a lovely week, friends!

Here is the post:

A Simple Fall Craft for Preschoolers

Leafy Jack-o’-Lanterns

My Sam is a collector. Feathers, pine cones, and most recently, fall leaves. I have mentioned this many times before… in this post on our nature belts, in our five senses activities for kids outdoors, with our fall leaf sewing, and I’m sure in many more of our (now over 800!) posts. It seems his interest in this hobby is not going anywhere—and as it turns out… it just may be contagious.

We celebrated Benjamin’s 2nd birthday today, and like always, my other little ones created, gathered, or otherwise came up with a gift for him.

Much to everyone’s surprise, this morning, Sammy presented his brother with his prized box of “gorgeously” fall leaves. These were the very leaves he had painstakingly examined and collected for the past three weeks. Very thoughtful of that little man—but also just the boost little Benjamin needed to get the collector’s itch himself.

Perhaps all he needed was the proper box, poor little Ben. Now that he had the box, he was able to properly collect some leaves himself.

And while he collected in a toddler fashion (picking each and every leaf up, regardless of quality) and while Sam winced and grimaced watching his “gorgeously” fall leaves intermixing with these haphazardly selected ones—they both suddenly had a hobby in common.

Madeline and I were talking of ways to display some of these lovely leaves that were coming into the house one way or another. She suggested using baggies to hang them in the window. Then she saw the boys stumble upon a jackpot of orange leaves (which may have officially been our neighbors) and thought we could make the baggies look like jack-o-lanterns. Very cute!

This really is a cute and simple craft that is great for toddlers. Full of fine motor skills, discerning colors, and sorting too. And they look adorable on a wall!

The little ones had fun with this one. Though only Sammy wanted to make the jack-o-lanterns, it seems Benjamin’s collection will stay safely in his box in a corner of his bed (I’m sure just in case big brother decides he may try to un-gift them).

***Cute, right? I thought you might like this fall craft for preschoolers! I hope you have a bit of time to explore this week!

If you want daily activities that are engaging and beautiful, you’ll want to check out Play into Kindergarten Readiness! The preschool curriculum covers all core preschool skills in ONE 20-minute activity a day.

Take a peek right here:

https://shop.howweelearn.com/pages/play-into-kindergarten-readiness

Thank you for reading, my friend!

xo
Sarah