These acorn dot number coloring worksheets are perfect for fall! My son doesn’t like coloring very much, but he does like using his dot pens! I made these fun worksheets for him to practice identifying numbers 1-10.
Using dot pens (or color with crayons), spot and dot all numbers 1-10. There are two pages of worksheets. They are divided into groups 1-5 and 6-10. Spot the numbers and dot (or color) accordingly. Download your free PDF worksheet: Acorn Number Coloring
Pumpkin Counting and Coloring
This is a fun math skills worksheet to help your preschooler visualize quantities. You can use your dot markers again for this pumpkin coloring worksheet or color in the pumpkins with crayons. Look at the number on the left and then color the same number of pumpkins. Download and print your free PDF: Pumpkin Coloring
Fall Counting
Get in the fall-spirit with this math worksheet full of cute fall shapes. Count how many of each picture are shown in the box on the left. Then write your answer. Download and print your free PDF: Fall Counting
My son loves numbers and counting! I made “I Spy” worksheets for him to practice counting and writing his numbers. There are lots to choose from, including a super cute Fall I Spy worksheet to go along with these acorn dot number coloring worksheets.
Apple Counting Activity
For a more hands-on counting experience, I made an Apple Counting game with flashcards and pompom apples. Download these free flashcards and apple tree picture for your preschooler to practice apple counting too!
Check out my MATH SKILLS page for more math worksheets and ideas.
Make a Paper Plate Hedgehog with your preschooler! This craft is simple, but pretty cute and kids love getting to use scissors. Since we color a lot, I decided to mix things up and get out the watercolors for my kiddo to decorate his hedgehog. The plate is thick, so watercolors worked great on it without causing any warping. I absolutely love hedgehogs and have quite a few decorating our house, so I was really excited to make a hedgehog craft with my little guy.
Paper Plate Hedgehog
Supplies Needed :
-1 white paper plate
-pencil
-scissors
-watercolor paints
-paintbrush
-scissors
Making the Hedgehog:
First I cut a paper plate in half and discarded one of the pieces.
Then I drew a basic hedgehog face shape with a sloping forehead and a long, pointy nose, and cut off the excess plate.
My son used his watercolor paints to turn his plate into a blue hedgehog.
The watercolor paints dry pretty quickly, so he didn’t have to wait long to makes cuts along the top of his plate and make hedgehog quills.
After he made all of the cuts, we gently pulled the quills apart to give them a spiky look.
He finished his craft off with some googly eyes.
My kiddo was so proud of this craft! I took pictures of him holding his project and texted them to his grandparents. He loved getting to use scissors and paints 🙂
Looking to make more fall crafts? Check out my FALL CRAFTS page for more ideas. We made all sorts of great crafts: paper plate foxes, turkeys, paper bag puppet scarecrows, handprint pumpkins, and lots more!
My son loves Halloween and I love pumpkin spice, so pumpkin stories are a natural fit for us! We own a few of these and have checked out the rest from the library. Check your library for these pumpkin books too! It was hard to narrow our choices down to a dozen, but I didn’t want this post to be too long 🙂 We hope you and your preschooler will enjoy these pumpkin books as much as we do!
Splat is a good-intentioned, lovable kitten who finds himself searching for the perfect pumpkin for his mom. He and his mouse friend, Seymour, scour the pumpkin patch, but none of the pumpkins are quite right until Splat finds a gigantic, round orange pumpkin! How is Splat going to get this huge pumpkin home? Well he’s going to roll it all the way home by running on top of it, of course!!! Your preschooler will love Splat’s runaway, rolling pumpkin and sympathize with his quest for the perfect pumpkin.
Christopher Pumpkin is the cutest pumpkin! Created by a witch to help get ready for a scary party, Christopher Pumpkin struggles to do anything the way witch wants. Christopher P. likes pink and sparkles and unicorns, not scary, spooky stuff. The witch gives him one more chance to do something scary or else she’s going to cook him. Will Christopher be able to turn his sparkly, cutesy decorating style into something scary? Check this one out from your library and find out! Told in a rhyming style, with bold, bright illustrations, preschoolers will love reading this one over-and-over again!
I adore Duck and Goose. They have the best friendship and such sweet adventures together. In this short, sparsely worded story, Duck and Goose go looking for a pumpkin in very unusual places. Your preschooler will giggle as they look for a pumpkin in a lake and on top of a tree stump. Fortunately, their friend, Thistle, comes along and tells them about the pumpkin patch 🙂 (non-holiday story)
This story is about a woman who HATES pumpkins! She won’t even look at them. So when a truck accidently spills pumpkins in her yard, she does everything she can think of to keep them from growing. The pumpkins, however, thrive in her yard. When fall comes, she finds that she has too many pumpkins! The woman devises a great plan to get rid of the pumpkins and along the way, ends up making new friends with her community 🙂 This sweet story is perfect for fall / Halloween and a heartwarming display of the joy of sharing and connecting with others.
The Runaway Pumpkin
5.The Runaway Pumpkin by Kevin Lewis–
In this funny story, siblings Buck, Billy, and Lil, go up a hill search of a big pumpkin. The one they find is gigantic and soon, they have it rolling down the hill and destroying everything in its path. The family members below are too intrigued by dreaming of eating eat it to be concerned about the damage its causing. It finally comes to a stop and Granny turns this gigantic pumpkin into a whole bunch of yummy pumpkin foods for a Halloween feast.
Duck, Cat, and Squirrel and three good friends who like to make pumpkin soup together. Everyone has a specific job to do. One day, Duck decides he wants to switch jobs, which leads to a fight among the friends. Duck leaves in a huff. Soon Cat and Squirrel go in search of their friend. Will Duck want to come back and make soup with them? Kids will love Cooper’s illustrations and enjoy going on the fall journey with these characters. The book also includes a recipe for pumpkin soup that you and your kiddo can make together! (non-holiday story)
I loved the Berenstain Bears when I was a kid and I’m excited the their books are still available so I can share them with my son! In this Thanksgiving-themed story, the Berenstain Bears are entering the pumpkin contest. Of course the cubs and Papa really want to win first prize! Mama Bear gently tries to teach Papa and the cubs about the true meaning of Thanksgiving, but the bears are too consumed with the idea of winning to listen. When the family doesn’t win first prize, the Bears begin to understand the true meaning of Thanksgiving and being thankful for what they do have.
This is the story of two little mice who unknowingly fall in love with the same pumpkin! One wants to make the biggest Jack-o-lantern and the other wants to win the town’s biggest pumpkin prize. When they realize that they have both picked the same pumpkin, the mice work together to help it grow.
Lucy and Sparkle have fun doing autumn things together. They visit a pumpkin patch, explore a corn maze, and play games. Things get a little too spooky for Sparkle, who is afraid of a pumpkin monster. Lucy, who enjoys being scared, learns that not everyone likes to be a little scared. This is a sweet story about two friends who learn to respect one another’s feelings. Plus it ends with an awesome rainbow from Sparkle’s magic horn and yummy treats for the friends to enjoy together.
This short book will bring out the giggles as farmyard friends run from the pumpkin monster! Wait a minute, did that pumpkin just quack? Slapstick comedy, bright illustrations, and a confused duck make this book a preschool winner 🙂
Preschoolers’ favorite cat, Pete the Cat, brings the pumpkin finger rhyme to bedtime in this fun book. Count along with these cool, rhyming pumpkins sitting on a gate. Kids will love the pumpkins’ costumes and the fantastic Halloween illustrations!
The Disney Jr. Halloween movie started as a book! This is a sweet story about a square pumpkin who just doesn’t seem to fit in the with round pumpkins in the patch. The round pumpkins make fun of Spookley for looking different. But one Halloween, a storm starts blowing the round pumpkins all over the place! Oh no, there is a hole in the fence. Will they roll right out into the bay? It’s up to Spookley, the square pumpkin to save the day. Preschoolers will enjoy this rhyming story and will be keeping an eye out for a square pumpkin next time you go to a pumpkin patch.
More Books!
I hope you and your preschooler enjoy these pumpkin books! There are so many pumpkin books available that we love, and we hard a hard time narrowing down our choices for this list.
Looking for more great stories to read together? Check out my FALLfavorites, ZOMBIE book recommendations, 12 MONSTER Stories post, and my GHOST Stories for preschoolers.
I’ve joined Amazon’s Affiliate program to try and help cover the costs of this site. If you buy a book through one of my links, then I get a small percentage of the sale. Thank you for your support! Happy Reading 🙂
My son and I really love coffee filter crafts. After the success of our Coffee Filter Leaves craft, we decided to make bats. Our coffee filter bat craft turned out awesome! We experimented with colors and liked the way the purple, blue, and black markers looked together.
-OPTIONAL: googly eyes, glitter glue, or metallic sharpie to make eyes
How to Make Coffee Filter Bats:
Clothespins:
First paint your clothespins. We painted ours purple and black. I like to use Crayola Washable Paints; they are easy to wash off. Begin by painting one side of the clothespins. Let them dry. Later, you can paint the other side while your coffee filters are drying.
Coffee Filters:
Color your coffee filter with markers. It is important to use markers that easily wash off of surfaces because the color will bleed through the coffee filter. Don’t worry about how your coffee filter looks. The colors will run together after your spray it with water and any design you had will be gone.
Now it is time to spray the coffee filters! This is my son’s favorite part. Once you begin spraying the coffee filters with water, the color will immediately bleed onto your surface. We chose to spray ours on the grass. If you don’t have an outdoor area that you can make a mess on, then make sure that whatever surface you are using is cleanable. You can also put wax paper under your coffee filters to catch the run off liquid. We learned that the more water your spray, the less vivid the colors are. Experiment with lightly versus heavily spraying your coffee filters and see which way you like best.
We left our coffee filters on the grass to dry in the sun. They dried in about 20 minutes (it was a warm afternoon). They will take longer to dry if they are on wax paper.
Now, to make them look like bat wings you have to fold the coffee filter in half. I trimmed semi circles along the edges of the coffee filters, which gave them a bat-wing look.
Keep the folded side at the top. In the middle of the coffee filters, pinch the coffee filters (from top to bottom) to tuck them into the snap-end of the clothespins. Now you have bats!
Coffee Filter Bat Craft
We didn’t have any googly eyes small enough to fit on the clothespins. My son and I used silver glitter glue to make eyes on a couple of our bats. We gave one a smile too! Experiment with metallic sharpies, glitter glue, and googly eyes to see which you like the best for your coffee filter bat crafts.
More Bat Fun!
Check out my book recommendations for great bat books to read after you make this craft.
I joined Amazon’s Affiliate program to try and help cover the costs of this site. I get a small percentage of the sale if you purchase something through the links I provided. Thank you for your support! Happy reading 🙂
For everyone with a Mickey Mouse-obsessed child, here is a Halloween craft for you! Make this tissue paper Mickey Mouse pumpkin craft with your little one and celebrate the holiday Disney style 🙂 My son loves Mickey and Halloween, so this craft was perfect for him! It is easy to make and doesn’t need many supplies.
Supplies Needed:
1 paper plate
Orange tissue paper cut into squares
Black construciton paper
Glue stick
Scissors
Pencil
How to Make the Mickey Mouse Pumpkin Craft:
First glue orange tissue squares all over the paper plate. We found it easiest to slather the plate in glue and then add on the tissue. For tissue that hung over the side, we just folded it over and glued the extra to the back.
Next, draw eyes, mouth, and ears on the construction paper. (I used a container lid to trace the circles for the ears.)
If your preschooler wants to practice their scissors skills, then they can cut out the shapes, otherwise the grown-up can cut them out.
Glue eyes and mouth on top of the tissue paper. We found it easier to apply the glue stick to the back of the black paper, rather than on top of the tissue paper. When we tried to add glue on top of the tissue, the tissue moved a wrinkled a bit.
Glue ears to the back of the plate. My son and I each pressed an ear against the back the plate for 30 seconds to let the glue set in.
More. . .
I hope you enjoyed this Mickey Moues pumpkin craft! Mickey is always a hit with my kiddo:) We paired this craft with reading one of his favorite Halloween board books, Haunted Clubhouse, featuring Mickey and friends at a Clubhouse Halloween Party! This book is pretty cute, but short. It has pictures of your little one’s favorite Clubhouse friends and fun, see-through cutouts in the pages that keeps children enthralled with this book.
At ages 3-4, my preschooler loved what he called “spooky” books — they were books that had ghosts, monsters, and creepy drawings, but they weren’t actually scary. Here’s a list of 6 not-so-scaryghost stories for your preschooler to enjoy:
In this rhyming story, a young ghost is in search of her missing “boo.” She meets many animals that make sounds similar to “boo,” but they just aren’t quite right. Preschoolers will love mimicking the sounds they hear in the story and will enjoying McGrath’s fantastic illustrations. Check your library for this book to see if the little ghost ever finds her missing “boo.”
Leo, a Ghost Storyby Mac Barnett with illustrations by Christian Robinson–
Friends come in different shapes, sizes, and forms, including ghosts. A ghost is looking for a friend, but he accidently scares people away with his attempts at making friends. When he stumbles across a little girl who can see him and who isn’t afraid, Leo is excited to finally have someone to play with. However, his friend thinks he is imaginary, not a ghost. Not wanting to scare her away with the truth, Leo doesn’t tell he is actually a ghost. When a robber breaks into the girl’s home during the night, Leo springs into action, leaving the little girl to wonder how an imaginary friend was able to help capture the bad guy. It is the moment of truth: will the girl be afraid of a ghost or will they stay friends? Read this one to find out 🙂
My son LOVES this story about a ghost who is scared of the dark woods surrounding its home. The ghost refuses to leave his house and comes up with all sorts of silly excuses as to why it needs to stay home, rather than admit that it is scared. The reader, however, isn’t scared and goes out to investigate. Turns out the woods are not so scary after all! Can the ghost be convinced that it is safe to venture out and enjoy the fun? A funny and clever “spooky” story.
A girl and her cat move into a haunted house! Turns out this little girl is actually a witch and she knows exactly what to do with ghosts! This is a fairly short book, with not a lot of text per page. The illustrations are done in orange and black and really capture the reader’s attention. Your preschooler will enjoy studying the pictures and seeing the girl’s creative uses for ghosts.
Gustavo really wants to make friends with the other ghoulish monsters, but he is too shy to talk to anyone. This book really shows the struggles that shy people go through and how they sometimes feel invisible. Determined to make friends, Gustavo invites his classmates to attend his violin concert. They all come out in support of him! From here out, they all become friends 🙂
This is a cute, preschool counting book featuring ghosts! A mean with moves into the ghosts’ home and causes them to flee. Preschoolers can help count the ghosts as the flee and gather in the woods. The 10 ghosts form a plan to retake their house by Halloween night! Get this one from you library and find out if the ghosts’ plan works 🙂
Check out my other posts for book recommendations and fall activities to enjoy with your little one: FALL-THEME post and APPLE post.
I love handprint crafts! They preserve your little one’s prints and you get to look back at them years later and ooh and ahh over how tiny they were 🙂 This is my son’s 3 year-old pumpkin handprint craft. We made a bunch of these to give out to family. It is a great way to personalize the holiday. Plus my son loved stamping his handprint on the paper!
Supplies Needed
This craft doesn’t need many supplies, which makes it a winner in my book. I hate having to run out to get supplies when I just want to get crafting! You will need:
orange and green construction paper
white paper (I used printer paper, but any white paper should work)
non-toxic, washable orange and green paint
paintbrush
scissors
glue
baby wipes / paper towels (to get paint off of hand quickly)
Handprint Pumpkin Craft
First I painted my son’s hand orange and then he stamped it onto the white paper. I had the baby wipes right next to us so that I could wipe off his hand right away.
Next, I painted his index finger green and he stamped it on the white paper.
While his prints were drying, I cut out the pumpkin shape from the orange paper and a green rectangle.
Once his prints were dry, I cut a circle around his handprint and a rectangle around his finger print.
My son glued the handprint onto the pumpkin and he also glued the finger print onto the stem. Then he glued the stem onto the pumpkin.
And ta-da, we were done! Not only do I love this pumpkin handprint craft because it is his little prints, but it was a craft that we could do together and both enjoy.
More Pumpkin Fun
I love fall and pumpkin spice, so my son and I have read a ton of fall and Halloween books and made lots of crafts together. Check out my Fall-Theme post for more fall ideas and my Pumpkin Fizz post for a STEM pumpkin-themed activity to enjoy.
Your preschooler will have so much fun making this coffee filter fall leaves craft. The leaves are easy to make — you just have to color them and spay with water 🙂
Supplies Needed:
This craft doesn’t need require many supplies, which it makes it one of my favorite go-to activities!
Coffee Filter Fall Leaves Craft supplies: markers, spray bottle, coffee filters, and scissors
You Will Need:
-coffee filters
-markers (make sure that they are NOT permanent)
-spray bottle (with water)
-scissors
How To Make Coffee Filter Fall Leaves:
leaf designs
The first thing I did was draw leaf patterns on the coffee filters. You can trace leaf designs that you like if you do not want to free hand draw it. I recommend drawing with a marker, not a pen. I tried a pen for one and you could see the ink outline, whereas the outlines I drew with a marker disappeared.
color in your leaves
Then my son and I colored in our leaves. It is important to use markers that easily wash off of surfaces because the color will bleed through the coffee filter. Don’t worry about how your leaf looks because once you spray it with water, the colors will run together and any design you had will be gone.
After coloring the leaves, I cut them out. I wish I had made my stems a little thicker, but it turned out okay.
Now it is time to spray the leaves! This is my son’s favorite part 🙂 Once you begin spraying the coffee filters with water, the color will immediately bleed onto your surface. We chose to spray ours on the grass. If you don’t have an outdoor area that you can make a mess on, then make sure that whatever surface you are using is cleanable, or put wax paper under your coffee filters to catch the run off. We learned that the more water your spray, the less vivid the colors are. Experiment with lightly versus heavily spraying your leaves and see which way you like best.
Coffee Filter Fall Leaves Craft
We left our leaves on the grass to dry in the sun. They dried in about 20 minutes (it was a warm morning). They turned out pretty neat 🙂 We are happy with our leaves and can’t wait to make more of them. I want to make a leaf garland to hang in our house!
More Fall Fun
If you would like some fun, fall-themed books to read after you make your coffee filter leaves, then check out my FALL post.
Looking for more fall activities? Check out my APPLE post, which has book suggestions, STEM activities, and a find-the-differences worksheet. My son also recently made PUMPKIN FIZZ, which was a super fun science experiment to tie in with our fall-theme.
There are so many great fall-themed books for preschoolers that it is hard to narrow down a list. Here are some preschooler-approved books that I have read to my own son, as well as to the library’s preschool storytime group over the years. After checking out fall-themed books, try the fall activities for preschool.
Preschool Books
Fall Books:
1. Hedgehugs: Autumn Hide-and-Squeakby Steve Wilson — The Hedgehugs are two absolutely adorable hedgehogs who happen to be best friends! My son and I love all of their stories. In this adventure, the Hedgehugs make a new bat friend. The friends play a game of hide-and-seek, hiding in cute, fall-themed things, such as leaf piles and pumpkins.
2. The Squirrels Who Squabbled by Rachel Bright — Rachel Bright is a fantastic author! My son and I love her books, and I have read several of her stories to the library’s preschool storytime group, who agree that she rocks! In this book, squirrels, Cyril and Bruce, get in a fight over the last acorn. In a story similar to the Ant and the Grasshopper, one unprepared-for-winter squirrel is ready to do battle for the last acorn. The squirrels’ squabbles lead them on a hilarious adventure!
3. Aaron Loves Apples and Pumpkinsby PD Eastman — Fall is here and Aaron the alligator loves everything about it. He loves the yummy apples, pumpkins, football, Halloween costumes, and spending time with his friends. When his friends go apple picking, Aaron tells them that he knows a better was to get the apples down; he shakes the tree so hard, that all of the apples fall down on Aaron! Oops 🙂 Now all of the apples are down and Aaron and his friends can enjoy them together. This book is part of the beginning reader series, I Can Read. It has short sentences with not a lot of words per page. It is a good choice for kids who are learning to read.
4. Ouch by Ragnhild Scamell — In this story, an adorable hedgehog gets an apple stuck on its back. Now hedgehog can’t fit into its den and winter is coming. The hedgehog’s animal friends try to help and get the apple off, however each attempt ends up with more things getting stuck to the poor hedgehog. After squeezing, and swimming, and rolling around, hedgehog and friends are running out of ideas. Fortunately, along comes a goat with a big appetite and eats all of the things that are stuck on hedgehog!
5. A Unicorn Named Sparkle and the Pumpkin Monsterby Amy Young — Lucy and Sparkle have fun doing autumn things together. They visit a pumpkin patch, explore a corn maze, and play games. Things get a little too spooky for Sparkle, who is afraid of a pumpkin monster. Lucy, who enjoys being scared, learns that not everyone likes to be a little scared. This is a sweet story about two friends who learn to respect one another’s feelings. Plus it ends with an awesome rainbow from Sparkle’s magic horn and yummy treats for the friends to enjoy together.
6.Otis and the Scarecrow by Loren Long — Otis the tractor has several wonderful stories for preschoolers to enjoy, In this fall-themed one, the farmer introduces a new scarecrow to the farm. Everyone is excited to meet the scarecrow! But when they see him, the scarecrow’s frown drives them all away. Otis worries about the friendless scarecrow and in an act of compassion, Otis includes the scarecrow in the animals’ quiet game.
Fall Leaves Books:
Fall Leaves Stories
1. We’re Going on a Leaf Huntby Steve Metzger — This rhyming story is a fun leaf-hunting adventure. Preschoolers love Steve Metzger’s books and the silly sound effects that he skillfully incorporates into the story. This one will become a fall-favorite! Have your own leaf hunt after the story to continue the fun 🙂
2. Leaf Manby Lois Ehlert: This book is a visual treat! The pictures are actual leaves and Lois Ehlert’s signature die-cut pages are fantastic. Leaf Man is beautiful tribute to nature and preschoolers will delight in Leaf Man’s wind-blown adventures.
3. Fletcher and the Falling Leaves by Julia Rawlinson: In this beautifully illustrated book, we meet a young fox named Fletcher who is unaware that some trees lose their leaves in the fall. Fletcher is determined to save the leaves from falling off of his favorite tree. Unfortunately each one of his ideas fail to keep the leaves on the tree. After the last leaf falls off the tree, Fletcher carries the little leaf home to his den. He puts it into a nice cozy bed for the night. When he returns to his tree in the early morning, a beautiful sight is waiting for him. His tree is covered in sparkling icicles! His tree reassures him that all is fine and that Fletcher is free to enjoy the beauty in front of him without worry for his tree.
4. Leaf Trouble by Jonathan Emmett: Learn about the changing of seasons with two cute little squirrels in this story. Worried about the falling leaves, a brother and sister squirrel unsuccessfully try to put the leaves back on the tree. Mommy squirrel teaches them all about fall and reassures them that new leaves will grow in the springtime.
5. There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leavesby Lucille Collandro: The silly old lady is back in this fall-themed story. She goes on a stomach-filling journey, gobbling up fall items (a pumpkin, a rope, and some leaves). Preschoolers will laugh away at all of the silliness going on in this book!
6. When the Leaf Blew Inby Steve Metzger: This fun picture book is about an autumn leaf blows that into a barn causing a cow to sneeze. The sneeze sets off a series of barnyard events in this silly tale that will have preschoolers asking you to reread it over and over again!
For more fall-themed books and activities for preschool, check out my APPLE post.
Fall Activities for Preschool:
Crafts:
Leaf Stick Puppets–Go on a leaf hunt and collect leaves to make stick puppets.
Coffee Filter Leaves — Make your own beautiful fall leaves out of coffee filters, markers, and water. This is a fun and simple craft for kids to make to usher in the fall season.
Pumpkin Handprint Craft — I love handprint crafts! They preserve your little one’s prints and you get to look back at them years later and ooh and ahh over how tiny they were. Plus, this craft is a great way to personalize the fall season.
STEM:
Pumpkin Fizz —
Incorporate fun, seasonal STEM activities into your preschooler’s education with this fun, fall-themed science experiment — Pumpkin Fizz.
Apple Counting–
Check out my preschool Apple Counting Activity for an interactive, hands-on way to practice counting! I made numbered flashcards and an apple tree for you to print off and use for your little one; all you will need is to add some pompoms (to be apples) or some other small objects to use for counting.
I Spy–
Have fun counting all of the pictures in the this fall themed I Spy game. After you count how many of each picture you find, write the number in the box.
