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21 Best Fall Activities For Toddlers At Home (2024)

Kingsley and Aurora playing
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Having activities that your toddler can participate in at home during the fall is much needed, especially since fall is when the weather starts to change.
If you live in the northern half of the US like us, fall is when it starts to get colder. If you live in a section of the United States where it stays warm, well, count your blessings. It’s tough trying to keep a toddler occupied at home especially when it’s cold and your outdoor time can be more limited. These activities will definitely help you come up with clever strategies!

We also list 7 free fall activities for toddlers down the end of the article to give you even more ideas that won’t break the bank.

aurora on a balance bike
Our toddler, Aurora, practicing on her balance bike.

21 Engaging Fall Activities For Toddlers

  • 1. Little Tikes Trampoline

    The Little Tikes Trampoline is a great indoor activity that your little one can do at home when the weather is too cold to go outside. Toddlers usually have so much built-up energy that this activity is the perfect one for them to blow it off. It has a large handle and surface to create stability while jumping to work out their whole body. Your little one will have better fitness, balance, and coordination.

    Little Tikes Trampoline

    View on Amazon.com ➜

  • 2. Activity Play Garden

    If you can’t take your toddler outside, this is the next best thing. Great for toddlers up to 36 months, this play garden activity helps with your little one’s fine motor skills. Best part about this activity is that it can transform into an open play center without any tools needed. It comes with a bead tumbler, spinner with a mirror, spinning gears, clicking bugs, and plays songs. Also included are a ball drop, mailbox shape sorter, telescope, and shutters that open and close.

    Activity Play Garden

    View on Amazon.com ➜

  • 3. Rainy-Day Toddler Activity Book

    If you’re having a hard time thinking of activities for your toddler to do at home or on a rainy day, this book is perfect. This book comes with more than 100 educational activities to do with toddlers such as problem solving, social development, and creative activities. Each activity is labeled with icons to know which have less prep or activity time, and its level of messiness, which we LOVE. These activities are perfect for less mess and small areas.

    Toddler Activity Book

    View on Amazon.com ➜

  • 4. Carnival Games Set

    This 3 in 1 carnival games set is perfect for both indoors and outdoors. It comes with 6 piece colorful cones, 10 colorful rings, and 10 beanbags. This set is great for building your toddler’s motor skills, and will make them feel like they’re at a real carnival without spending the $$$. You can play different games that can be used for different combinations, sporting activities, and family games.

    Carnival Games Set

    View on Amazon.com ➜

  • 5. Tootle Turtle Target

    I’ve said how much we love Melissa and Doug before, but this is new and something we have our eye on! This is the perfect bean bag game for your toddler. It comes with 4 bean bags that self-stick, and the turtle stand is labeled with numbers to target. This game is great to develop your little one’s hand-eye coordination, number recognition, and their counting skills. As long as your toddler can throw over hand, this indoor activity would be great for them. It’s also listed as an “Amazon’s Choice” item.

    Tootle Turtle Target

    View on Amazon.com ➜

  • 6. Screen-Free Activities for Kids

    This is another activity book that you can refer to for screen-free activities for your toddler. These activities will help both your toddler’s creativity and skills, and also help them develop their imaginative play. Each activity comes with step-by-step instructions, photographs, and is budget-friendly for your child. Some activities include: natural dye finger-paints; gluten-free play dough, erupting volcano, fizzy rainbow slush, and taste-safe glow water.

    Screen-Free Activities for Kids

    View on Amazon.com ➜

  • 7. Think & Learn Smart Cycle

    If you’re willing to spend the money, this is a great exercise activity for toddlers. I always refer to it as, “the Peloton for kids.” They’re getting really fancy activities for kids lately! You can drive, game, and race on this smart cycle. It comes with a free smart cycle mission to tech city app that you can download that comes with racing and learning games. It’s movable, has steering handlebars, and a joystick. The seat is also adjustable to accommodate your toddler’s size and for comfort.

    Think & Learn Smart Cycle

    View on Amazon.com ➜

  • 8. Kids Corn Hole Game

    This is a great activity for your toddler at home, especially on days where the weather is bad. The bean bag game can be put together very quickly and is easy to store. It has a colorful and graphic design of monkeys to improve your little one’s visual experience, and comes with 10 bean bags. You’ll get lots of use out of this one!

    Kids Corn Hole Game

    View on Amazon.com ➜

  • 9. Baby Shark Color Wonder

    There are so many different color wonder sets out there, but baby shark is a favorite around here. It comes with 18 baby shark coloring pages and 5 color wonder markers. This makes for a great indoor crafting activity, is simple, mess-free, and will keep your little one entertained if you need to do any chores around the home. This activity is perfectly safe and non-toxic, suitable for ages 3 & up.

    Baby Shark Color Wonder

    View on Amazon.com ➜

  • 10. Magnetic Tiles Building Blocks Set

    This magnetic building blocks tile set is perfect for kids 3-8 years old. These tiles encourage creativity, cover different shapes, and can be made up of patterns, and develop imagination and motor skills. Your toddler will learn about colors, 3D forms, numbers, and architecture at an early age. One of my favorite parts about this activity is that it comes with a booklet you can refer to if you want to build different patterns. This would make for a great Christmas or Birthday gift.

    Magnetic Tiles Building Blocks Set

    View on Amazon.com ➜

  • Asher And LyricOn An Important Side Note… Asher and I (pictured) feel it’s necessary to highlight the value of life insurance for parents with young kids. After extensive research, we discovered that parents can get insured for as little as $10 per month. We use Ladder Life who offers coverage up to $3M per parent (without a medical exam, just a few health questions) and you can apply 100% online.

    Get a quote in less than 30 seconds at LadderLife.com ➜

  • 11. Hippity Hop

    This Hippity Hop bouncy ball is made from phthalate free, green, and eco-friendly materials. Perfect for little ones 3-6 years old, this activity will encourage your little to exercise and strengthen their body in a way they can have fun with. It will strengthen their core, abdominal, leg, and arm muscles. The jumping technique will teach them balance training and other orientations. It also comes with a foot pump to easily inflate, and a chart that comes with different exercises.

    Hippity Hop

    View on Amazon.com ➜

  • 12. Creative Kids Flakes

    This creative kid’s flakes set is an educational STEM activity that is non-toxic and perfect for kids who are 3 years and older. This set comes with 600 pieces, is a great alternative to building blocks, and promotes thinking and fine motor skills. This activity is a safe STEM approach as it’ easy to clean and is made of BPA-free plastic. My favorite thing about this activity is its storage. It comes with a convenient case that is transparent and is easy to store all of its pieces and for traveling.

    Creative Kids Flakes

    View on Amazon.com ➜

  • 13. Handprint Turkey Craft Kit

    This is the perfect Thanksgiving craft to do at home if your little one is into crafts. This foam craft kit comes with a pilgrim hat and tail of colorful feathers. This activity is great for your toddler to teach them and get them in the spirit of the holidays. All you do is trace your little one’s hand on the foam and cut the shape out just like a turkey.

    Handprint Turkey Craft Kit

    View on Amazon.com ➜

  • 14. Sweep Mop

    In our region, the cooler weather rolls in around the fall. What better activity for your toddler to do than to help you “clean.” This Melissa and Doug sweep mop set will keep your toddler occupied for hours as they pretend to help you clean up around the house. It looks just like the real thing and comes with a wooden play broom, mop, duster, brush, and a stand for organization. This activity is great to help them build their skills and confidence. It will help them develop their coordination and fine motor skills as well.

    Sweep Mop

    View on Amazon.com ➜

  • 15. Make a Pumpkin Stickers

    If you’re getting creative with your toddler on Halloween, these stickers are perfect for pumpkin decorating. This sticker set comes in a bulk pack of 12. Included on the sticker sheet is a jack-o-lantern, along with different facial stickers such as eyes, nose, teeth, and a mouth. Your little one can add it right to their pumpkin if they wanted!

    Make a Pumpkin Stickers

    View on Amazon.com ➜

  • 16. Mini Muffin Match Up

    This mini muffin match up activity is perfect to improve your toddler’s math skills. They will learn color recognition, matching, sorting, and basic early math skills. As they squeeze the tweezers, this will help increase their fine motor skills. This set includes a muffin pan, 2 dice, tweezers, 12 double-sided sorting circle inserts, sixty mini muffin counters, and an activity guide. Perfect for toddlers 3 years and up!

    Mini Muffin Match Up

    View on Amazon.com ➜

  • 17. Alphabet Acorns

    This alphabet acorn activity is perfect for visual learning. This set will help your toddler learn their ABC’s with a hands-on experience. Each acorn will help expand your little one’s knowledge of animals, plants, and other vocabulary words. In addition to learning the ABC’s, they will also learn color recognition, and making words. This is a 78-piece set and also makes for a great homeschooling activity.

    Alphabet Acorns

    View on Amazon.com ➜

  • 18. Felt Ocean Aquarium

    This felt aquarium set is huge! This is a fun and easy activity for your toddler to participate in. The best part is they can decorate it over and over and get plenty of use out of it. This set comes with 50 pieces that include sea creatures and elements of the ocean. This activity is great for small hands and will teach your little one about the colors, animals, and the ocean. Best part about this activity is that you don’t need any Velcro tabs for them to stick, it will just stick right to the felt.

    Felt Ocean Aquarium

    View on Amazon.com ➜

  • 19. Toddler Microscope

    Does your little one have an interest in science? This activity is perfectly for their exploring minds. This toddler microscope will allow them to look at objects close-up and in detail to support STEM learning. This activity includes a microscope, petri dish, tweezers, scalpel, and fake spiders and lizard specimens. Crazy, right? This activity is perfect for toddlers 3 years and up.

    Toddler Microscope

    View on Amazon.com ➜

  • 20. Pin the Hat on the Turkey

    The pin the hat on the turkey activity is perfect for birthdays or every day fun! It comes with one turkey game poster, 24 piece colorful hat stickers, 1 piece orange eye mask, 1 piece pin the hat on the turkey instructions, cover, and 8 piece dot glues. The great thing about this particular activity is that unlike some, all the materials are made from reusable materials. So if you want to use this activity you can without throwing it away.

    Pin the Hat on the Turkey

    View on Amazon.com ➜

  • 21. Halloween Craft Kit

    This DIY craft kit consists of 4 different kits. This activity will come with a 3D haunted house, child’s spider glasses, peanuts Halloween sign, and Halloween Picture frame. This activity will get your little one into the Halloween spirit by using foam shapes and numbers to create their own unique design. Perfect for ages 3 years and up!

    Halloween Craft Kit

    View on Amazon.com ➜

7 Free Fall Activities for Toddlers

  • 1. Apple Picking

    Fall is the best time to go apple picking if you have a spot in your area. We live in a small town, so our apple orchards are free to visit and pick. Your toddler will love picking apples and putting them in their baskets!

  • 2. Build a Scarecrow

    We did this 2 years ago in our family and it was such a hit that my son didn’t want to get rid of it. We ended up having the scarecrow on our patio for the entire year! Instead of using hay, you can use any type of newspaper. Simply use an old flannel and a pair of jeans. Tie the ends and stuff with newspaper. You can use panty hose for the head area. It’s such a creative activity for the entire family to do.

  • 3. Bob for Apples

    This makes for a fun outdoor activity you can do in your backyard. If you have a bin or a tub of any kind, fill it with water, put a bunch of apples in, and have your little ones have a contest to bob for apples. I can almost guarantee they’ll get a big laugh out of it!

  • 4. Leaf Designs

    I used to do this all the time as a kid and I really enjoyed it. You can go in your backyard or when you’re out for a walk to collect a bunch of different leaves with designs. Take out some plain white paper, put your leaves underneath, and take a crayon and rub over the leaf to watch the different designs come out on paper. Your toddler can make their leaves all kinds of colors!

  • 5. Leaf Piles

    Another simple and fun outdoor activity that the whole family can do, but your toddler will love. Rake up an entire pile of leaves as high as you can get it depending on how many you can find. Have your little one jump in and out and watch how their faces light up. The leaves may stick to their gloves, but they sure will enjoy the fun!

  • 6. Nature Walk

    Fall is one of our favorite times of the year. As I mentioned earlier, we live in the northeast region, so we start to see a change in the weather and trees early on. One of my favorite things to do is going for walks in the fall to see the leaves changing colors. This activity is perfect to take your toddler on to spot the different colored leaves as they’re transitioning from seasons. You can also play ‘I Spy” games while you’re at it!

  • 7. Collect Acorns

    We have a bunch of acorns that fall outside of our home. This activity would be great for your toddler to do if you have these on your front lawn or backyard. Have your toddler go around with a bag and collect as many acorns as they can. Bring them back inside and have them paint them different colors. You can hang them up as a seasonal decoration!

Conclusion

Personally, I feel there are many more opportunities for activities in the colder months. Even if you’re indoors or outdoors, your toddler can explore the ins and outs of nature, along with still getting their physical activity in from different indoor activities. Fall is a great opportunity to incorporate different crafts to teach them about not only holidays, but the change of seasons as well. This is the perfect time to explore their creative side!