Fall Nature Walk with Toddlers and Preschoolers
Around the time the leaves start turning their brilliant Fall colors is a wonderful time to take toddlers and preschoolers for a Fall Nature Walk. Below are some ideas to get them curious, engaged and excited about Fall and observing the changes it brings.
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Fall Nature Walk
We have this beautiful book, The Nature Connection, that has a section for each month. I started using it as part of our homeschool preschool experience when my twins were about 3. It’s a wonderful resource that can grow with your child and each year you can dive a little deeper into each season.
Related curriculum or projects
- Fall and changing seasons
- Leaves
- Colors
Before the Field Trip
Before you go on your Fall Nature Walk, reading stories about Fall or leaves or whatever you hope to focus on can help get your kids excited. Below are two that I love to share with toddlers before a Fall walk.
Tap the Magic Tree
by Christie Matheson
This one is a favorite in our house. TAP THE MAGIC TREE encourages kids to interact with the pages to help a tree change with the seasons. Perfect for toddlers and up.
The Busy Little Squirrel
by Nancy Tafuri
This is a great squirrel book for toddlers. The text is brief and repetitive, but also playful and full of animals. This is also a great book for Fall because it is about a squirrel getting ready for Winter.
After reading these two books, I told my twins that we were going to look for signs of Fall. I asked them for their ideas about what we might find. It can be helpful for developing pre-literacy skills if you write down their ideas as they dictate them to you.
Leaves were on their list, so we brought along bags to collect things.
They also said we might see squirrels gathering things, so I brought binoculars as well so we could look up in the trees for the squirrels.
Note: with younger toddlers it might be best to read just one book and focus on just one thing during your walk.
During the Field Trip
Things to Bring:
*Notebook
*Writing and Drawing Implements
*Bags for Collecting things
*Camera
Things to Do:
*Talk about what they see, hear, feel
*Use the name of the month, “Let’s go for a September walk” or “what do you notice about September?”
*What is the weather like?
*Take pictures and/or draw pictures of interesting things you see.
*Use the nature quest check list from The Nature Connection to use your senses.
*Collect interesting samples of things on the ground such as leaves, rocks, twigs, etc and start a nature collection at home.
Read Also: How to Use Emergent Curriculum with Toddlers
We walked a little ways down a nature trail looking carefully for signs of Fall.
Read Also: 12 Children’s Book Inspired Walk Ideas
We found flowers, collected leaves that fell from the trees and noticed their colors and sizes. We looked up at trees and talked about the wind blowing the leaves.
We also noticed tiny acorns on the ground and even saw a couple of squirrels scurrying around.
After the field trip
When we got home, we spread our leaves and acorns out on the table. We talked about what we found and noticed the differences.
Try prompts such as – “tell me about what you found” or “This leaf looks green and brown to me, what colors are you seeing?”
Related Activities:
Depending on what you focused on during your walk, what you found on your walk, and the interests of your child(ren) – what you do after will vary greatly. Try to follow their enthusiasm and pick activities to extend that interest.
Here are some activities that we have done after a Fall Nature Walk:
- Fall Leaf Activities, including a Cooperative Tree Art Project
- Fall Leaf Tree Drawing Prompt
- Sung Fall Songs with a Fall Song Cube (free printable and directions HERE)
- Read more books about trees, leaves, squirrels and birds
