Gather some fall leaves to use in simple sorting and counting activities with preschoolers.  Autumn activities with leaves promote awesome hands-on fun and learning. 

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Autumn comes in bursting with color and sound! Nature has so much to offer the senses at this time of year.

• Red and orange leaves bursting on tree branches.
• Twigs and leaves crunching under foot on the trails.

That crunch of autumn leaves is a sure sign of the changing season. For some of us, that means raking leaves.

Raking leaves can be fun if it means making a huge pile of leaves to jump into!  Fortunately, there are also lots of crafts and activities you can do with leaves.

Related: Fall Theme Crafts and Activities

Fall activities with leaves

1. Collect leaves on a nature walk. 

Explore your backyard or a neighborhood park.

• Observe the different trees and their leaves.
• Feel the bark on the tree.
• Collect a few leaves for activities in the home or classroom.

The leaves you collect will vary depending on the trees in your area. Maple, poplar, and oak trees all have leaves in different sizes, shapes and colors. We gathered leaves from each of these trees growing in our yard.

If you don't have access to leaves in a natural environment, beautiful artificial leaves can be purchased at a craft store or here's a link where you can buy leaves online.

2. Sort leaves by size and color.

Observe the different sizes and colors of the leaves. Some of the leaves will have more than one color, and some might still have a bit of green coloring.

Related: color-changing process of fall leaves.

Sort leaves by color.

Sort leaves from largest to smallest.

 Sort leaves with more than one color.

3. Match leaf colors with other objects.

4. Use leaves in crafts and activities.

Make reading more fun with these cute Leaf bookmarks.

Observe the properties of leaves with a Leaf experiment.

Trace leaves for a Matching game.

Have fun Painting leaves from Simple Fun for Kids.

Discover leaf properties with Leaf rubbings from KC Edventures.

Create a family of Leaf people with Fantastic Fun and Learning.

Seasonal:Fall Pinterest board.