Need help figuring out what to do with your toddler or preschooler this October? This free activity planner is filled with fall-themed activities, fun art projects, cool science experiments and spooky sensory play ideas. It includes everything you need to have a great time in the weeks before Halloween, so you can spend less time planning and more time with your family!
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There are so many great activities that you can do at home with your kids, but it can be a lot of effort researching ideas and planning out what to do.
So to make your month of October a little easier, I’ve created a fun activity planner that you can download and print at home!
The planner contains an at-a-glance calendar, a detailed checklist, as well as a shopping list to help you stay organized. For each day of the month, you’ll find a fun activity that you can do with your toddler or preschooler!
It’s entirely up to you whether you do all the activities listed or simply pick and choose the ones you have time for. But no matter what you choose, you won’t need to spend any time coming up with ideas, and you can focus on spending time with your kids instead!
Download Your Activity Planner
To download our free October activity planner, simply click the download link below the image (no sign-up required):
{DOWNLOAD LINK}
OCTOBER ACTIVITY PLANNER
How to Use the Planner
Yay, you’ve downloaded the planner! Now what? Here are the next steps:
1. Print Document
Use your printer to print the document in colour or black and white. (Feel free to skip the cover page.)
2. Choose Activities
Take a look at the proposed activities and decide which ones you want to try. If you’ll only be trying a few of them, you may want to circle them on the calendar to make them easier to find whenever you refer back to it.
Of course, you’re free to skip this step entirely if you’re planning on doing all the activities listed on the planner!
3. Complete Shopping List
Determine whether you’re missing any of the supplies you need for the activities that you’d like to try. Most of the proposed activities use only basic supplies that you may already have at home, so it’s quite possible that you won’t be missing much.
Whenever you notice something you don’t have, simply write it down on the last page of the planner to create a shopping list that you can take with you to the store!
4. Get Missing Supplies
Bring your shopping list with you to the store and purchase the missing supplies at your leisure.
Note: Feel free to disregard the order in which the activities appear to give yourself extra time to purchase missing items—simply keep track by checking off the appropriate items using the provided checklist!
5. Do Activities!
Have fun doing activities with your kids! Hang the calendar somewhere visible where you’ll be able to refer back to it easily, and keep track of the activities you’ve already tried using the provided checklist.
What to Do with Your Children this October
Here are the activities you can expect to find in the planner. Where applicable, I’ve included helpful links that provide more information about the proposed activities.
Day 1: Collect Fall Leaves
Head outside and gather the prettiest, most colourful autumn leaves you can find! Our kids love doing this whenever we go for walks around the neighbourhood, and there are so many crafts you can do with the leaves you collect!
Day 2: Create Leaf Rubbings
Place fall leaves under a sheet of paper and rub crayons over them to make pretty patterns appear! (Tip: You can also do this in the spring or summer if your kids enjoy it.)
Day 3: Pick Costumes
Check online, go to the store or figure out which materials you need to make a cool homemade costume for Halloween!
Day 4: Make Puffy Paint
Mix equal parts shaving foam and white school glue with black or orange food colouring to create three-dimensional Halloween art! Use orange for pumpkins, black for spiders … or skip the food colouring entirely to create spooky white ghosts!
Note: You really don’t need to measure out any quantities. Just place approximately the same quantity of shaving foam and white school glue in a bowl, then mix them well using a spoon or popsicle stick. Once they’re combined, divide the mixture (if making several colours) and mix in food colouring until you’re happy with how the paint looks!
Day 5: Cook with Apples
Use fresh apples to make your favourite fall treat such as applesauce, apple pie, apple crumble or candy apples!
Day 6: Autumn Play Dough
Make a batch of your favourite homemade play dough (we always use this one) and add in fall-themed mix-ins like cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice! If adding food colouring, be sure to stick with fall hues like red, orange or brown.
Day 7: Paper Plate Pumpkins
Turn a regular paper plate into a spooky jack-o’-lantern using orange and black paint! Or, for added fun, check out this cool 3D paper plate pumpkin that incorporates a battery-operated tea light!
Day 8: Candy Science
Soak gummy bears in plain and salt water to see what happens, or build a structure using toothpicks and marshmallows!
Looking for more candy science ideas? Check out these simple candy experiments that you can do with your kids!
Day 9: Roast Marshmallows
Build a campfire and use it to roast marshmallows—or, if you’re stuck indoors, try roasting them over a candle! (Growing up in the city, my brother and I didn’t have many opportunities to build campfires, but we loved roasting mini marshmallows over a candle in our dining room!)
Day 10: Paint in a Bag
Place a sheet of paper (or a fun fall template) inside a sealed Ziploc bag with some paint, and let your child paint mess-free!
Need a fall leaf template for crafts? Check out our tutorial for DIY Colour-Changing Fall Leaves and request our free autumn leaf printable using the form at the bottom of the article!
Day 11: Play with Spaghetti
Place some cooked spaghetti in a bin with black food colouring and plastic insects for some slimy sensory play! Our four-year-old is a huge fan of spaghetti sensory play.
Day 12: Erupting Pumpkins
Empty out a pumpkin and carve its mouth, then pour in some baking soda, food colouring and vinegar and watch it erupt!
Day 13: Use Pumpkin Seeds
Roast the seeds from your pumpkin for a delicious snack, or dry and dye them to use them in colourful fall artwork!
Day 14: Create Apple Prints
Slice an apple in half and press the halves into colourful paint, using them as stamps to create beautiful fall prints!
Day 15: Jump in Leaf Piles
Take your child outside to help rake fallen leaves, and let them jump into one of the leaf piles! Or, if this isn’t an option for you, stay indoors and create an autumn leaf sensory bin for your child to play with.
Day 16: Watercolour Spiderwebs
Draw a spiderweb on cardstock using a white crayon, then let your child magically reveal it with watercolour paint! You can even complete the craft by adding a spider to the web.
Day 17: Decorate Home
Get into the Halloween spirit by decorating your home with spooky homemade or store-bought decorations!
Day 18: Make Candy Slime
Make edible candy slime by melting Starburst candies and adding powdered sugar and cornstarch until you reach the right consistency!
Day 19: Concoct Potion
Create some witch’s brew using water and food colouring, then add baking soda and vinegar to make it bubble and fizz! For a nature-themed activity, you can even head outside to find twigs, leaves and acorns to add to your concoction.
Day 20: Halloween Handprint Art
Use colours and embellishments to turn your child’s handprints into spooky ghosts, spiders and pumpkins!
Day 21: Fall Sensory Bottle
Fill an empty bottle with water, clear glue, glitter and leaf-shaped sequins, then shake it and watch the contents settle!
Day 22: Spider Races
Use scissors to make small spiders out of black construction paper, then blow on them with straws to make them race! This is just one of many fun Halloween party games that you can easily set up for your kids!
Day 23: Raised Salt Painting
Day 24: Watch a Spooky Movie
Break out some fall-themed snacks, put on your favourite (kid-friendly) Halloween movie and snuggle up to watch it!
Day 25: Create Ghost Lollipops
Use white tissue paper, ribbon and a black marker to wrap lollipops and turn them into adorable Halloween ghosts (you can also use napkins and elastics)!
Day 26: Bake Pumpkin Pie
Use your favourite recipe to bake some homemade pumpkin pie from fresh or canned pumpkin purée!
Day 27: Teacup Graveyard
Create a miniature graveyard inside a teacup or flower pot using dollar-store Halloween trinkets!
Day 28: Make Jewelry
Let your child practice their fine motor skills by threading black and orange beads into a pretty necklace or bracelet!
Day 29: Carve a Pumpkin
Carve a scary or funny face onto a pumpkin using a printable template… or your imagination! (Need some inspiration? Check out our free Mix-and-Match Pumpkin-Carving Template!)
Day 30: Pumpkin Gut Sensory Play
Let your child explore the texture of pumpkin innards by placing them in a bag or—if you don’t mind the mess—a bin!
Day 31: Trick-or-Treat!
Dress up and go trick-or-treating! Or, if you’re staying home, hide some candy around the house and have a candy hunt!
Related Fall Activities
Looking for more fun activities to do with your kids this autumn? Check out these article (which also happen to include free printables you can download):
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