20 Fun & Easy Fine Motor Activities for Fall

Here are a BUNCH of fun and exciting fine motor activities for fall. Perfect for Halloween, pumpkin, and autumn fine motor activities for your kids in preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten.

There are many fun and exciting ways to help you work on developing fine motor skills with kids.  Here are a few fall-themed fine motor activities for the season or to add to your lessons for Halloween or Thanksgiving.

Pumpkin Sorting Activities

When I think about fall, I think about pumpkins. That’s why pumpkin-themed activities are some of the best fine motor activities for fall. Let kids sort the inside parts of pumpkins.  If they don’t want to touch the parts with their fingers, they can sort them with tweezers or small tongs.  Pumpkin sorting can be a great fine motor and sensory activity…..plus kids can learn all about pumpkins.

Pumpkin Seed Counting

Picking up pumpkin seeds is a great fine motor exercise for young kids.  Use them for counting games or in playdough trays.

Pumpkin Puff Balls

I made these little pumpkins with orange puff balls, green chenille stems, and hot glue.  You can also make an apple version.  I cut the chenille stems, bent them in half, and glued the pointy side in the puffball.

Kids can pick up the little pumpkins with their fingers (picking them up by the stems will require a bit more skill) to place them in a container.  They can also use tweezers or tongs to pick them up.  Kids get a kick out of “feeding” the jack-o-lantern.  You can add dice or a spinner to make a counting game.

Use the puffball pumpkins along with an empty squeeze bottle or turkey baster to create a blast of excitement.  Kids can squeeze the bottle to blow the little pumpkins across the floor. You can have a contest to see who can blow a pumpkin the longest distance, race the pumpkins across the floor, or place a post-it note or tape a shape on the floor and ask kids to guide a pumpkin to its “home”.

Fall Paper Tearing Activities

Tearing paper is a great activity to build hand strength. Use a fall-themed image and fall colored paper to make a great perfect fine motor activities for fall. Your kids can use the torn paper for art activities with fall thematic colors or glue it to thematic printables.

Pumpkin Pick-up with Tongs

Kids can use tongs or bug catchers to pick up small pumpkins.  They can place them in mini cauldrons, mini jack-o-lanterns, or egg cartons.

Pumpkin Pre-writing Practice

These pumpkin pre-writing practice cards provide a fun way to help kids practice controlling a writing instrument.  Kids can trace the long pumpkin vine on each card with a dry erase marker or crayon. The set is listed in my TPT store, and it includes a variety of cards with varying degrees of difficulty.

Hole Punch Activities

Kids are usually very excited to use a hole punch. That’s why hole punch activities are so motivating. These hole punch and cut strips with images of owls, bats, spiders, cats, and leaves are some of my favorite fine motor activities for fall.

Play Dough Pumpkins

Using playdough is always a fun way to help strengthen little hands.  Roll little balls and push in a small chenille stem to create little pumpkins.  This is a great activity to accompany the poem/song Five Little Pumpkins.  Don’t forget to smash each pumpkin when you are done.

Pumpkin Cleaning

Years ago, my little niece always wanted to clean my apartment when she visited me.  I didn’t stop her.  Instead, I provided her with a spray bottle and a towel so she could go to town.  At the time, I didn’t know that I was actually doing her a favor.

Now, I know that using spray bottles is a great hand strengthening activity……and kids LOVE them.  Get out a spray bottle and let your kids clean and shine the pumpkins.  Dirty up the pumpkins with dirt, paint, or even shaving cream if needed.  Add a few drops of essential oils to the spray bottle for an added sensory experience. Hint:  Use a calming oil like lavender to have a calming effect on the kids.

Pumpkin Cutting & Pasting Activities

These simple cutting and pasting activities provide a great way to give your kids cutting practice.

Pumpkin Games and Learning Activities

Look for or adapt learning activities that use fine motor skills.  This pumpkin alphabet and beginning sound activity will encourage your kids to place the pumpkins inside the wagon/pouch.  You can also adapt existing resources to encourage kids to get their little fingers working.  Attach alphabet cards to the outside of envelopes and ask kids to put a matching alphabet card inside the envelope.

Additional Pumpkin Fine Motor Activities

Pumpkins are one of my favorite themes.  Here are even more activities to try.

• Put your office supplies to work and wrap rubber bands around small pumpkins
• Pound golf tees into a large pumpkin
• Make a pumpkin theme or Thanksgiving theme mini cutting book 

PlayDough Trays

I love assembling playdough trays.  Create a fall-themed playdough tray with items like leaves, plastic acorns, sticks, etc., and let kids have fun creating.

You can also create an apple theme, monster theme, turkey theme, scarecrow theme, or spider theme playdough tray for kids.

Fold and Cut Activities

You can make your own fold-and-cut activity sheets by tracing half of a simple shape on a folded piece of paper. Kids can cut on the lines and then open up the paper to see the shape that they created.

Fine Motor Activities with Fall Leaves

In many places, falling leaves are abundant in the fall.  Here are a few activity ideas using those leaves.

Use leaves for cutting practice or get out a hole punch and punch holey designs into them.

You can also sort real or fake leaves with tongs or tweezers.

Spiders in the Sensory Bin

October is the perfect time for creepy crawly things.  Add plastic spiders, bats, and/or rats to a sensory bin.  These training chopsticks that I found at a thrift store are the perfect tool to pick up the creepy crawlies.

Spider Webs Lacing Activity

Your kids can make this spider web craft with a paper plate, a plastic spider, and some yarn.  You can also let them do the hole punching to get even more fine motor practice.

Mini-Eraser Activities

If creepy crawlies aren’t your thing, the training chopsticks can be used to pick up fall-themed mini-erasers. This egg container from Costco makes a perfect sorting tray.

Squirrel Cutting Practice Sheets

Kids can help feed the squirrels by cutting a path from the acorn to the squirrel on these printable squirrel cutting skills practice pages.  This is a fun way to encourage kids to practice scissor skills.

I hope that you have fun trying out some of these fall fine motor activities with your kids.  Let me know which is your favorite.

Fall Activities from the Store

Are you looking for additional fall activities for your kids? Check out the following resources in my TPT store.  Click on the images below to learn more.