20+ October Preschool Themes with Lesson Plans and Activities

These October Preschool Themes with Lesson Plans and Activities are full of hands-on activities to do this fall. Whether you do preschool at home, enjoy adding weekly themed learning into your day, or you are a teacher, you’ve come to the right place. These fall themes are fantastic! Pick one theme that your kids will love, or do them all, and your children will be learning and having fun all season.

Children of all ages can enjoy these fun fall themes with activities and printables.

Preschool Themes for October

October Preschool Themes with Lesson Plans and Activities

This October Preschool Themes Page is full of activities for science, math, crafts, and learning about pumpkins, leaves, autumn, and Space, with hands-on activities, language, writing, and more. We hope you enjoy all of the ideas you find here.

Fall Into Fun-Filled Preschool Themes with These Lesson Plans and Activities

Fall is a beautiful time to introduce new themes into your preschool homeschooling or classroom! With so many fun and festive activities, it can be hard to know where to start. We’ve put together these ideas for October Preschool Themes and Activities. From Pumpkin Science experiments to Scarecrow Crafts, there’s something for everyone! So gather your supplies and get ready for some autumn fun!

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October Themes

These October preschool themes are full of hands-on activities and engaging lesson plans to do this fall. These October themes are perfect for moms who do preschool at home, preschool teachers, and anyone searching for more Fall-themed learning fun.

You can choose a single theme you love or enjoy different Autumn themes with your preschoolers all season long. Plus, these adorable October preschool themes are accessible for early learners yet still fun for children of all ages.

Fall Preschool Themes

Ready to get started exploring Fall preschool themes with your little learners? You can get your own October preschool lesson plans, activities, and printables below:

Acorn Activities for Preschoolers

Practice letter recognition and build phonemic awareness with your preschool learners with this fun Letter A Acorn craft activity. It’s a cute way to explore the alphabet with your little learners this Fall.

Read The Oak Inside the Acorn by Max Lucado with your kids this Autumn. This sweet book is filled with beautiful artwork and a very special message: God has a special purpose for every one of us. Even tiny acorns become big, tall oak trees.

Teach your preschoolers to sing “I’m a Nut.” This adorable children’s song combines hand motions and rhyming for an unforgettable Fall song that will have your kids giggling as they learn about acorns together. I love incorporating music into our preschool themes. Singing songs with children is a great way to reinforce concepts you’re learning, encourage movement, and help children memorize facts through repetition.

Autumn Activities

Check out my list of more than 60 Autumn themed Montessori lessons and activities to do with your preschoolers this season. Activities include learning leaf parts, building turkeys, and exploring corn together. I’ve also included some great easy to use printables for sorting and exploring Autumn objects.

Preschool Farm Theme

Kids love farm animals! This fun October preschool theme gives you the opportunity to explore farms together with your kids at harvest time, an exciting season on the farm. Plan a visit to a local farm to explore and learn together with your preschoolers.

Explore the farm through a preschool unit study with these Montessori style printables. Your little ones will enjoy farm spelling words, sorting activities, and Montessori farm animal puzzles.

Read farm-themed books together. Our favorites include Farms Around the World by Catherine Veitch and Mrs. Wishy-Washy’s Farm by Joy Cowley. Reading together is an important way to encourage literacy and help children learn to love reading at an early age.

Preschool Fire Safety

Role Play is an easy way to help young children learn fire safety skills. You can teach your children how to “stop, drop, and roll” and practice your exit strategy to help children prepare in case of a real emergency.

If you don’t already have one, this is the perfect time to develop a fire safety plan for your family. Involve the kids in the process by asking them to help you choose a safe place to meet once you exit the house, talk about what to do and not do in case of a fire in your home, and have kids draw maps showing how to get out of the house safely.

Halloween Activities for Preschoolers

Halloween is a fun holiday to explore with preschoolers! You can sing songs like It’s Halloween Night. For extra fun, have children make masks with paper plates to match the Halloween characters in the song.

Try this Witches Brew Sensory Play activity with your preschoolers for even more Halloween fun! This brew is a feast for the senses with colored rice, dry pasta, and plenty of Halloween creepy-crawlies to explore.

Shy children might like to practice trick or treating with a role-play activity before the big night. Practicing a few weeks before the holiday can help children to feel more comfortable going door to door and speaking to strangers for treats on Halloween.
Get into the Halloween spirit with these fun and festive activities! Preschoolers will love making their own spider webs, exploring sensory bins, and creating spooky crafts. These activities are perfect for October and will surely be a hit with your little ones!

Preschool Harvest Theme

Create easy harvest themed centerpieces for your home together. Young children love to be included in “grown-up tasks” around the home. You can get a little help from your preschoolers this Fall by creating these easy harvest themed centerpieces together for your October table.
Corn sensory play is a big hit at our house! Bring the magic of the corn cob home with this sensory bin activity for your preschool learners.

Tomie de Paola’s books are engaging and full of fantasy. Learn about the Harvest with his loveable Strega Nona character in Strega Nona’s Harvest this October.

Leaves Theme Preschool

Preschool leaf printable unit study is a fun way to explore leaves while learning important early math and literacy skills. This October early learning bundle includes an “all about my leaf” writing prompt, leaf themed addition printables, and an adorable Autumn scavenger hunt.
Learn how to set up your very own leaf themed math exploration table for preschoolers. It’s the perfect way to practice important early math concepts like one-to-one correspondence, addition, and subtraction with your kids this October.
Try a leaf rubbing art activity. Have fun gathering leaves outside, then bring them in and use crayons and white paper to create leaf rubbings in a variety of Fall themed colors. It’s the perfect art decoration for your fridge this October!

Color Activities for Preschoolers

If October has a color, it’s orange. You can explore this bright color with your kids this season through color activities for toddlers, preschoolers, and kindergarteners. Learning about colors is lots of fun with littles! Try one or more of these color-sorting activities together.
Have an orange day! Wear orange, eat orange foods (carrots and oranges make a great healthy snack), and draw pictures with orange crayons together.

Pumpkin Activities for Preschoolers

Your little ones will love these hands-on pumpkin science experiments! Try the classic baking soda and vinegar reaction with a pumpkin twist, make a homemade lava lamp, or explore how pumpkins float. These experiments are sure to be a hit with your Preschoolers!
Your kids will love this pumpkin volcano experiment! This hands-on science experiment is the perfect way to add excitement to your pumpkin themed preschool unit study this October.
Check out this pumpkin learning activity bundle filled with easy-to-use printables that are perfect for preschoolers. The 5 little pumpkins STEM activity is one of my favorites! Think your kids would have fun building a gate for the 5 little pumpkins?
While you’re building gates for the pumpkins, don’t forget to teach your preschoolers this iconic Autumn song. Learn the 5 little pumpkins song with your preschoolers for adorable early math learning fun.

Hands-On Pumpkin Activities

From pumpkin painting to exploring the insides of a pumpkin, there are so many fun ways to learn about pumpkins with your Preschoolers! These hands-on activities are perfect for October and will help your little ones learn about science, math, and more.

Scarecrow Activities

There’s a cute song about scarecrows you can teach your preschool learners too! Remember the preschool song “Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear turn around…” For a fun Fall version, simply replace “teddy bear” with “scarecrow.” My kids could do this all day! Plus, it’s a great way to get your preschoolers up and moving around, practicing important motor skills, and following directions.

Scarecrow Crafts

Get ready for Fall with these fun and easy scarecrow crafts! Preschoolers will love creating scarecrows to decorate their homes or classrooms. With a few simple supplies, these crafts can be done in no time!

Check out my list of more than 20 scarecrow themed crafts and activities! They include cutting and pasting activities, scarecrow dangle puppets, and recycled scarecrow themed October preschool crafts.
Read The Scarecrow’s Hat by Ken Brown together with your preschoolers for some extra Fall-themed early literacy fun this season. The loveable chicken in the story is resourceful, creative, and clever. Your preschoolers will love getting to know her in this exciting tale.

Space Activities

World Space Week happens every year in October. It’s the perfect time for a space-themed unit study with your little astronauts! Start with Gail Gibbons’s The Moon Book to get kids excited and inspired to learn about outer space.
You can explore the letter M with your preschoolers using “M is for Moon” printables in this learning activity bundle.
Create a chalk solar system in your driveway to help kids visualize the planets and their positions in our solar system. Then, explore other hands-on science activities all about outer space with a solar system unit study.
Finally, learn about the phases of the moon at snack time with some very creative sandwich cookies.

Squirrel Activities for Preschoolers

We just loved starting this unit study with Those Darn Squirrels by Adam Rubin. It’s hilarious! Reading together helps kids learn to love reading and get inspired to learn how to read on their own one day. It’s easy to fall in love with books when they make you giggle as much as this book did!
The Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Game is a great way to practice early math concepts and build fine motor skills with your preschoolers this Fall.
Check out my Squirrel themed printable learning activity bundle for more squirrely fun this October. It includes themed spot the difference, matching, and autumn I-spy printables.

Preschool Tree Theme Ideas

Go on a nature walk with your preschool learners. Point out the different kinds of trees you see in your backyard and help your kids learn to identify them. You can even work together to draw pictures of the trees in your nature journal or do leaf rubbings. Pine trees, oak trees, and magnolias make really great leaf rubbings for nature journals too!
Make edible trees with pretzels for a fun Fall snack that’s a perfect way to help your little ones remember all the great things they’re learning about trees in your unit study.

Is there another Fall theme or activity you’d like to explore with your preschoolers this October?

Most preschool teachers and homeschoolers agree that themes for preschool provide one of the best methods for teaching young children and combining lots of different subject areas.

Share your thoughts in the comments, and you might see a new lesson plan, activity bundle, or fun snack idea to match in the future! I love reading about your ideas and all the fun things you’re learning with your kids this season, so don’t forget to share.

Don’t forget to check out our other blog posts for great ideas, including Preschool Weekly Themes and a Free Printable List of Themes for Preschool. Happy Fall!

Preschool Weekly Themes and Activities for October

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD OCTOBER PRESCHOOL THEMES LIST

These ideas for October preschool activities will give your children lots of hands-on learning. What do you think about these fall themes? If you have a favorite theme for fall learning, please share it with us in the comments section below.

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