One of the most beautiful aspects of fall is the changing of the leaves. Therefore it is only fitting that one of the lessons be about leaves and their progressive change. You can use worksheets for the children to color that also incorporate learning the letter "L." The children can make their own leaves with orange and yellow construction paper, decorating them however they choose. Toddlers also love books, and a terrific book about leaf transformation is "Autumn Leaves," by Ken Robbins. This is a delightful photo essay, demonstrating a walk through nature. The autumn leaves are shown in life-size form as they go through their color change, and talks about the trees the leaves come from. The words used are simple and easy to understand.
When you think of fall, you think of pumpkins. Toddlers love to decorate and color their pumpkins for Halloween, but they don't realize where or how their pumpkins are born and raised. One way to teach them is a field trip to the pumpkin patch. Here they can see for themselves what a pumpkin seed looks like, where it's planted and how it's grown. Some pumpkin patches even give the children their own little pumpkin to take home. You can also read them, "The Pumpkin Patch," by Elizabeth King. In her book, King talks about the life cycle of a pumpkin from seed to harvest on a level toddlers not only understand, but enjoy. This is a terrific book to explore before your trip to the actual pumpkin patch as a way of preparing the children for what they will learn firsthand.
Scarecrows are another famous aspect of the fall season. Though rarely seen in the environment they were originally intended, which was the fields to scare the crows away, they are still very much a part of Americana. Your lesson plan can focus on the scarecrow and his original use, the origin of his name and where he is most frequently seen in today's society. The children can also make their own scarecrows with Popsicle sticks and brown construction paper. "The Little Scarecrow Boy," by Margaret Wise Brown, is a book that will delight toddlers everywhere. With its rhyming words and beautiful illustrations, it tells the story of a scarecrow boy who wants to learn the family trade of scaring away the crows from the cornfield.