If there is one thing occupational therapists love, it’s crafts to develop skills, and these Fall crafts for kids are just that! These fall themed crafts support development of skills in all the best ways this Fall! Use the best of the season this time of year with Fall leaf crafts, Halloween crafts, ghost crafts, pumpkin crafts, and more in occupational therapy sessions, or to build skills at home!
Fall Crafts for Kids
Some of our top picks for building skills are sorted out by theme. You’ll love these fall crafts that support development of skills in kids:
- Autumn Art Activities– includes sensory painting, fingerprint art, painting leaves, corn husk painting, and more.
- Fall Fine Motor Activities– Work on precision, pincer grasp, tripod grasp, hand strength, hand-eye coordination, and more with these fall themed activities that are perfect for OT sessions or therapy at home.
- Fall Tree Crafts– This set of craft ideas include leaves and all the beautiful colors of the trees during this autumn season.
- Halloween Occupational Therapy Activities– Pick the activities that meet the needs of your OT clients to support development of fine motor, gross motor, sensory motor, and visual motor skills.
- Fall Occupational Therapy Activities– This mini e-book describes OT activities to support sensory and motor development this time of year.
- Turkey Crafts for Kids– This time of year, turkeys, feathers, and Thanksgiving crafts are great ways to develop fine motor skills with a fun theme!
- Thankful Turkey Templates– These free printables can be used in so many ways to work on scissor skills and fine motor skills. Includes a gratitude turkey cut out, too.
- Print off this hot chocolate craft and target different skills. You can even make this into a pumpkin spice latte or a hot apple cider craft!
- Thanksgiving tree– Another great Fall craft is to make the leaves to hang on a gratitude tree. You can target many skills with this one: scissor skills, handwriting, gross motor skills, and more.
Easy Fall Crafts Kids
Let’s break down these fall craft ideas to help you find just the craft that supports the development of skills.
Fall Leaf Sewing Craft– This Fall craft for older kids builds fine motor skills.
This fall craft idea supports development of:
- bilateral coordination
- crossing midline
- eye hand coordination
- pincer grasp
Gratitude Leaf Garland– Cut out the paper leaves and write things you are thankful for this Fall.
This fall craft supports development of:
- scissor skills
- crossing midline
- hand strength
- handwriting
This Fine Motor Pumpkin craft develops precision, pincer grasp, and tip to tip grasp.
This fall pumpkin craft supports development of:
- scissor skills
- precision
- dexterity
- eye hand coordination
Make this gratitude suncatcher craft for a window craft that brings color to the drab Fall weather.
This autumn craft supports development of:
- scissor skills
- handwriting
- working on a vertical plane
- sensory motor input
Dye pumpkin seeds and use them to make mosaics, suncatchers, and more.
This pumpkin seed craft supports development of:
- pincer grasp
- eye-hand coordination
- tactile play
- sensory motor input
This sunflower cupcake liner craft is a fun fine motor activity for fall. Add this to a sunflower theme for therapy this Fall!
This fall craft supports development of:
- pincer grasp
- scissor skills
- planning and prioritization
- problem solving
These cute harvest bottle cap crafts are a great fine motor math activity for the Fall season.
This fall and harvest craft supports development of:
- executive functioning skills
- scissor skills
- planning and prioritization
- problem solving
Use this scarecrow craft as a math activity for the Fall and to develop fine motor skills.
This autumn scarecrow craft supports development of:
- fine motor skills
- scissor skills
- planning and prioritization
- problem solving
Fall means back-to-school and that’s where this school bus craft comes into play.
This fall craft supports development of:
- scissor skills
- planning and prioritization
- problem solving
This cute racoon craft doubles as a fine motor activity and a fun hands-on math activity for kids.
This craft supports development of:
- scissor skills
- graded precision
- hand strength
- problem solving
Use this bat craft to work on scissor skills and handwriting!
This bat craft supports development of:
- scissor skills
- handwriting
- tactile sensory play
Speaking of bat crafts, this Stellaluna craft is perfect for the Fall season.
This Stellaluna craft supports development of:
- scissor skills
- handwriting
- visual scanning
- visual discrimination skills
Recycled Paper Roll Pumpkin Stamp Art– Make stamps using a toilet paper roll and create pumpkin stamps
This pumpkin craft supports development of:
- tactile sensory play
- pincer grasp
- tripod grasp
- hand grasp
- graded grasp and release
Dyed Pumpkin Seed Sun catchers are perfect for pincer grasp with a Fall pumpkin seed theme.
This craft supports development of:
- tactile sensory play
- pincer grasp
- tripod grasp
- eye-hand coordination
- graded grasp and release
Make a Leaf Placemat Craft which is the perfect autumn craft ideas for preschoolers.
This craft supports development of:
- proprioceptive input
- tactile sensory play
- tactile sensory play
- eye-hand coordination
Turkey Napkin and Silverware Ring craft– This is great for a harvest with kids.
This craft supports development of:
- precision skills
- pincer grasp
- arch development
- eye-hand coordination
Turkey Juice box Cover– These are so cute for a kids Thanksgiving table.
This craft supports development of:
- precision skills
- pincer grasp
- eye-hand coordination
- scissor skills
Recycled Paper Roll Turkey Stamp Craft– Grab a recycled toilet paper roll and make these turkey stamps.
This craft supports development of:
- tactile sensory play
- pincer grasp
- eye-hand coordination
- scissor skills
- planning and prioritization
Corn husk art is a fun way to celebrate the season. This Corn Husk Stamping is a sensory art activity kids love.
This craft supports development of:
- tactile sensory play
- pincer grasp
- eye-hand coordination
This ghost craft is a powerful fine motor activity for kids and develops scissor skills and hand strength.
This craft supports development of:
- scissor skills
- hand strength
- arch development
- bilateral coordination
Use bread ties to make mini ghosts from bread ties! They are so cute in a Fall sensory bin.
This craft supports development of:
- precision skills
- sensory play
- crossing midline
- bilateral coordination
Use recycled milk cartons to make this Ghost Catch Craft and Game. It’s a great tool for gross motor skills, eye-hand coordination, and core strengthening and stability.
This craft supports development of:
- gross grasp
- eye hand coordination
- posture
- upper body strength
These Egg Carton Pumpkins are always fun to make and to use in fall sensory bins!
This craft supports development of:
- precision
- hand strength
- tactile sensory play
- hand strength
Identifying and Expressing Emotions Pumpkin Craft is a great Fall craft for toddlers and preschoolers.
This craft supports development of:
- social emotional development
- learning emotions
- eye hand coordination
- crossing midline
- visual motor skills
Did you ever make baked cotton balls? These apple baked cotton balls are so much fun!
This craft supports development of:
- tactile sensory play
- scissor skills
- pincer grasp
- tripod grasp
- hand strength
- following directions
This apple stamp art is fun for kids and great for developing visual perceptual skills.
This craft supports development of:
- visual perceptual skills
- hand grasp
- eye-hand coordination
- tactile sensory play
Recycled Paper Roll Apple Stamps are fun for a Fall apple theme.
This craft supports development of:
- tactile sensory play
- eye-hand coordination
- graded grasp and release
- direction following
Grab the Pumpkin Fine Motor Kit for more coloring, cutting, and eye-hand coordination activities with a Pumpkin theme! It includes:
- 7 digital products that can be used any time of year- has a “pumpkins” theme
- 5 pumpkin scissor skills cutting strips
- Pumpkin scissor skills shapes- use in sensory bins, math, sorting, pattern activities
- 2 pumpkin visual perception mazes with writing activity
- Pumpkin “I Spy” sheet – color in the outline shapes to build pencil control and fine motor strength
- Pumpkin Lacing cards – print, color, and hole punch to build bilateral coordination skills
- 2 Pumpkin theme handwriting pages – single and double rule bold lined paper for handwriting practice
Work on underlying fine motor and visual motor integration skills so you can help students excel in handwriting, learning, and motor skill development.
You can grab this Pumpkin Fine Motor kit for just $6!
Colleen Beck, OTR/L has been an occupational therapist since 2000, working in school-based, hand therapy, outpatient peds, EI, and SNF. Colleen created The OT Toolbox to inspire therapists, teachers, and parents with easy and fun tools to help children thrive. Read her story about going from an OT making $3/hour (after paying for kids’ childcare) to a full-time OT resource creator for millions of readers. Want to collaborate? Send an email to contact@theottoolbox.com.
