Embrace the fall season with this printable packet of fun fall activities that build important reading and writing skills at the lower elementary grade levels.
Choose from fall art activities, reading activities, and creative writing activities, all with the aim of supporting students in developing their early literacy skills at the beginning of the school year. Each activity in this packet comes with instructions, templates, and worksheets so you can simply print and go!
10 Halloween and Fall Activities for Grades K-2
These fall-themed learning activities focus on early literacy skills and improving the reading and writing skills that have been taught in the first months of school. Download the printable for full instructions, templates, and worksheets for each activity!
1. ABC Order for Fall
Help students practice alphabetizing and learning new vocabulary with fall-themed word banks.2. Bat Detective
Practice reading skills with an informational reading passage on bats with accompanying tasks. Students can identify words from the text, complete “I wonder…” and “I learned…” writing prompts, and get creative drawing their own bats!3. Magic Words
Help students practice their writing with a fun “magical” twist. Have students write the words using white crayons, then color them over to reveal the magic words! Includes a fall-themed word bank to choose from.
4. This Halloween I will be …
Let students plan their Halloween costumes with this drawing and writing activity. They draw a picture of what they want to be this Halloween then write a description to accompany the drawing.
5. Fall Senses
Get students to engage their senses with “I smell”, “I see”, “I hear”, “I feel”, and “I taste” writing prompts. Take them outside to look at the fall trees, or bring the outdoors inside. Play forest sounds, provide fall-themed objects like fall leaves, pinecones, and acorns, and give them things to smell and taste like pumpkin spice and pumpkin seeds.
6. October Writing Prompts
Encourage opinion writing and creative writing with writing prompts for October with fall and Halloween themes. Students can draw pictures to go alongside their sentences.
7. Design a Jack-O-Lantern
Let students get creative designing their own Jack-O-Laterns for Halloween. Take this art activity a step further developing students’ descriptive skills by having them label and describe their designs.
8. Make a Monster
Build students’ art and writing skills with a fun monster-making Halloween craft activity. Using construction paper or markers, students need to think about color, size, and any other important “monster” features before they create their monsters. When they’re finished they could write about what their monster does and what the monster might sound like.
9. My Teacher will be …
Another fun Halloween activity, this time students think about what you might be for Halloween! They could draw you in your Halloween costume and then write a description.
10. I am thankful for ...
The fall season is a great time to encourage students to be thankful. Have students write or draw something they’re grateful for in each of the heart templates. These could be cut out and displayed with pegs on a line, or on a bulletin board.
More Like This
If you’re looking for more literacy activities for fall and Autumn, try Fall Math and Literacy Activities designed for 1st grade, but easily adaptable for older or younger grades.
