Children doing play-based fall activities with fall leaves

Play-Based Learning Activities to Try This Fall

Oct. 7, 2024 • By Debbie Bagley

Play-based learning is a teaching method that gives children opportunities to explore and engage in joyful hands-on activities. It provides ways for them to problem-solve, practice concepts and skills, figure things out about the world around them, and get excited about learning! 

 

We know children learn by doing, so play should be a part of every child’s learning development. When children are playing they are naturally learning. Research shows that in order to truly retain learning of material, the learner needs to be involved in the process. Hands-on learning is proven to be effective at helping students grasp what they are taught. There are both psychological and physiological reasons why hands-on learning is so effective at information retention.

 

Hands-on learning engages both sides of the brain. According to Psychology Today, listening and analyzing processes happen in the left hemisphere of the brain, but visual and spatial processes happen on the right side. When we combine multiple styles of learning, the brain forms stronger overall connections able to store more information.

 

The University of Chicago did an experiment to show the benefits of hands-on learning. In the study, students were divided into groups. One group got to actually participate in an experiment, while the other group simply observed. Brain scans showed increased activity in areas of the brain when thinking about concepts they had hands-on experiences with. A post-experiment test showed that those who actively participated outperformed the observation-only group. Being able to touch and see something is simply more powerful than only reading or hearing about it.

 

This is what play-based learning opportunities bring. The hands-on, up-and-moving, inquisitive, creative outlets we give our students make learning more meaningful. They help children process, problem-solve, pay attention, connect with, and enjoy what they learn.

 

“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” 

– Benjamin Franklin

 

Incorporating playful learning opportunities in the classroom has so many benefits. When our students are curious and engaged in meaningful activities with one another, it is easy for them to make connections to their own lives. In this process, children can increase their language and literacy, build social and emotional skills, use creativity and imagination, improve motor skills, and increase confidence with a positive attitude toward learning.

 

In addition to whole group playful activities, one way I found that helped me provide many opportunities for playful learning was during our center rotations. Not only did these reinforce our learning and themes, it gave my students a chance to practice and explore concepts more deeply on their own and with a partner. 

Here are some fall play-based learning activities you can try with your class:

Fall Science Activities:

  1. Explore the life cycle and parts of a pumpkin or an apple
  2. Sink or float pumpkins
  3. Turn an apple into a fun volcano experiment by hollowing out part of the core and filling it with baking soda and vinegar
  4. Make butter in a jar
  5. Grow pumpkins in a garden box
Teacher and students experimenting with students to see if they float
Homemade Butter Recipe

STEM and Engineering Design Process Activities:

  1. Build a gate to hold your pumpkins
  2. Stack apples as high as you can
  3. Read the book, The Little Red Hen. Discuss ways to help the hen make her bread, like problem-solving as groups to design something to help carry the wheat to the mill
Little Red Hen Science Activity

Hands-on Exploration Activities with Sensory Tubs:

  1. Test the experiment: will a pumpkin sink or float?
  2. Explore the insides of pumpkins by observing, discovering, and drawing findings
  3. Make apple pie in a sensory bin
  4. Visit a farm or pumpkin patch
  5. Use blocks to build gates for pumpkins to go with the song “5 Little Pumpkins”
  6. Use modeling clay to make pretend pumpkin and apple foods to sell in a pretend class bakery
  7. Make homemade modeling clay as a class and add an apple or pumpkin scent
Sensory bin with dough and apples to make apple pie

Activities with Food:

  1. Taste foods made with pumpkin
  2. Try different ways to eat apples: sauce, pie, juice, dried, sliced, etc…
  3. Taste different kinds of apples, then identify and record the differences
  4. Make and eat homemade applesauce as a class
Trying fall foods and playing fall games

Math Activities:

  1. Measure pumpkins in a few different ways as a class. Then, count how many seeds you scoop out of the inside
  2. Sort apples by color
  3. Make a chart of the class’s favorite ways to eat apples or pumpkins
  4. Make a chart of the class’s favorite kind or color of apple
  5. Practice counting by picking apples and counting with small manipulatives like beads, painted beans, stickers, etc…

Music and Movement Activities:

1. Sing songs about apples, pumpkins, or fall. Here are some ideas:

  • “5 Little Pumpkins”
  • “Pumpkin Pumpkin”
  • “A Big Red Apple”
  • “5 Perfect Pumpkins”
  • “Way Up High In The Apple Tree”
  • “Bowing in the Wind”
  • “Autumn Leaves Are Falling”

 

2. Do dramatic play as a class. Some ideas are to:

  • Act out the song “5 Little Pumpkins”
  • Act out an apple-picking story
  • Play farm and bakery
  • Use scarves for dress ups or costumes and puppets for characters
Children presenting with a poster and pointer

Art Activities:

  1. Make button pumpkins by painting a pumpkin orange and then sorting, finding, and gluing orangey-colored buttons, beads, gems, and other bobble-type objects onto it. Sprinkle with glitter, if desired
  2. Make apple stamps by cutting apples in half, dipping them into a color of choice, then stamping the imprint onto a piece of paper. Let dry, and glue on real apple seeds if you desire
  3. Make character puppets to use in a class play or story station
  4. Decorate pumpkins
Children with decorated pumpkins

Outdoor Activities:

  1. Make up relay games where students take pumpkins from the farm to the market or the wheat to the Mill, for example, or relays for apple picking or stacking
  2. Have students help you set up a pumpkin farm with various pumpkins donated from the local community to play with. Other materials could be donated too, such as corn stalks and boxes to use for building parts of the farm and garden areas

Reading and Writing Activities:

  1. Read and display fiction and nonfiction books about apples, pumpkins, fall, and farms
  2. Have students make up stories and plays about apples and pumpkins and perform for one another with drawings, paintings, homemade puppets, etc…

Student Artifact Activities:

Have students select, create, and show a project that is aligned with your learning objectives around Social Studies and Health and Wellness themes that connect with fall learning, including:

  • Learning and Working together
  • Good Citizenship
  • Communities
  • Collaboration

I hope these ideas can inspire many ways that you can add in play-based learning ideas with your students.

 

Warmly,

 

Debbie

Debbie Bagley, Studies Weekly Teacher AdvocateDebbie Bagley works as a Studies Weekly Teacher Advocate. Teacher Advocates are former teachers who help teachers like you implement Studies Weekly materials into their instruction. Teacher Advocates are available to provide support through email, phone call, video chat, and regularly scheduled Teacher Talk Webinars on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Teacher Advocates are only available for classroom teachers currently using Studies Weekly materials. They are not available for homeschools.