Fun Kindergarten Fall Activities for Centers and a Free File

Published: October 3, 2024
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Happy Fall to all y’all! One of my favorite times of year is also one of the best times of year to be in the classroom! Kids love all the symbols of fall; they get so excited when pumpkins, scarecrows, ghosts, costumes, and fall leaves start to appear!

And who doesn’t love fall-themed math and literacy centers, too? I’ve had a blast putting together this collection of highly engaging (and really fun!) kindergarten fall activities that you can use for learning stations during the busy autumn months!

The Benefits of Centers

Centers, rotations, stations. Whatever they’re called in your part of the world, they’re WAY more than just fun for kids. Learning centers are at the apex of best practices for the kindergarten classroom.

Learning centers are both academically rigorous and research-based. Classroom centers are engaging and effective tools for teaching the curriculum and meeting state standards for early grade learners.

Education experts define learning centers as “developmentally appropriate designated areas of learning for enrichment, academic skills, discovery, creativity and engagement, through hands-on activities.” (McLennan, 2011)

According to the National Association for the Education of Young Children (1995), “children gain so much more than learning new skills from participating in learning centers.” Math and literacy centers should be part of the kindergarten curriculum because they teach children how to:

work together cooperatively
respect others
respect materials in the learning center
problem solve within the activity
problem solve by working with others

Perhaps the best of all…

All children can learn since learning centers can provide the opportunity for differentiated instruction. (Gullo & Hughes, 2011).

Fall Kindergarten Activities for Centers

These fun activities will make a perfect addition to your fall lesson plans. Your students will be engaged in meaningful learning with these fun centers, which frees up your time to help students in small groups.

1. Scarecrow Literacy and Math Centers

This bundle of fun Fall and Scarecrow center rotations provide kindergarten students with an opportunity to practice math skills and literacy skills with independent work. These literacy centers and math centers are perfect for your autumn lesson plans!

Because these centers are purposely predictable, they’re ideal for any kindergarten classroom. The activities don’t have to be re-taught month after month. Students can apply their new knowledge to the same activities, with different themes each month.

Each kindergarten center has a recording sheet that can be used for tracking student progress during these independent activities. That makes them a great idea for EASY PREP centers for teachers! Plus, each activity is standards-aligned.

Within this bundle you will find nine literacy centers and eight math centers. In ELA, students practice identifying and working with beginning sounds, ending sounds, upper case and lower case letters, syllable counting, and simple sentence writing.

During math centers, students get practice with counting, ten frames, base ten, addition, subtraction, and filling in the missing number.

Each activity addresses the standards, and the recording sheet is a great way to show that students are working on mastery. The variety of activities shows areas where students may need extra help, too.

HINT: I recommend laminating the pieces so they will last year after year!

Check out the recently updated fall math and literacy centers here:

Kindergarten Math Centers and Literacy Centers for Fall

2. Pocket Chart Centers

This editable pocket chart center is a great activity for practicing sight words and beginning sounds. Students love choosing and reading the cards! They don’t even realize how much they’re learning as the activity progresses.

Do you ever have ten minutes of transition time that needs to be filled with something academic? I love this pocket chart activity for just that! It is great for playing a few minutes before going to specials or right at the end of the day.

Students love trying to find the hidden picture behind the cards!

Teaching first or second grade? Looping? This pocket chart activity is easily editable so you can differentiate the game for other grades, or practice other levels within a grade.

Check out year-long bundle of these hide and seek games:

Hide and Seek Games for Math and Literacy

3. Digital Fall Activities for Centers

Fall + SeeSaw = Kindergarteners having a blast while learning!

These zero-prep math and literacy centers can be used online and are also perfect for center activities, morning work, early finishers, home study, homework, and even distance learning.

Set up your students for success with these SeeSaw preloaded themed math and literacy centers!

These digital math and literacy centers are a super fun way to bring technology into the classroom. With 20 slides, your students will never get bored with these skills-based digital learning activities!

4. Thanksgiving Math and Literacy Centers

The weeks leading up to Thanksgiving are some of the busiest weeks of the school year! If you’re not planning to travel, then you’re probably hosting or cooking! On top of that, you’re likely dealing with assessments, progress reports, and maybe even conferences. Save yourself some time and stress with this ink-saving bundle of math and literacy centers with a Thanksgiving theme!

Take time to enjoy November with your students as they review math and literacy skills. The easy-to-use, low prep November bundle of math and literacy center activities includes seasonal sight word cards, word family sorts, beginning and ending sounds, spin and write, and much more. Plus, the fun themes keep kids engaged during independent work time

You can find these ink-saving center activities for kindergarten here:

Kindergarten Literacy Centers and Math Centers for Fall and Thanksgiving

5. Write the Room

We can easily categorize almost ALL kindergarten students as kinesthetic learners, so why not make the most of their energy by using centers that let them move around the room?

This Fall-themed Write the Room activity does just that! It’s a great way to get those kids up and moving while growing their math and literacy skills!

Pull out that bin of clipboards and get started! Just teach the kids how to use these purposely predictable activities one time and they’ll be able to work independently at their centers the rest of the year. They won’t need to interrupt your small groups because they have the confidence that comes from the familiar activities.

Each center activity comes with a response sheet for students to complete. Students walk around the classroom, finding the cards that you placed throughout. This Write the Room center activity set is such a fun way to practice those all-important math skills and literacy skills, with a splash of fall fun!!

Write the Room Literacy and Math Kindergarten Centers for Fall

Free Kindergarten Fall Activity

Your class will love this free pumpkin seeds emergent reader! This is another great activity that you can add to your fall centers rotation. Simply add your email to the box below and it will be sent your way!