This fall invitation to play is a great sensory activity using felt and encourages pretend play. It was inspired by the children’s book, The Little Yellow Leaf by Carin Berger. All you need to make your own for home or the classroom is some felt and your child’s imagination!
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The kids really enjoyed playing with this easy to make fall invitation to play, and I especially love how this fall activity promotes creative play, language development, and fine motor skills!
Invitation to Play: Felt Tree and Leaves
Lucy has been SO anxious to get our our fall themed children’s books. One of her favorites (and mine actually) is The Little Yellow Leaf
Materials for Fall Tree Felt Set
- Felt Board
- Felt trees and leaves (made with felt sheets and scissors)
- Small container to hold leaves
- Small figurines
- Small rake (made from sticks and straws)
The felt pieces were really easy to make. There’s no need to trace or make things perfect. I just sat and cut out the trees and leaves from felt while the kids were playing.
I used brown felt to make two trees, and I used some fall colored felt to create lots of tiny leaves. I set the trees up on the felt board and placed a few leaves on them. I also scattered some leaves below the board to invite the kids to also bring their play off the felt board. The rest of the leaves were placed in a wooden bowl nearby.
I used some sticks and straws to create a little rake and broom. To make the rake, I cut off 2 pieces on a plastic straw (about 1.5 inches long). I taped the straw segments to a stick and then cut slits into the bottom of the straw segments. To make the broom, I collected some dried pine needles and taped them to a stick. Super easy! Next to the broom and rake I placed a couple animal figurines.
How My Kids Played with the Fall Tree Felt Set
Theo, my 2 year old, mostly seemed to enjoy interacting with the felt leaves. He would knock all the leaves off the trees and then put them back on again. Lucy, my 5 year old, turned the invitation into a creative play scene. The rabbit and deer would rake the leaves and have discussions as they were tidying up their area. The next day I found Lucy using the same felt set to talk about some of our fall stories.
Tips
If you are worried about chocking hazards, be sure to cut the felt leaves into large enough pieces for your child.
Modify this activity in any way you’d like! Maybe your child has been interested in apple trees lately so you may want to add some apples to your tree. You could put some little baskets below to collect the apples. Build on your child’s interests.
Use things you already have. We happened to have some wooden animals, but use whatever toy figures you have at home. There’s no need to go buy anything new.
Other Fall Invitations to Play
Cinnamon Maple Salt Tray by My Nearest and Dearest
Simple Apple Sensory Bin by Fantastic Fun and Learning
Play Dough Pumpkin Patch Train Play by Play Trains!
Pom Pom Apple Picking by Twodaloo
Related Posts
20+ Fun and Inspiring Fall Leaf Crafts for Kids
Fall Craft for Kids: Decorate Pinecones
How to Preserve Leaves: Fun Fall Craft for Kids
Pumpkin Patch Small World Sensory Play
Fall Craft for Kids: Cute Apple Tree Collage
Under the Fall Tree Small World
Halloween Activities for Toddlers: Mini Pumpkins and Felt
Fall Art Projects: Invitation to Create Using Fall Colors
Ann @ My Nearest and Dearest says
September 9, 2013 at 4:06 amChelsey, this is adorable! I’ve been wanting to make a new felt play set but just haven’t gotten around to it. I think this will be it though. The leaves are beginning to change color here and my son has already been collecting them. Plus he loves sweeping and raking. Yes – this would definitely be a hit here!
Kristan Price says
September 9, 2013 at 7:07 amI love this set up for a felt board! Simply perfect for autumn! I think I found my mommy project of the day to do.. 🙂
Tricia says
September 9, 2013 at 9:27 amOh my goodness so very cute!!! Love this!! Thanks for sharing and I can’t wait to try this with my kiddos!
Sarah @ How Wee Learn says
September 9, 2013 at 10:18 amThis is adorable! I love that you are doing this as a group – I have been introduced to wonderful new-to-me blogs! My felt board has seen a lot of use in my Kindergarten classroom – I think it’s time for me to make a new one for my boys at home. This post was just the inspiration I needed to actually do it! I think … well – probably …. 😉
Jill says
September 11, 2013 at 4:14 pmInvitations to play sound like fun. I haven’t used them before, but I can see their application working for me in the future. I will definitely keep this technique in mind. Thank you for linking up this week to the Thoughtful Spot Weekly Blog Hop 🙂
Jackie says
September 12, 2013 at 10:28 amThis looks like something my little ones would love. I think the little rake and broom are just adorable. Thanks for the idea!
Anna@The Measured Mom says
September 14, 2013 at 6:06 amI think kids of all ages would enjoy this peaceful activity – thanks for sharing at After School!
Lauren says
September 14, 2013 at 1:30 pmSuper cute! I love the little rakes too! I’ll have to get some Fall colored felt stocked up.
Thank you for sharing at our Pinning for Play link party!
Debs says
September 16, 2013 at 12:15 amSo gorgeous! Thanks for linking this post up to Tuesday Tots. I’m featuring it this week in a tree activities round up on Learn with Play at home. 🙂
Megan says
September 16, 2013 at 11:28 amLooks fabulous!!! I’m featuring this week on my after school round up! Thanks for linking up!