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