Fall is such a fun time for toddler trays. These pumpkin-themed activities are a sweet, seasonal way to keep your little one learning.
Fall can be such a fun time to use a toddler tray! Keep reading to find some great pumpkin activities for your toddler!
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Pumpkin Art
What you Need
- Blank Pumpkin Outline
- Small Orange and Green construction paper squares
- Mod podge
- Paintbrush
Instructions
Have your toddler use the mod podge and paintbrush to glue the squares onto a pumpkin outline.
Small Spaces
What you Need
Instructions
This simple tray uses only a pegboard and some pegs, but to make it pumpkin themed use a green pegboard with orange pegs.
Talk to your toddler about pumpkin patches, and explain how the pegs look like pumpkins in a pumpkin patch. Then let them “pick” the pumpkins.
Not only is this tray fun, but your child gets lots of great fine motor practice.
Beading
What you Need
- Small Orange Math Cubes
- Green Pipe Cleaners
Instructions
This tray had small orange math cubes and some green pipe cleaners. These math cubes have tiny holes that the pipe cleaner just barely fits through. Show your child how to “bead” the math cubes onto the pipe cleaners.
Matching
What you Need
Instructions
Use this set as a matching game. Have your toddler match the squash that look the same even though they are different colors.
Stamps
What you Need
- Potatoes
- Orange Paint
- Construction Paper
Instructions
This toddler tray had potato stamps with pumpkins carved into them. If you don’t know how to make a potato stamp, just cut a potato in half and carve whatever shape you want into the potato.
To do this tray, paint some orange paint on the potato stamp and then have your toddler use the potato stamp on some construction paper.
Keep little hands busy all October
Get 40 pages of not-too-spooky Halloween fun — play dough mats, matching, dot marker pages, clip cards, and puzzles in our downloadable Halloween Activity Pack. Print it once and you’ve got fun activities for your child while you get costumes and treats ready.
I got almost all of the printables for these pumpkin toddler trays from a Pumpkin Printables Pack from 1+1+1=1 and the Pumpkin Printables Part 2 from 1+1+1=1. I also got one page from the 3 Dinosaurs Fall Pack.
Printables Tray
- Pumpkin Dot Marker Page (Fall Pack Extra: Dot Markers, pg. 7)
- Sorting Pumpkins and Jack-o-Lanterns (Pumpkin Printables, pg. 14)
- Cut and Glue the Shapes (Pumpkin Printables 2, pg. 2-3)
- Cutting Fun (Pumpkin Printables 2, pg. 4)
- Pumpkin Graphing (Pumpkin Printables, pg. 8 and 10)
Learning Notebook
- P Coloring Page (Pumpkin Printables, pg. 2)
- Pumpkin Colors (Pumpkin Printables, pg. 20)
- Pumpkin Counting (Pumpkin Printables, pg. 22)
- Pumpkin Dot Page (Pumpkin Printables 2, pg. 11)
- Counting Fun (Pumpkin Printables 2, pg. 8)
Ready for more? Explore our whole toddler learning activities collection.
Frequently Asked Questions
What age are toddler trays best for?
They work well from about 18 months through age 3 or 4. You can make any tray easier or harder to match where your child is.
How long should my toddler spend on a tray?
Usually just a few minutes each. Rotate trays in and out to keep them fresh, and always follow your child’s lead.
How many trays should I set out at once?
Start with just two or three. Too many choices can overwhelm a toddler. Swap in new ones as the old ones lose their shine.