25 Ideas, Resources, and Projects for Learning Together in October

Inside: Looking for ideas for your October kindergarten plans? Here are 25 ideas to help you create a more meaningful month with kids.

Our October Kindergarten Plans

October brings a showcase of seasonal change that can be incorporated into lessons, projects, centers, and more. Think of how you might utilize an apple, pumpkin, or leaf to teach a concept that aligns with this month’s curriculum and learning goals. Not only will children be drawn in by the real and natural object, but bringing the outdoors in can also help them learn more about seasonal patterns, change, and cycles. Use the ideas in this post as jumping off points or inspiration for your own October plans.

But first, here are a few special October dates that you might use as a springboard for learning opportunities in your classroom.

October 5th: World Teacher Day
October 10th: World Mental Health Day
October 24th: United Nations Day
October 26th: National Pumpkin Day
October 31st: Halloween

25 Ideas for an Awesome October

Why not try something new this month by adding one or more of these ideas to your October kindergarten plans.

Create a new math thinking routine that asks children to answer the question, “Which One Does Not Belong?” using 3 different colored apples and a pear. Use talk moves to get kids to think of one or more answers to this question and share their thinking behind each answer.

Invite kids to go on a Living/Nonliving Walk and then sort objects into these two categories.

Work together with kids to create a definition of a living thing and create a “living things mural,” to show their learning.

Read We’re Going on a Leaf Hunt by Steve Metzger and invite kids to take their own Leaf Walk and look for the 4 kinds of leaves highlighted in the book.

Invite children to do a Leaf Investigation where they choose one special leaf to observe closely as they sketch the leaf, do a rubbing, measure it, and record its color and shape.

Read Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert and invite kids to use collected leaves to create their own leaf animal or person.

Bring in fall objects for your Take-Apart Tub such as corn, acorns, leaves, or pumpkins and let children explore the inner workings of these objects.

Celebrate fall with a Scarecrow Building Party where kids work at different centers to build scarecrows using a variety of materials including blocks, loose parts, snack items, paper and more.

Look for Woolly Bear caterpillars as they make their way to their winter shelters to hibernate. Do some research about this interesting creature and learn about their life cycle across the seasons. Kids can create “models” using paper strips as they learn about the different colored bands and how some think they can be used to predict weather.

Introduce the idea of flat vs. solid shapes by asking kids to compare a 3D jack-o-lantern/pumpkin and a paper one.

Invite kids to make their own 3D pumpkins from a paper bag and use them to create a pumpkin patch on a bulletin board.

Create a fall sketch tray of objects that kids will enjoy drawing. You might include leaves, gourds, pumpkins, apples, acorns, pinecones, seeds, or other objects found in your area.

Invite kids to compare and contrast two similar animals such as chipmunks and squirrels. Create a chart or Venn diagram to show all the ways they discover similarities and differences.

Add pumpkin decorating pieces to your play dough center and invite kids to make their own jack-o-lantern faces with the dough. Invite them to use words to name a feeling that matches the face.

Challenge small groups to work together to create a haunted house in your block center. Provide some Halloween-themed props that they can use to decorate the house once it is built.

Incorporate some Halloween-themed fun into your reading lessons using skeleton gloves to clap syllables and a creepy pointer for tracking print.

Let kids use “witch fingers” to track print with this Halloween Tap and Write reader.

Read the book, The Apple Orchard Riddle by Margaret McNamara and then conduct an Apple Seed Inquiry to answer the question, “Do all apples have the same number of seeds?”

Sing counting rhymes such as Way Up High in the Apple Tree or Five Little Pumpkins to help children build number sense in a fun and playful way.

Share any or all of Ed Emberley’s monster books such as Go Away Big Green Monster and invite kids to create their own “shape monsters” using brightly colored paper.

Add a building challenge to your makerspace where kids combine pipe cleaners and straws to build something new.

Incorporate daily Drawing and Labeling Lessons into your writing block where children can practice fine motor skills, learn how to draw animals and people, and practice stretching or tapping words to label their pictures.

Creating a fall math tray with counters that you can use for math lessons and children can use independently at a math center for counting, sorting, measuring, or inventing their own games.

Take a Haunted House Virtual Field trip where each room leads you to a different Halloween activity such as this Spider on the Floor song and craft.

Create a seasonal mural that can be changed with each season.

Invite children to practice retelling stories or inventing new ones using loose parts and felt squares organized into beginning, middle, and end.

Incorporate procedural writing into a fall activity such as How to Make Applesauce or How to Make an Apple Pie.

That’s it for October!

What new ideas will you try out this month and add to your October kindergarten plans? How can you bring in natural objects found in your area and use them as vehicles for learning?

Download these free monthly center calendars to find more ideas for October as well as the rest of the months of the school year.

And for more kindergarten goodness, check out the Roots & Wings Resource Library.

Some of the links in this post are Amazon affiliate links. If you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. The links are included to provide easy access to items I have personally chosen, purchased and used in my own classroom.