Free fall worksheets for children, with seven printable activities that use real fall words, from crunchy leaves to pumpkins, apples and scarecrows. Print a word search in three levels, bingo cards, a word scramble, a “how many words can you make” page, an acrostic poem, a writing prompt and a fold-up fall card, each with an answer key where one is needed.
Fall worksheets to print (PDF)
These four pages show what the fall maker prints: a medium word search with a word list, two bingo cards on a page, an acrostic poem for the letters of AUTUMN, and the fold-up card that says “Hello, Autumn!” Click a picture for the PDF.
Prefer one download? Grab the ready-made fall activity pack (PDF), which has every page in one file.
About fall: the holiday at a glance
A little background makes the words on the page mean more. Here are the basic facts that go with these fall worksheets:
| When it starts | Around September 22 in the Northern Hemisphere, at the autumn equinox; around March 20 in the Southern Hemisphere |
|---|---|
| Also called | Autumn (more common in the UK) and fall (more common in the US) |
| What changes | Days get shorter, the air cools and many leaves change color |
| Colors | Red, orange, yellow and brown |
| Harvest foods | Apples, pumpkins, corn and squash |
| Animals | Squirrels gather nuts, geese fly south and bears get ready for winter |
The story of fall
Autumn begins at the equinox, when day and night are nearly the same length. After that the nights keep growing longer, and the trees prepare for winter. The green pigment chlorophyll breaks down, which lets the yellow and orange colors hidden in the leaf show through, and some trees also make new red pigments.
English used two names for the season for hundreds of years. Autumn comes from French and Latin, and fall comes from the phrase “fall of the leaf.” Both are right: the US usually says fall, and British English usually says autumn.
Wikipedia’s autumn article explains the season, the equinox and the names for it around the world.
What is in the fall activity pack?
Every activity uses the same list of 24 fall words, so children meet each word several times in different ways. The list is the heart of these fall worksheets: the word search hides it, the scramble mixes it up, the bingo calls it out and the writing prompt asks children to use it.
fall word search: three levels
The word search comes in easy, medium and hard grids, with 10, 14 and 18 words from the list.
The longest fall words are scarecrow and september with 9 letters, and the shortest words are red and owl with 3.
fall vocabulary: words to talk about
Take a few minutes to talk about the words before children search for them. These eight are a good place to start:
| Word | Letters | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| harvest | 7 | Gathering the crops that are ripe in the fields |
| hayride | 7 | A ride on a wagon piled with hay |
| scarecrow | 9 | A figure of straw dressed in old clothes to scare birds from a field |
| cider | 5 | A drink made by pressing apples |
| acorn | 5 | The nut of an oak tree |
| orchard | 7 | A garden or field with fruit trees |
| pinecone | 8 | The woody seed holder of a pine tree |
| crisp | 5 | Dry, fresh and slightly cold, like autumn air |
The other 16 words in the list are leaves, pumpkin, apple, squirrel, rake, orange, red, yellow, brown, sweater, september, october, november, corn, owl and maple.
How people celebrate fall
- Picking apples or pumpkins at a farm and visiting an orchard
- Raking leaves and jumping in the piles
- Going on a nature walk to collect colorful leaves
- Baking apple pies and pumpkin bread
- Harvest festivals, hayrides and corn mazes
Fall activities for kids to do with the worksheets
Pair the printed pages with a hands-on idea, and the vocabulary sticks:
- Leaf rubbings: place leaves under paper and rub with a crayon, then label the tree, such as maple or oak.
- Autumn five senses: use the writing prompt to describe crunchy leaves, the smell of cider and the feel of a sweater.
- Apple tasting: compare red, green and yellow apples and make a bar chart of favorites.
- Why leaves change: try a leaf chromatography experiment with rubbing alcohol and coffee filters.
- Scarecrow acrostic: write a poem with the letters of AUTUMN down the page.
How to use these fall worksheets in five minutes
The fall worksheets maker works from the 24-word fall list, so whichever page you print uses the same words. Choose an activity, set the level and press Download PDF or Print, and press New puzzles for a fresh set. It also covers autumn printables.
Fall worksheets: frequently asked questions
When does fall start?
In the Northern Hemisphere fall begins around September 22 or 23, at the equinox. In the Southern Hemisphere autumn begins around March 20.
Why do leaves change color?
Trees stop making green chlorophyll as the days shorten, so the yellow and orange pigments already in the leaves show. Some trees also make red pigments in autumn.
Are the fall worksheets suitable for preschool?
The bingo, card and acrostic are good for ages 4 to 6 with help. The word search and scramble suit ages 6 and up.
Fall printables: find the right page
Autumn worksheets
The autumn worksheets above are free to print and made for ages 4 to 10. Choose one page or the whole pack: a word search, bingo, a word scramble, a how-many-words page, an acrostic poem for AUTUMN, a writing prompt and a fold-up card.
Free fall printables
These free fall printables need nothing but paper. Open the maker, choose an activity and press Download PDF: every page has a name and date line, and the word search and scramble have answer keys.
Fall worksheets for preschool
For preschool, use the fall worksheets for preschool as a guided activity: the bingo and the card suit ages 4 and 5, and a grown-up can read each word aloud and point to the matching leaf, pumpkin or apple.
More holiday worksheets
- Winter worksheets
- Summer worksheets
- Thanksgiving worksheets
- All holiday worksheets for 22 holidays and seasons
- Word search generator for your own words
- Bingo card generator for custom cards