Fun Fall Painting Activity for Energetic Toddlers

Last Updated on August 18, 2021 by Sheryl Cooper

Inside: Here’s a fun fall painting activity for energetic toddlers that can be done standing up, shaking a jar back and forth. Perfect for getting those wiggles out!

The past few days our 2 year olds have had a huge case of the wiggles.

They simply don’t want to stop moving!

Now, if you’ve been following my blog for awhile, you know I write about this topic often. Toddlers equal high energy. And I set up my classroom and schedule with that energy in mind.

But lately that energy level has been bigger than it’s been since school started in September. I know the daylight savings time change hasn’t helped.

I had a fall leaf painting activity planned at the art table, but knew most of our toddlers were not going to sit still for it. At least, not for very long.

I recalled our friendship activity from last fall, when our toddlers rolled a jar back and forth.

Why not try a similar approach, except this time as an individual activity, with lots of shaking going on?

Fun Fall Painting Activity for Energetic Toddlers

What you will need:

Some sort of container with a lid
Leaf-shaped paper (I’ve provided a free printable download towards the end of this post)
Orange washable tempera paint
Small pinecone
Shallow container

Preparing this activity:

Squirt paint into a container and thin it a bit with a small amount of water.

Place pinecone in container of paint.

Have paper leaves and jar ready to go.

The activity:

Have your child move the pinecone in the paint so that it is fairly covered.

Place the paper leave in the jar and then drop the painted pinecone in the jar.

Screw lid securely on jar.

Instruct your child to hold onto the container with both hands and shake it. I love using a clear container so that the child can stop and look through the jar, noticing how the paper leave is getting covered in paint.

This is a great activity for energetic toddlers because they can move around while shaking the jar. You could even do this to music!