Autumn and Fall Science Experiments- Science Sparks

Over the many years I’ve been writing Science Sparks, Autumn has always been my favourite season for designing themed activities. I love the colourful leaves, dark nights, cooler weather, and, of course, the run-up to Christmas is always exciting, too! This collection of fall science experiments and activities makes me smile every time I read it and hopefully has something to excite kids ( and adults ) of all ages. Kids can discover why leaves change colour, how trees disperse their seeds, why animals hibernate and more!

I also have a fun collection of fall STEM challenges you might like!

Fall Science Experiments for Kids

Seeds and Leaves Science

Create your own exploding seed device or spinning helicopter seeds to learn about seed dispersal. These lovely hands-on activities work especially well after going on a treasure hunt to search for different types of seeds.

sticky seed science experiment instructions for learning about seed dispersal

Playdough to Plato has a brilliant leaf chromatography experiment.

Find out how to predict the weather with pinecones!

Fall Kitchen Science Experiments

Learn about changes of state in the kitchen by making toffee apples and treacle toffee. Which is your favourite?

Make spiced apple cider and learn about filtering at the same time. Our spiced apple cider is not only a great science activity, but it also tastes amazing!

Try some apple bobbing to discover why apples float on water. Apple bobbing is a great Halloween party idea, too!

Fall Sensory Science Activities

Get creative indoors or out with some lovely autumn themed ice. Try adding a little salt ( be careful as this makes the ice feel much colder ) to melt it faster, or use a pipette to drop warm water over the surface.

autumn leaves frozen in ice for an ice excavation science activity

Use leaves to make prints in play dough and learn to identify different types of leaves.

Get messy with some Autumn gloop. Cornflour is a lovely sensory material that can be scrunched up into a ball when pressure is added and turns back into a liquid when the pressure is removed. Cornflour gloop or slime is known as oobleck and is a Non-Newtonian liquid.

Have some sensory fun with blackberry playdough, from Rainy Day Mum.

We love this beautiful autumn sensory table from The Imagination Tree.

Autumn sensory table full of colourful leaves, pinecone and conkers

More activity ideas for autumn

Go on a walk and collect autumn treasures for a scavenger hunt.

Autumn themed treasure hunt containing pine cones, acorns, colourful leaves, conkers and other autumn treasures

Try to model the changing seasons with LEGO. This is a great team activity and can be made into a challenge to find different ways to show how the changing season affects the environment.