As a craft lover, I feel like October is the perfect month to maximize classroom crafting! The month in itself feels “homemade” from fun seasonal recipes, pumpkin carving and whimsical decorations – the visualization is magical. Bring some of that magic into the classroom with crafts. They’re a great way for littles to practice fine motor skills, follow instructions and of course tie to academics. Go ahead and empty up some wall or bulletin board space and leave room for crafting magic. Here’s a break down of 15 October crafts by academic focus.
Reading Comprehension Focus:
October truly has so many amazing and high quality picture books that it makes sense to tie crafts back to mentor texts and practice on comprehension skills. Here’s a collection of some favorites. A lot of these crafts focus on retelling but include worksheets for other reading skills as well. If you like using one mentor text for the week & topping it off with a Friday craft, these follow that format.
Creative Writing Focus:
For low prep options that can be paired with creative writing time these 1 page coloring templates are a teacher favorite! They’re a great craft option for a spontaneous planner and have flexibility because they’re not book specific. But if you enjoy books with crafts, I like these with them: Because the craft prints to one page, it’s easy to keep copies on hand in the room.
Science Focus:
If you don’t like spooky/halloween, you might opt for something more realistic like highlighting different creatures’ life cycles. Aside from pumpkins, bats and spiders are solid choices for October. These scratch that “spooky” itch and pack a lot of educational punch with research.
Procedural Writing Focus:
Align your craft session with popular real world activities that occur in October and introduce procedural writing. I like pumpkin carving and caramel apples. October actually has a National Apple Day and National Caramel Apple Day, so if you missed apples for September – you’re just ahead for October! These crafts come with writing papers and focus on sequence of events.
Handwriting Focus:
This is a new craft style I’m working on in 2026 and am really loving it! I like it because it can pair with a calendar change. There’s also handwriting pages included, but one of the included craft toppers can be utilized to welcome. There’s something exciting about a new month and this allows students to be involved in the process by tracing their own calendar.. It’s also a relaxing start to a new month that sparks lots of informal convo’s like what students are looking forward to!
I’m wishing you a happy month of classroom crafting! I hope you’re able to find a craft that works for your little learners and lesson plans. Find all of these different activities below.
Shop this Post
Leave a Reply