26 Fun Back to School Crafts for Preschoolers

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Get ready for a new school year with these fun and easy back to school crafts for preschoolers! Here are some of the cutest back to school craft ideas, including apples, pencils, buses, and more. Not only are these projects totally adorable, but they’re a great way to encourage kids to use scissors and develop their fine motor skills. Whether you are a preschool teacher or a parent doing preschool at home, you’ll find lots of easy crafts here.

Choose a back to school activity or two, get your supplies ready, and get to work on a fun and fabulous school themed craft. 

Back to School Apple Crafts for Preschoolers

Let’s kick things off with the traditional back to school icon: the apple. From tissue paper apples to apple suncatchers, you’ll love these fun ideas centered around one of our favorite fruits.

1. Handprint Apple Craft

First up is our cute handprint apple craft made with the printable apple template, torn construction paper, and your preschooler’s tiny handprint. Use them to decorate the bulletin board for a while and then send them home as sweet little keepsakes parents will love looking back on.

2. Bouncy Apple Craft

Easy Peasy and Fun’s bouncy apple craft is sure to put a smile on kids’ faces. It’s simple to make using the printable template, and kids will love the accordion fold arms and legs that bounce up and down.

3. A is for Apple Craft

What could be more perfect for the first week back to school than this easy A is for Apple craft? Cut out a red A with the letter template, and then add leaves, a stem, and black seeds in the center. Grab my lowercase letter crafts and get ready for back to school!

4. Tissue Paper Apple Craft

Scrunch red, green, and brown tissue paper to make a big, bold tissue paper apple for back to school season. This also works great as an easy tear art apple activity kids!

Print the free apple template, and let the kids get to work filling it in with torn paper. It’s a simple craft kids can complete all by themselves.

5. Shape Apple Craft Book

Identify simple shapes like circles, triangles, and rectangles with my fun and free shape apple book. Then create your own shape apple for added fun. It’s a great way to incorporate crafting, math, and literacy in one!

6. Paper Plate Apple Lacing Activity

Help preschoolers develop fine motor skills and work on hand-eye coordination with this paper plate apple lacing craft from Preschool Inspirations. You only need construction paper, a single hole punch, a red paper plate, and green yarn for this inexpensive preschool craft project.

7. Paper Plate Bitten Apple Craft

Kids’ Craft Room has the most adorable paper plate bitten apple craft that’s perfect for a September preschool activity. It combines a handprint craft and paper plate craft into one fun project. Enjoy an apple as a snack while you make it!

8. Apple Craft Suncatcher

Sunny days will be even more cheerful with this cute apple suncatcher craft from Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds. Use the apple printable to make the apple outline, add contact paper, and let your preschooler add tissue paper squares to the center. It’ll look like a stained glass apple on the window.

9. Paper Plate Apple Craft

Make a smiling paper plate apple craft in no time with the handy template from Simple Everyday Mom. Trace the apple shape on the plate, paint it, and add the eyes, mouth, stem, and leaf. Isn’t that incredibly simple?

10. Popsicle Stick Apple Craft

Pair craft sticks with craft foam sheets to make this simple popsicle stick apple craft from Life Is Sweeter By Design. If you don’t have foam sheets, construction paper or cardstock will substitute nicely.

11. Bubble Wrap Painted Apples

Save the bubble wrap from your packages to add fun patterns and texture to crafts like these bubble wrap painted apples from Typically Simple. Cut out apple shapes, dab bubble wrap in paint and stamp it on the paper, and then add stems and leaves. The bubble wrap pattern gives the apples a really interesting look.

12. Apple Tree Circle Punch Craft

With a circle punch, you can make this apple tree craft from Easy Peasy and Fun in no time. Teachers or parents can quickly punch out lots of red and green circles (or let the kids do it), and then all that’s left is glueing it all together on the tree’s trunk.

Back to School Pencil Crafts for Preschoolers

Back to school season is all about the school supplies! Look sharp with these super fun pencil crafts you can use to spruce up your classroom or homeschool area.

13. Shape Pencil Craft

Combine rectangles and triangles to make this shape pencil craft from A Dab of Glue Will Do. It’s a fun way to introduce those two shapes and will look super cute decorating the walls of your classroom.

14. Picture Pencil Craft

Teachers, this picture pencil craft from Fireflies and Mud Pies is a great keepsake craft for kids to take home to their families after the first week of school. Made with popsicle sticks, the printable pencil template, and magnets, it’s a cute decoration parents will be proud to put on the fridge.

15. Pencil Names

This cute pencil name craft is a fun activity that’s fitting for the first day of school. This pencil craft helps preschoolers work on name building, which is an important step in learning to spell and write their own names.

Back to School Bus Crafts for Preschoolers

Back to school time means riding the big yellow school bus! You’ll love these fun craft ideas that’ll get kids super excited about their morning and afternoon bus rides.

16. Tissue Paper Bus Craft

You’ll need plenty of glue and yellow, red, and black tissue paper to make this fun and fluffy tissue paper bus craft from The Suburban Mom. Scrunching the tissue paper is excellent for working those hand muscles.

17. Puffy Paint School Bus

Crafty Morning’s puffy paint school bus is so much fun for kids to make. Sketch out a simple picture of a bus, and let your child fill it in with yellow puffy paint made with glue, shaving cream, and paint. You may need to let the yellow paint dry a little before adding the black windows and wheels.

18. Bustin’ Into School Craft

These smiling school bus crafts from First and Kinder Blue Skies will make an adorable bulletin board in your preschool classroom. The cute bow on top is just adorable, and adding Washi tape along the front is a pretty pop of pattern and color.

19. School Bus Suncatcher Craft

Spruce up your windows with these school bus suncatchers from The Suburban Mom. You’ll need contact paper, yellow tissue paper, and yellow, black, and red construction paper to make all the pieces.

20. Cut and Paste School Bus Craft

There are two versions of this cut and paste school bus craft from Non-Toy Gifts. The first is for home use and is a simple template that you print, cut, and trace onto colored paper. The classroom version is designed for printing directly onto colored paper for quick assembly.

21. Shapes School Bus Craft

Print and trace the template pieces onto colored paper to assemble this easy shapes school bus craft from Look, We’re Learning. Since it’s made with simple rectangles, squares, and circles, it’s easy for preschoolers to cut. Make the buses the traditional yellow color or go with something different like blue, purple, or green!

22. Paper Plate Shapes School Bus

This craft uses basic supplies to make an adorable school bus in no time. Cut a paper plate in half and begin painting it yellow to start this paper plate shapes school bus project from Honey and Lime. Then, add square and triangle windows and circle wheels to complete it. If you want to eliminate the painting step, start with a yellow paper plate from the party supplies section.

More Back to School Arts and Crafts

Here are a few more amazing crafts to kick off the start of a new school year. Preschoolers will love them, of course, but they’re perfect for elementary school students of any age.

23. Back to School Book Character Crafts

Kids love read aloud time. Take your back to school stories to the next level with these book buddy crafts for kids. This bundle contains 25 cut and paste templates of your child’s favorite book characters.

24. Pipe Cleaner Paperclip Garland

Grab some sparkly silver pipe cleaners and let the kids bend and shape them into paperclips. Then, string them up on a piece of twine to make a paperclip garland to decorate your classroom or homeschool room. What a cool idea from Handmade Charlotte!

25. Toilet Paper Roll Crayons

Recycle toilet paper rolls to make these colorful cardboard tube crayons from The Best Ideas for Kids. It’s a low-mess craft because there’s no paint involved, so it’s ideal for young children like preschoolers and kindergarteners. You’ll just wrap the tubes in construction paper and then add details like the googly eyes and friendly smile.

26. Popsicle Stick Schoolhouse Frame

Isn’t this schoolhouse frame from Grace, Giggles, and Naptime the cutest? Make a house shape with painted popsicle sticks, and then add details like numbers and alphabet stickers to give it a school theme. Place the kids’ first day of school pictures inside, and you’ve got a cute craft for the children and their families to look back on in the future.

We hope you’ve found this roundup of 26+ back to school preschool crafts helpful as you prepare your lesson plans for the upcoming school year. Make sure you pin the post so you can come back to it once school starts!