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| Autumn Theme |
| Art Fall Wreath Materials: Leaves, acorns, pine cones, bow, brown paint and paper plates. Description: Cut the center out of a paper plate and have the children paint the paper plate, brown. Next, go for a walk to find fall leaves, acorns and pine cones. When the plates are dry give the children glue and let them have fun. Away from the children, I use the hot glue gun to glue any loose pieces and the bow. Leaf Bookmark Need construction paper, contact paper, leaves and scissors cut construction paper into 3x6 inches have them collect leaves on a nature walk children arrange the leaves onto contact paper. Put the construction paper over the contact paper and cut around the edges. Aluminum Foil Leaves Pieces of aluminum foil, leaves, glue, construction paper Set out pieces of aluminum foil and a variety of fall leaves. Let each child select a leaf, place it under a piece of foil, and gently press and rub the foil with his or her hand to get a leaf print. Then have the children glue their leaf prints to the construction paper Leaf Collages Cut out different leaf shapes out of fall colors and have the children glue the shapes onto another piece of paper. LEAF MOBILE Glue colorful and different fabrics to both sides of several pieces of heavy paper. Cut leaves from this. Tie a string on each leaf. Suspend the leaves from a small branch. Hang where the leaves will catch the breeze and flutter. Leaf Rubbing To help children notice the veins in leaves and the different shapes of leaves, let them place a variety of leaves (underside up) under a piece of light colored construction paper. Using the sides of crayons that have had the paper covering removed, children make crayon rubbing of the leaves. This works much better with green leaves. Leaf Tree Use brown construction paper for the trunk of the tree, and tape up fall leaves to the wall to make a huge fall tree in your classroom. Leaf Mobile Take a walk with a brown paper bag, and collecting the prettiest dry leaves you can find. You can sandwich each between two pieces of wax paper, seal with a warm iron. Have the children attach leaves to a hanger with different lengths of string to create a mobile. Coffee Filter Leaves Take coffee filters and cut into the shapes of leaves. Provide cups of liquid watercolors in orange, yellow, red, and brown. Have children use eye droppers to place watercolors on the filter leaves. The colors blend together for wonderful fall leaves. Create a tree trunk out of brown wrapping paper or butcher paper. Add leaves to the branches and also at the base of the tree. Wind Sock Materials: Clear plastic drinking cups (softer plastic ones work best) , hole punch pipe cleaners or string , Flagging Tape (find it at hardware stores. It comes in bright florescent colors) , stickers , tape Directions: Cut bottom completely off drinking cup. Punch a hole from opposite sides of the bottom of the cup. Thread a piece of string through the holes and tie so it will hang. Or twist the ends of the pipe cleaner through each hole to create a hanger. Decorate cup with stickers. Hand it up outside! Variation: Put stickers on a piece of 8 x 10 construction paper. Roll ends together and staple. With a hole punch-punch two holes at the top and put yarn or string through both holes and tie. This is to hang it. Use different colored streamers and staple to the bottom. Also you can use a white lunch bag and decorate the same way but cut off the bottom of the bag first. Dry Leave Art Ask children to collect dry leaves in the garden. Then, paste it on the white paper. Then, draw the things according to their imagination to complete those leaves. e.g: They can add the head and legs to be a chick, rat, rabbit, etc. And children can use color paper to make it more colorful. Autumn People Trace and paint life-size cut-outs of your children. Then apply a thin layer of shellac. Put them upon the fence or along the side of the building. They should last the school year! Torn Paper Tree Have the children make a torn paper tree with brown paper for the trunk, and red, orange and yellow paper for the leaves. The children should be supplied with the paper and glue. they should tear the pieces of paper into the shape they want it to be. Leaf Placemat Have your child glue several different leaves on a light-colored piece of construction paper. Help her to apply transparent Contact paper onto first the leaf side and then the backside of the construction paper. Trim excess contact paper from the ends, and seal all the way around the outer edges with colored tape. Fall Wreath Materials: Leaves, acorns, pine cones, bow, brown paint and paper plates. Description: Cut the center out of a paper plate and have the children paint the paper plate, brown. Next, go for a walk to find fall leaves, acorns and pine cones. When the plates are dry give the children glue and let them have fun. Away from the children, I use the hot glue gun to glue any loose pieces and the bow. Leaf Painting Have the children paint, using leaves as paint brushes. Leaf Glitter Find some old brown leaves. Have the children crumble them up and use them as glitter. You could even paint them before you crumble them to make different colored glitter. Leaf Hands Trace your child's hand onto a fall color of construction paper, and cut it out to make it look like a maple leaf. Leaf Rubbings Have your child choose a leaf (avoid very dry leaves, which crumble too easily) and have her place a piece of white paper over it. Take the crayon and rub back and forth over the leaf, and soon the impression of the leaf will appear on the paper. Leaf People Have the children glue a leaf on a piece of paper, and draw legs, arms, and a head to create a person. Leaves Forever Collect leaves and arrange them on a piece of wax paper. Add wax crayon shavings and apply another piece of wax paper on top. Iron the wax paper togerther until crayon shavings have melted. Let cool. Trim into desired shapes. With cut out leaf shapes or collected leaves from outside: - Make a leaf mobile - Glue leaves onto a piece of paper for a leaf collage - Hang leaves from the ceiling - Glue them onto a piece of paper with a trunk to make a tree - Use them up for a bulletin board - Hang them from a classroom size tree Dramatic Play Raking Leaves Supply the children with smaller rakes to add to the dramatic play area. Let them pretend they are raking leaves. Leaf Fall Have the children pretend they are leaves falling from a tree. Squirrel Have the children pretend that they are squirrells getting ready for winter. Fine Motor Skills Lacing leaves Cut several leaf shapes from tag board. Use a hole punch to place holes as indicated on the pattern. Allow the children to lace the leaves using shoelaces or blunt plastic needles and yarn. Leaf Necklace Cut out many leaf cutouts using many fall colors. Have the child decorate with markers and crayons. Laminate the leaves (optional), then punch a hole in the stems and give the child some string or yarn, and have them thread them on to make a Fall Leaf Necklace. Games Leaf Blow Have the children blow a leaf across a table with a straw. Have a leaf race. See who can blow their leaf across the table first. Leaf Toss Take a sheet, or a parachute. Gather real leaves, fabric leaves, or paper leaves. Place them in the middle of the sheet. Gather around the sheet and have the children lift the sheet slowly and then quickly to see how all the leaves "float". Language The sunflower children Nod to the sun. Summer is over, Fall has begun! Here is a leaf it is yellow and brown Here is a leaf that Jonny found Put them together... One for me and one for you See the leaves all falling down, To make a carpet on the ground, Swish, swish, wind blows by, Swish, swish, away they fly. Scarecrow Scarecrow,scarecrow turn around Scarecrow,scarecrow jump up and down Scarecrow.scarecrowarms up high Scarecrow,scarecrow wink one eye Scarecrow,scarecrow bend your knees Scarecrow,scarecrow flap in the breeze Scarecrow,scarecrow climb into bed Scarecrow,scarecrow rest your head Autumn Leaves are falling, dancing, swirling Piling high along the street Leaves that scatter when you kick them Leaves that crunch beneath your feet. Dance The brown leaves Loosen on their branches And drig\ft slowly downward They fall, Flutter And fall again A Leaf Like a leaf or feather In the windy, windy weather We will whirl around And twirl around And all sink down together Fall See the leaves all falling down To make a carpet on the ground Swish, swish, wind blows by Swish, swish, away they fly. Squirrel Whirlee, twirlee Look at the squirrel Sitting in the tree Stuffing his cheeks 1-2-3! Math Have the children collect different kinds of leaves. Leaf Graph Have the children count the number of leaves they collected from each type of tree, and graph the results. Leaf Sort Have the children sort the leaves they collected by color, size or type of leaf. Leaf Seriation Find pictures of different stages of a tree's life, in summer, spring, winter, and fall. Have the child arrange the pictures in order. (note children may start with any season) Leaf Count Have the children count how many leaves they have collected Leaf Count II Make pictures of trees with different numbers of leaves on the trees. Have the children count the number of leaves on the tree. Leaf Match Set out two of each kind of leaf and have the children find the matches. Leaf Match Use a glue stick to glue leaves plucked from 4-6 different trees on to a poster board. Cover with clear contact paper/or laminate. Sandwich leaves of the same size and variety between two pieces of clear contact paper. Trim around each leaves leaving a + " sealed edge. Set the board and leaves on a tray. The children match the leaves. Large And Small Leaves Select leaves from nearby trees. Collect a large and small leaf from each tree. Press the leaves between two large books to flatten them. Protect the leaves by preserving them in wax or by placing them between two sheets of clear adhesive paper and trimming to within +-inch of the leaf. Place the larger leaves on the table. Place the smaller leaves in a box. Ask the child to select a leaf from the box and match it to its partner on the table Leave Sticker Match You may be able to find leaf stickers. Make sure that you have at least two identical sheets. Place two identical stickers on one index card. One on the left side and one on the right. Then cut the card in half in a funny shape. Follow with all the stickers. Then set out the cards and ask the child to pick out one, then find it's match. Next, place the cards together. Leaf Match Up There are many ways to set this up depending on the skill level or the particular skill you wish to work on. Try these different set ups: - Cut out leaf shapes from different colors of paper. Give each child one leaf. Ask the children to find one person with the same color leaf. - Cut out leaf shapes from different colors of paper. Cut the leaves in half using a puzzle type cut, like zig zag or interlocking pieces. Give each child one half of a leaf, and ask them to find the person with the other half. Or Give the children two pieces and have the children make a circle, with one child that has one match on one side and the other match on the other side. You may end up with 2 or more circles depending on how the leaf pieces are distributed. - Cut out leaf shapes from one color of paper. Cut the leaves in half using a puzzle type cut, like zig zag or interlocking pieces. Give each child one half of a heart, and ask them to find the person with the other half. Or Give the children two pieces and have the children make a circle, with one child that has one match on one side and the other match on the other side. You may end up with 2 or more circles depending on how the heart pieces are distributed. - Cut the leaf shapes from one color of paper. Label one set of leaves with numbers, i.e. if you have 20 children, label the leaves with the numbers one to ten. The other half, draw one dot on one, two on another, and so on until ten. Give each child one leaf and have them find the child with their match. - Cut the leaf shapes from one color of paper. Place matching stickers on two leaves. Give each child one leaf and have them find the child with their match. - Cut the leaf shapes from one color of paper. Cut the leaves in half using a puzzle type cut, like zig zag or interlocking pieces. Place matching stickers on each half of a leaf. Give each child one leaf half and have them find the child with their match. - Place matching leaf stickers on separate index cards. Give each child a card and ask them to find the child with their match. Try all the above, but in a file folder format. Glue one part of the leaf to the file folder and laminate it's match. Leaf Match II Collect four or five leaves. Trace their shape onto a piece of paper. Place the leaves on the table next to the paper and have the child place the appropriate leaf over the tracing. Recipes Eating Leaves Discuss the food that we eat that are leaves, like lettuce, or cabbage. Have the children try these food items. Leaf Cookies Obtain a leaf shaped cookie cutter and have the children help you make leaf cookies. Decorate them with red, orange, yellow and brown frosting. Leaf jello Obtain a leaf shaped cookie cutter. Make jello jigglers from yellow, red or orange jello. Sensory Fall Feely Box Materials: Leaves, acorns, pine cones, nuts, apples, and other things you have discussed. You'll need a box the children can fit their hands into without seeing inside. I use a large shoe box. With a hole cut in the top. Description: Teachers, without the children seeing you, add the objects in the box. During circle time have the children take turns feeling inside the box. Ask each child to describe what he or she feels and what they think it is. Planting Bulbs With the approach of fall, now is the time to get those bulbs in the ground for spring blossoms such as tulips, hyacinths, daffodils and lilies. For the best results: * Plant before the first frost. * Dig a trench and place the soil on a plastic sheet. * Place the bulbs in the trench according to your design, but don't let them touch. Make sure they are facing the right way up. * Replace the soil. * Water thoroughly. You can also add a layer of mulch to keep the bulbs moist. Now all you have to do is wait for spring to see those healthy green sprouts that will grow into colorful flowers. |
Have you Tried?. . . plan a Fall Carnival Make a pile of leaves and let the children fall or jump into the pile of leaves. Have the children paint, using leaves as paint brushes. c.2004-2007 |
| Prop Box Ideas Include the following collections of objects and materials for children to create, discover, and use for imaginary play. Store collections in boxes or baskets to be accessible at any time (indoors or outdoors) for children to enhance their dramatic play. silk, paper, or real leaves (orange, red, brown, green ,and yellow) leaf garland, placemats and table runner photographs, posters, puzzles and books illustrating the season apple counters pumpkin bean bags tree hand puppet, corn husks empty bird nests tree stumps calendar activity cards in box |
| Idea Web Introduce and explore the following topics to expand and inspire new activity ideas. leaves harvest apples pumpkin School DAZE Leaves are all around us. We eat leaves. Leaves change colors, usually from green to red, orange, yellow and brown. Leaves can be found on trees. Leaves fall to the ground and we rake them up. Holidays Thanksgiving |
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| " It is the supreme art of the teacher...
To awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge." ~ Albert Einstein ~ |
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