The leaves are falling in preschool … a Book & Boogie activity

Posted on October 20, 2015 by Laura Eldredge

Today we are sharing one of our Fall season Book & Boogie selections (where we incorporate books and literacy with music and movement activities) – and extending the fun and learning by adding a fine motor craft activity to go along with it.

The Book

“Fletcher and the Falling Leaves” by Julia Rawlinson

I really enjoy this sweet story about Fletcher the fox and his favorite tree! Fletcher doesn’t understand what is happening to his tree as it is changing colors and losing its leaves. Fletcher tries to help and find ways to stick the leaves back onto the tree (but even the children will realize that this is a hopeless effort) … and poor Fletcher is sad. But when winter comes, Fletcher gets a big surprise!

The Music

The music that Tressa selected to go along with this story is called “The Leaves Fall in the Fall” – by Ernest S. Papay, kids’ songs! – Kid Karoake – Songs for the Young and the Young at Heart (can be found on iTunes). Have the children stand up, listen to the music and put their hands in the air and wiggle their fingers like the leaves in the trees. When the music says “the leaves are red … and falling” – wiggle your fingers all the way down to the ground. You can even give children real, fabric or paper leaves as they dance. Use swaying motions, like the leaves swaying as the wind blows them off the tree and down to the ground.

The Activity

After your story and your boogie … invite the children to make some simple leaf bracelets. We purchased fabric leaves from our local craft store (and we did it AFTER Halloween when the fall decor is discounted in price).

I snipped off all the leaves from the plastic stems, and then punched a hole into each of the leaves.

We bought some rubber bracelets, (but you can use pipe cleaners, as an alternative) and have the children string some leaves through them.

Voila! Very simple, but a great takeaway activity after the story and music!

As the song says … “It’s just that time of year!“

It’s apple picking season (and apple life cycle video)!

Posted on September 9, 2015 by The SEEDS Network

August through October is apple picking season here in Connecticut! Our family visited one of our local pick-your-own farms for some Macintosh and Gala apples which are in season right now. We’ll definitely be back later this fall for the Cortlands, Golden Delicious and others.

Many local preschools schedule a field trip to an orchard, which helps the children learn about where apples come from and they really enjoy being able to pick their own.

We start off with a tractor ride to take us out to the trees that are in season. This is always exciting for the kids!

The great thing about apple trees at an orchard are that they are not too tall. Little hands can easily reach and pick apples! Fill up some bags to take back to your classroom for use in cooking/snack making, crafts (like apple stamping) or exploration.

Bringing the apple orchard to your classroom

If you live in an area where you can visit a local apple orchard, that is a great field trip to take with your preschoolers. If you do not, there are many other ways to teach children about the apple life cycle, and show children what an apple orchard is. Another option is to try an in-house apple demonstration, as we did one year.

Another idea is the use of photos and videos. You can make a slide show of videos of an apple orchard (such as the photos we used in this post). We also created a downloadable video as another resource you can use to introduce this topic in your classroom – or use it as an preview to a field trip.

View the video above … or download it FREE at our Teachers Pay Teachers online store.

More Apple Resources

For all kinds of other APPLE activities, snack ideas and crafts – check out our SEEDS idea search, our Pinterest “Apple” board, AND digital resources (videos, high quality photos, printables, curriculum guide) at our Teachers Pay Teachers online store.

Turkeys, teepees and being thankful preschool

Posted on November 11, 2014 by Laura Eldredge

Visiting my favorite local preschool this week, I had to stop and take some pictures of the fabulous Fall fun setup in the classrooms! Take a peek and see some of the fun ways they explore Thanksgiving all month long.

Thankful Turkey

I love, love, love this turkey that is hung in the preschool hallway, where the feathers are comprised of EVERYONE’S handprints! And by everyone, I mean this was a total school effort, with all classes from infants to school-age, teachers and staff contributing their handprints to the final product.

Pilgrim and Native American Living in Dramatic Play

Want to setup a tent or teepee in your dramatic play area for Thanksgiving, but don’t have the space? Look at a creative solution using sheets from Miss Julia! You only need a small corner to create this interesting and inviting space.

Some items you can include for play and exploration, pumpkins, gourds, dried flowers, acorns, photos, and rocks with native american drawing symbols and words.

Thankful Tree

Another beautiful idea from Miss Julia is her mini-Thankful Tree! She encourages participation from children and families by having the tree right near her check-in area, so that everyone can contribute to the tree by writing what they are thankful on a leaf to be hung on the tree.

How do you prepare your classroom for Thanksgiving? What are your favorite ideas?

We are thankful in preschool

Posted on November 9, 2014 by The SEEDS Network

At this time of year, children get excited about all the holidays coming up. It is important to take some time before and during Thanksgiving to talk to young children about their blessings … what they have to be thankful for. Many children can easily talk about all the things they would like to have or “want” … but how about talking about how grateful they are for the things they already “have”? Teachers and parents can do some fun, creative and thoughtful crafts and activities with their children to bring out discussions about what we are thankful for!

Thankful Turkey Craft

This project can help children work on their fine motor skills (by cutting, writing and gluing), as well as being a good conversational activity. Use colorful construction paper turkey feathers to highlight things your child is thankful for.

Thankful Hanging Leaves

This is a cute project that makes a great keepsake for families! Beforehand, cut out leaf shapes from construction paper in various fall colors – and children will dictate or write their blessings on the leaves. Decorate with glitter, attached to some raffia and tie off with a bow!

Thankful Pumpkins

This craft was inspired by Thankful Pumpkin Craft at christianpreschoolprintables.com. Decorate a paper plate as a pumpkin, and attach a paper pumpkin leaf listing something the child is thankful for.

Paper Bag Thanksgiving Book

I found the idea for this book at ArtsyMommy.com. This is the type of project that can be adapted for older and younger children. I adapted it here for preschoolers (ages 3-5), including a page to draw what the child is thankful for, and a page to list favorite Thanksgiving foods.

Thankerchief Game

Have children sit in a circle. Have them pass around a “thankerchief” (handkerchief/bandana) around as everyone says the following poem:

Thankerchief, thankerchief, around you go
Where you’ll stop, nobody knows.
But when you do, someone must say,
What they are thankful for this day.

When the poem ends, the player holding the “thankerchief” must say aloud one thing they are thankful for. Continue the game until everyone has had a turn saying something they are thankful for.

What types of crafts/activities do you do with children for Thanksgiving?

More pumpkin activities in preschool

Posted on October 10, 2014 by The SEEDS Network

As we continue to enjoy the Fall season, we have explored pumpkins in our classrooms in many ways!

We’ve opened them up, scooped them out, counted the seeds and made delicious pumpkin treats!

I talked about some ideas in the “Learning about apples and pumpkins” post … but here are a few other ideas for ways to play and learn with pumpkins in preschool!

Pumpkin Playdough – We took a simple, no-cook playdough recipe, added red and yellow food coloring … and then added some cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice to the mixture! The children loved the smell! I asked them what they thought it smelled like … I got some really cute answers like “donuts” and “apple sauce”! Then we added some pumpkin seeds to the dough, for an extra sensory experience.

Pumpkin butter – Using heavy whipping cream, salt, canned pumpkin, powdered sugar and cinnamon (or pumpkin pie spice), the children can measure, mix and then SHAKE the ingredients to make a delicious pumpkin butter to spread on crackers or bread. Great science experiment to see how the liquid transforms to the creamy butter as they shake!

Pumpkin Pudding pies – Another yummy recipe featuring vanilla pudding and pumpkin pie filling!

Using Our Senses Pumpkin Exploration – Allow children the opportunity for some individual exploration with a small pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice (in a container) and pumpkin seeds (in a container). Children can explore what they see, feel, smell and hear!

Pumpkin Playdough faces – We had fun with this great idea by Deborah at Teach Preschool where we made faces on real pumpkins simply using playdough!

Count a seed pumpkin game – This is a fun, cooperative game that will help children practice counting (one-to-one correspondence).

Do you have any other fun pumpkin ideas to share?

Leave a comment or link below!

Pumpkin faces from recycled bottles

Posted on October 18, 2013 by Laura Eldredge

During the Fall in New England, there is much to-do about PUMPKINS! This adorable pumpkin-inspired craft is also a great fine-motor muscle workout for preschoolers who like to cut, rip and stuff things into small spaces! And to top it off, it’s a great way to use recycled materials!

Pumpkin faces

Collect a bunch of clean, plastic water or soda bottles (one per child), and gather a variety of orange colored paper (construction paper, tissue paper .. or even felt or fabric).

Allow children to problem-solve HOW they can make the paper/fabric fit into plastic bottle opening. They can cut, tear, crinkle and stuff the orange paper/fabric into the bottle to fill it up. This is a good opportunity for children to practice cutting skills.

After the bottle is filled, invite children to make the shapes for a pumpkin face out of black paper. You can pre-cut some shapes for younger preschoolers – or allow older preschoolers to draw these shapes themselves with a white pencil and then cut them out. Use scotch tape or glue to stick them onto the bottle.

Top it off with a green pipe cleaner stem!

Playing with nature on a sticky table

Posted on October 17, 2013 by The SEEDS Network

I was very inspired to try making a “sticky table” after seeing the Pumpkin vines on the sticky table activity created by Deborah Stewart on the Teach Preschool site. I thought this would work very well with various items in nature that we have outside during this time of year.

To set this up, I cut a large sheet of clear contact paper and used clear packing tape to adhere the contact paper (sticky side up) to the table so it wouldn’t move around. To have some variety of items, I brought in a collection of leaves, pine branches and small pinecones from home. The children also gathered other leaves and sticks from the playground outside. Depending on the season, you can select other items like flowers, clovers and blossoms.

Then we had the children explore their treasures on the sticky table. They played around and noticed that some things didn’t “stick” so well (like larger sticks). But it’s great for them to explore that. They loved the small pinecones I had found from home — and they had to learn to press down on those to make them stick. Most of the children just liked “sticking” the items to the contact paper. Others tried to fill up all the open space. And some children tried to make shapes of other things out the materials – one girl arranged some small red leaves like flower petals. I heard another say “Look, mine looks like a dragonfly!”. And still others liked walking their fingers across the paper and feeling how they stick!

The contact paper allowed for children to explore the items and be able to move them around (it’s sticky – but items are repositionable). After they were done playing, we folded over the contact paper and sealed it. This makes for a good display to be hung in the classroom or put into the science center, where children can touch it and feel the impression of the items underneath.

I think in the Spring I’ll bring the contact paper OUTSIDE and attach it to a picnic table and make a nature collage there!

What other kinds of things can you do with a sticky table?

Learning about apples and pumpkins in preschool

Posted on September 13, 2013 by The SEEDS Network

Fall in New England is a wonderful time to teach preschoolers many things about the season. The change in the weather (and the leaves), along with the harvest of apples and pumpkins are fun to learn about.

If you are fortunate enough to have local farms in your area, a field trip is a great way for young children to experience some of the agriculture of your area first-hand.

By taking preschoolers to visit a local farm, they can learn so much. It is a great opportunity to teach them about living things (animals), life cycles (egg to chick / seed to fruit), where food comes from and local geography.

You can also extend preschoolers learning of farms, apples and pumpkins with some of these activities!

Science

Make your own apple cider – Bring in a juicer and take some fresh apples from your field trip and turn them into cider. Children can observe and experiment with how things turn from one form to another (ie. solid to a liquid).

Seasonal sink or float – Experimenting with Fall objects (such as leaves, acorns, pumpkins and apples) to see which will sink and which will float.

Apple science– Observe changes to apples when they are cut and exposed to the air.

Open it up! – The best hands-on fun and learning happens when you dig in and open it up! Cut into an apple, dig into a pumpkin and let children touch, see and smell.

Art

And you can even use the parts of apples or pumpkins in children’s art … adding another sensory experience to the process of their art!

Apple stamping art – Slice apples in half and place them into paint. Then stamp it onto the paper.

Paper Plate Pumpkins – Using paper plates, orange paint mixed with some white glue and dried pumpkin seeds children can make their own pumpkin. Really fun after you have opened up a real pumpkin and explored the inside!

What is your favorite apple or pumpkin activity? Please share with us in the comments!

Bringing the apple orchard to preschool

Posted on October 4, 2011 by The SEEDS Network

When planning a theme on apples, it is a good opportunity to teach about life cycles and plant growth. Depending on your location, a field trip to a local apple orchard is a wonderful hands-on experience for young children to see where fruit (apples) come from. However, when a field trip is not feasible, you can try to bring the apple orchard to your school! We were fortunate to have a local orchard come in to do an in-school demonstration, complete with a large supply of apples for taste testing!

One of our teachers, Brittany Florio also works at the orchard, and led the demonstration – and made large pictures of the life cycle of an apple (from seed to blossom to apple) to show the children.

In the photos below, Kim Shores from Johnny Appleseed Farm shows some of the tools used to take care of her farm and her apple barrel for collecting apples. Miss Brittany shows the photos of the apple life cycle, including an actual branch from the orchard. She also demonstrates how apples float in water!

Kim also talked about the different types of apples that she brought (describing their color and what they taste like) – and then best of all … children got to taste 3 types of apples and then made an in-school graph of which kind was their favorite.

For some more Fall-related activities (with apples), check out:

Learning about apples and pumpkins in preschool
A “peeling” fun with apples (Little Illuminations)
Apple tree craft (Teach Preschool)

The SEEDS Network

Supporting Early Educators with Dynamic Solutions

Category Archives: Fall