So, of course I need to do an entire week on the season. And I wish I had planned for longer already, but I know that the boys are not going to let it end after a week. They are constantly noticing the leaves, the smells in the air, and they love the farms being open (hence next week's lesson). I also think they are noticing more, since we are no longer running around doing various events and parties, vacations and get togethers. We are FINALLY spending a lot of time at home and in the woods. (I also love that a tank of gas lasts me a week now. Woo hoo!) We started off on Monday by an introduction to fall. We had already discussed a lot of it through basic conversations and observations outside; leaves changing color, falling, and the cool air. However, we are now diving into matching what type of leaves come from what tree, studying acorns, and learning that some trees give us food as well. As I have learned with Carter, he is much more of a tear it apart and ask questions kind of kiddo. So I made him a super simple sensory bin that he loves. The base to this is straw, with artificial pumpkins, apples, etc. I will certainly use real next time, since he tried to eat the fake fruit. Oops!
We also had some leftover clay from dinosaur week. Being as frugal as I am, I did not want to waste it, and I wanted to kids to have a chance exploring with all of their senses. So I gave each of them 3 piles and 3 different fall spices to mix in. We had allspice, cinnamon, and ginger, to give us some fantastic smelling play dough. It also changed the color, and they loved watching that. I then had found some really cute cookie cutters at Target (squirrel, leaf, pumpkin, and apple) so they were able to use them to make some pretty cool creations. Carter added in his stuff from the sensory bin, but then quickly switched back over to his Duplo blocks.
The final big hit of the day (and I have a feeling the next couple of weeks) was the creating of a corn pit. I went to Tractor Supply and purchased Deer Corn and Corn cobs for relatively cheap. Just like I did with the sand, I cleaned out their old plastic pool and dumped about 60 pounds of corn in. Pierce took it upon himself to put in his slide, and they have been almost impossible to get out of there. They love talking about the texture, the colors, and just creating different scenarios. Right now, they are having fun putting their match box trucks in there and pretending they are "muddin". Yup, they take after their momma. :)
Thus far, the rest of the "school" time has been using the fall pack I had created from various sources. One of them has a pattern sheet, and Pierce is so happy that he was finally able to complete a pattern with NO help from mommy. Carter has been having a blast matching his cards to various pictures. I also started a month long project of creating this little alphabet apple and pumpkin book. The apples are all the capital letters, and the pumpkins are all lower case letters. They have to cut out the lower case letters and glue them under the upper case. To my surprise, they actually liked it! I precut a lot of it, just to make it more age appropriate.
We also created some rubbings with some simple patterns I purchased from Oriental Trading. They had so much fun making these! Pierce honestly spent an hour, and he made enough to cover the door in our school room. :)
I have quite a bit more planned for the week, and I am so excited to share my favorite season with the boys. Hopefully you all have a great week as well. What are your favorite fall activities?
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