purposeful play
going on a leaf hunt
-
First, read books together about leaves, pumpkins, apples and other elements of fall.
-
Next, go on a nature walk and try to find the signs of fall you learned about together.
-
Bring a bag along and collect lots of leaves.
Try to get as many different colors and types as you can.
-
When you get home, make a graph of the different leaf colors.
-
Talk about your findings and what the graph can tell you about your leaf collection.
-
Either glue or tape the leaves on the graph OR make a leaf collage by gluing the leaves on construction paper.
-
If desired decorate the collage with other art materials such as pom-poms, feathers, gems, glitter or craft sticks.
Materials
Leaf Books
Construction Paper
Leaves
Other art collage items
Glue
Purpose
-
Explore and spend time with nature
-
Learn new vocabulary words
-
Discuss the unique features of autumn
-
Quality time together
-
Analyze nature finds
-
Introduce or strengthen graphing skills
purposeful play
fall tree mosaic
Draw an outline of a tree on a large piece of paper.
Rip up lots of little pieces of paper in fall colors and place on a paper plate.
Next, rip up lots of pieces of brown construction paper and place on a separate paper plate.
Have your child glue the scraps of paper on the tree.
Use the brown paper scraps for the trunk and the colored paper scraps for the leaves.
Variations
Use fall colored pom-poms for leaves and paint or use markers for the trunk
Cut-up sponges, dip into fall colored paint and dab on the tree to make leaves. Dip sponge in brown paint to paint the trunk.
Materials
Ripped up construction paper in fall colors.
Construction paper scraps in brown paper
Tree outline drawn on a large piece of paper
Glue
Purpose
Strengthen fine motor skills
Learn about the elements of fall
Encourage creativity
Improve hand-eye coordination
purposeful play
5 little pumpkins
Find 5 mini pumpkins, or pumpkin cutouts.
Draw a fence or help your child build a fence like structure with blocks or other building materials you have around the house.
Download free pumpkin and fence printables below!
Set the pumpkins on top of the fence.
Sing the song 5 Little Pumpkins together. Raffi sings a great version of the song!
While you sing the song be sure to point to each pumpkin as you sing about it.
Variations
Have child draw faces on the pumpkins
Number the pumpkins 1-5
Materials
5 mini pumpkins or pumpkin cutouts
Gate
Purpose
-
One to one correspondence
-
Ordinal numbers
-
Experiment with new materials when building the gate
-
1-5 number recognition
-
Construction of something specific
purposeful play
Check out these websites for more fall fun activities
Fun, playful fall activities from Fun-A-Day!
More fall fun with 31 days of Pumpkin Activities from I Can Teach My Child!
