Community Education - current class catalogs Families - Fall 2015 | Page 21
Autumn Activities
Awesome
Autumn Activities
The crisp autumn air is just around the
corner. Help your little one learn and grow
through exploration and play.
Anoka Family Place ECFE Teacher, Tricia Weber –
along with other ECFE and preschool staff – shared
a variety of awesome autumn activities to try this
season.
Introduce your child to new sensory experiences.
• Dance, jump and crunch in the leaves.
• You can visit an apple orchard or pick up your
favorite apples at the grocery store. “Talk about the
differences and similarities between the apples –
whether they are red, green or yellow; if they taste
sweet or sour; or if they feel hard or soft,” Weber
recommends. If you are really brave, let your child
finger paint with applesauce!
Talk about numbers.
• If baking tasty fall treats is a favorite family pastime,
measure the ingredients together. Babies can play
with measuring cups and spoons, and you can
practice counting with your toddler or preschooler
as you measure and prepare your treat: 2 cups of
flour, 1 cup of sugar, 3 pinches of cinnamon! Show
your child how many fingers each number looks like.
• It’s likely too early to let your baby, toddler or
preschooler carve a pumpkin – but let them squish
and squeeze “pumpkin guts” instead. Afterward,
line up the seeds and count how many you found.
“
There is value in just
doing things together as a
family – any time of year.
- Tricia Weber, ECFE teacher
www.discovercommunityed.com
”
Move your body in new and different ways.
• P
aint pumpkins – with a brush or fingers! “This is
great for babies to develop shoulder mobility,”
Weber says. Cut off the top of the pumpkin and
hand your child a spoon or small shovel to scoop
the insides out.
• W
eber suggests letting your toddler or preschooler
“hammer” golf tees into a pumpkin. “This helps
your child practice hand-eye coordination and fine
motor development,” she explains. Either leave the
tees in the pumpkin for decoration or pull them out
to let the light from a lit pumpkin shine through.
• S
pread peanut butter, sun butter or honey onto
a pinecone, and then use your hands to roll it in
bird seed. Hang it from a tree or shrub that you can
see from indoors and watch the birds stop by for
a snack.
Tell stories.
• “ Grab a bag and go on a scavenger hunt!” suggests
Weber. One of her favorite things to do with her
twin daughters when they were young was to collect
items on a nature walk – leaves, sticks, acorns – and
then make a collage at home. It’s easy to place those
items under a piece of paper, and then rub a crayon
over the top to see the texture of each item. “Relive
the adventures of the day by talking about what
happened first, next, and then last,” Weber says.
“Understanding the sequence of events is important
for young children as they learn how to read.”
• V
isit your local library to find new books related to
harvest, apples, pumpkins or leaves. Children enjoy
seeing pictures and hearing new stories.
Most importantly, Weber reminds families, “There is
value in just doing things together as a family – any
time of year.”
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