Community Education - current class catalogs Families - Fall 2019 | Page 8

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 Preschool and Family Place Early Child
Family Education (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. 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.
8
”
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. Cut
off the top of the pumpkin and hand your child a
spoon or small shovel to scoop the insides out.
• L  et your toddler or preschooler “hammer” golf tees
into a pumpkin. This helps your child practice hand-
eye coordination and fine motor development.
Either leave the tees in the pumpkin for decoration
or pull them out to let the light from a lit candle
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.
• G
 rab a bag and go on a scavenger hunt! A favorite
activity to do is 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. 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, there is value in just doing things
together as a family – any time of year.
Anoka-Hennepin Community Education I 763-506-1275