Unschool the Teacher: Jump into Fall

This post is a combination of fall-themed activities that we did over a period of a few weeks. Some were more "planned" activities, and some were more spur of the moment. I'm finding that M tends to be more interested in the activities that are less planned, which is a little more challenging for me, but it keeps me on my toes!

Let's start with an awesome fall-themed playdate hosted by a friend of ours. She put together an awesome collection of fall activities for the kids to explore!

Practical Life

Raking Leaves

This wasn't a planned activity, but I have found that most practical life activities are better if they are, well, practical life? When we arrived at our friend's house, she and her husband and kids were outside trying to get her car started (it seems that a curious little boy, we won't name any names, was playing with the lights in the back of the car...). Anyway, while they were busy with the car, I grabbed a rake and started raking a pile of leaves for the kids to play in. They decided to take over, and traded off with the rake and the vacuum to make a big pile to jump in!

Building a Fence

This activity just required a few farm animal figures and some popsicle sticks. I demonstrated how M could stack the popsicle sticks in piles or stagger them to make a fence around the cow. I didn't get a picture of her completed fence before she knocked it down, but this was a quick and easy activity.

Sensorial

Apple Prints

Prints are so much fun. They are great for making patterns, color mixing, creating your own stamp designs, and more. Apple prints are especially fun because you can cut the apple right down the middle so it has a star-shaped cut out! We went to an event at the Children's Museum a few weeks ago and they told the story of "The Little Red House with No Doors, No Windows, and a Star Inside" (find a version of the story here).

Fall Sensory Bin

This sensory bin had a base of oatmeal, and was filled with silk leaves, real and decorative acorns, and small pumpkin table decorations. The kids loved picking up handfuls of the oatmeal and watching it fall back into the bin, and you can see M collecting as many pumpkins as she could find.

Flavored Finger Paint

This activity was a HUGE hit with all of the kids! The "finger paint" was made from whipped cream that was colored with food coloring and flavored/scented with fall spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, etc). It cracked me up watching how the different kids approached this activity. M doesn't really like to get very messy, so she started by dipping the paintbrush into the "paint" and brushing it onto her paper. The boys jumped right in with their hands, squished it in their fingers, and rubbed big handfuls all over the paper. I encouraged M to smell it, and she asked if she could taste it too (I think the boys may have already been eating it at this point). It was definitely a full on sensorial experience!

Mathematics

Counting Candy Corn

A cute pumpkin place mat with numbers was used to help guide the kids as they counted out different numbers of candy corn.

Patterns

This wasn't a planned activity, but there were several containers of glue and a few glue sticks out on the table to make fall wreaths. M wasn't really all that interested in making a wreath, but she did want to arrange the bottles of glue into different patterns - haha!

In addition to the activities above, I kept my eyes open for some local fall festivals and other local events. We are lucky to have an amazing blogger in our area who keeps track of all of the upcoming events for kids! Check out this list of "Best Greenville Fall Activities" on Kidding Around Greenville (this is also where we found most of the Halloween events that we attended - see the post here). We went to Fall for Greenville (check out M's photographs from the event), the GHS Family YMCA Fall Festival, and over to Paris Mountain State Park to explore leaves and fall scenery.