When you go for a walk outside we are greeted by the beauty of the fall leaves.  Let’s look at some fun things we can do with these leaves.

I love that rainbow in the above picture, I wonder if we could make a leaf rainbow?  How many different coloured leaves could we find to make our rainbow?

Leaf prints are also fun to make.
Collect some different shaped leaves and paint them to create some beautiful prints.

Another activity you can do with leaves is put them under a piece of paper and rub them with crayons.

Or maybe some dramatic play with puppets?  We can make some leaf puppets and put on a puppet show or tell a story.

Whatever you decide to do with your leaves remember to have fun!!!  Also if you have any activities you do with leaves or projects you made please share them with me.

To hear the Story We’re Going On A Leaf Hunt  

 Written by Steve Metzger

Illustrated by Miki Sakamoto click here 

With Thanksgiving coming up this weekend, I thought we could make some cute Thanksgiving Turkeys.  These crafts can get a little messy, but remember mess equals fun!!!

To make this craft you will need

Red, yellow, orange and brown paint ( or whatever colors you want to make your turkey)

Some paper, scissors, glue and googly eyes if you want

Directions

Paint your child’s hand or if they are older they can paint their own hand, and press it onto the paper.  Repeat it with different colors to make the Turkey’s feathers.  Let them dry.

Now you get to paint their foot with brown paint and do the toes in orange and press this onto a different paper and let this also dry.

When they are dry you can let your child, or if they are too small you can cut around the hand prints and foot prints.  Also cut out a tear drop and a beak and let your child glue them on as well as the eye.

Finally glue the feathers (hand prints) on and you have your cute little Turkey.

Another turkey that is also really cute is a Leaf Turkey

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When you are outside, collect some beautiful leaves off the ground to use as your Turkey’s  feathers and you can create your own Leaf Turkey.

Gobble, Gobble

To sing a song about 5 Little Turkeys follow the link below

5 Little Turkeys

I have so much to be thankful for, I am also thankful for all the great memories we shared at Strong Start and I can’t wait to see you all again soon!

Happy Thanksgiving 💗 Teacher Lisa

Apple Sauce

Apple Sauce is a fun and easy recipe you can make with your children.
If they are older they can help you peel the apples and the little ones will enjoy helping measure and pour in the ingredients.  Everyone  will enjoy helping eat up the delicious apple sauce.

Recipe for homemade apple sauce 

4 medium sized apples (peeled, cored and cut into small pieces)

3/4 cup water

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

In a saucepan combine all the ingredients and cook over medium heat for 15 – 20 minutes

Stir it to make sure it doesn’t burn

When the apples are soft (About 15- 20 minutes) turn off the stove and the apples to cool

Then mash it up with a fork or potato masher and enjoy 😊

Yesterday, September 22nd marked the first day of Fall.  Saying goodbye to summer is  hard for me, as you all know, I love the sun and warmth and being outside.  However there are many wonderful things I love about fall.  Over the next little while I will share some of my favorite things about Fall.

Apples

Can you guess how many different varieties of apples exist in the world?

You’re not going to see this many kinds of apples in the grocery store, but there are 7,500 varieties of apples in existence throughout the world!!

What is Sensory Play?

Sensory play is any type of play that involves the senses.  It is suitable for all ages but if your little ones are experimenting you will need to supervise them.  Even my daughters and I love playing with kinetic sand, playdough and slime.

I found this information and recipe on the website below, for more great sensory play ideas and recipes visit  https://littlebinsforlittlehands.com/kids-sensory-play-ideas/

To watch Mrs Lisa make playdough click here

If you want to sing 4 monkeys swinging in a tree click here

Me and my daughters had a lot of fun creating with our rocks.  First we made faces.  I wonder how our rock faces are feeling?  Then we made a flower.  What can you make with your rocks??

Next we made some shapes and letters.

Then we had a contest to see who could stack the highest rock tower.  Can you count how many rocks we stacked?  How many can you stack?

At the beach I was thinking of you all so we all gathered a lot of rocks and we spelled Maywood Strong Start out of rocks.  I have always loved collecting rocks since I was a little girl.  I remember looking at them closely and trying to find special ones and always having fun with them.   I would love to see what you create with your rocks.

My daughters and I collected these rocks and today we decided to sort them.

First they sorted them by size.

Next they separated them by colour.

And then they divided them by shape.

Even Jesse enjoyed playing with the rocks!

Rocks, we see them all around us but how can you play with them?  Rocks are easily found in the outdoors and one of the greatest  things about them is their possibilities are endless.  They invite creativity, imagination, curiosity and desire.  Rocks can be moved, carried, combined, lined up, taken apart and put back together again.  Rocks can be used alone or with other found objects.  This week we are going to look at some of the fun you can have with rocks.

I encourage you to go out in your neighbourhood and search for some rocks.  Collecting rocks will get you out of the house and get your body moving.  While out discuss the rocks that your child collects, are they big, or smooth, round or jagged, heavy or flat maybe even shiny?  Today me and my girls will go on a rock hunt and I’ll share what we find.

I remember many birthdays or Christmas when my daughters had more fun playing with the cardboard box the toy came in than the actual toy.

Open ended and free exploration play provides great opportunities for learning.  When we provide children with the opportunities to explore, create, play, fail and reassess, we are helping them form connections in their brains.  A cardboard box inspires creativity and imagination as it can become anything the child imagines.    The ideas are really endless.  I encourage you to go Play and have some fun creating!

For more ideas and information you can visit

https://kidscraftroom.com/cardboard-box-activities-art-crafts-kids/