The Mayflower (simplified)
I love how children’s crafts always take on a life of their own. So what if it doesn’t look all that much like it is supposed to…it is the process, not the product. :) Even though this Mayflower does not…
Pretend Play: Voting
I’m always amazed how the most mundane things in our lives can be extremely exciting in the eyes of a child. Now, obviously I consider myself extremely blessed to be able to vote and choose the leaders for our country,…
Exploring the Five Senses with a Pumpkin
We carved a pumpkin last night…for the first time since Big Brother was born. As expected, he wanted nothing to do with sticking his hand inside the icky pumpkin. (Just a forewarning–I have been playing around with the manual setting on…
Jack-O-Lantern Shape Sorter
A lot of my ideas come from looking at a piece of “trash” and wondering…”what learning activity could we do with this?” The same is true for this activity! This Jack-O-Lantern Shape Sorter is made from a formula can. We’ve been…
Crayon Resist Spider Web
We had quite the infestation of spiders in our house this summer…and most of them were Brown Recluse (the kind of spiders that are actually really dangerous). Big Brother is used to investigating the numerous glue traps we have in…
Autumn Tree
This activity is so simple…but it would have looked a lot better had I taken a picture of it on Friday (when we made it) rather than today since all of the leaves look shriveled and wilted. Our plans were…
Personalized Leaf Rubbing
I wanted to make our leaf rubbings a little more personalized, so I was excited to find these “puffy stickers” at the dollar store! We chose to put Big Brother’s name on the leaves, but you could make cards saying…
Balance Beam with "Fiery" Leaves
We combined some gross motor practice with some pretend play today in a very simple way. I dug out a 2×4 from our shed and placed it in the yard to be a balance beam. We raked up some leaves…
Fall Scene & Candle Holder
I found these glittery felt stick-on fall shapes at Michael’s in the clearance section for $0.99. I decided to let Big Brother create a “fall scene” on a piece of construction paper with the stick-ons but then also thought they…
A Very Unique, Mess-Free Way to Mix Colors
This post might completely gross you out…especially since you’ll get an up-close look at my {clean} toilet. I’m always looking to do things that are mess-free with as little clean up as possible. Into my brain popped the idea of…
Grilled Cheese Pumpkin
Transform a family favorite into a festive fall sandwich with only 2 extra steps! 1. Melt the butter and add a drop of red and 2 drops of yellow food coloring. 2. Let your little one paint the butter onto the…
L is for Leaf
Here is a fun and super-easy alphabet craft…perfect for the changing season! 1. Go outside and pick out leaves of varying sizes and shapes. 2. Cut out a large “L” out of cartstock or construction paper and let your little…
Candy Corn Sensory Tub
Sensory tubs are wonderful because they allow your child to take the lead in the learning process. Dump, fill, strain, dump again, make a shape, count. All of these opportunties we probably couldn’t recreate in a more kid-friendly way! Here’s what you’ll need: coffee…
Leaf Bracelet
Awww…fall is finally here! I absolutely love fall–the cooler temperatures, beautiful colors, and all of the fun family activities. A few weeks ago we did this little activity with the 2 and 3 year old class we teach at our…
Apple Toss
I thought our apple theme was coming to a close, but then I remembered that I hadn’t done a gross-motor activity in this unit yet… This activity will require a lot of creativity and imagination. This isn’t a bad thing…kids…
Apple Garland (The Fruit of the Spirit)
“But the Fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” -Galatians 5:22-23 All of these characteristics are things I wish to see first and foremost in myself and…
Ten Apples Up on Top
Have you read Ten Apples Up On Top! by Dr. Seuss? It is a lesser-known Dr. Seuss book, but so much fun to read. Big Brother loved it! Written in true Seuss-style, this one is much shorter with fewer words on…
Apple *Star* Stamping
I was really bummed that the “stars” in the center of the apples didn’t show up in our prints, but maybe it will work for you. I’m sure everyone has seen this idea before…but I couldn’t do an apple unit…