Hummingbird Educational Resources

AUTUMN TREES
Submitted by Kathy
This was used to decorate the large bulletin board outside our classroom. 
 Cut a sheet of 8 x 12 construction paper lengthwise into 3 strips.  Have children glue on bits of paper the colors of autumn leaves or use a leaf punch and punch autumn colored leaves.  Use this as the wall border. 
 Cut out a large tree and have the children paint it using a couple shades of brown.
 Using red, green, yellow, orange, brown construction paper cut out leaves that will fit into a salad spinner.  Have children drop blobs of red, yellow, green, purple, orange and brown paint onto the leaf, close and spin.  The children think it is magical when they see the effect.
 Clearly write the child's name on the leaf and put on the tree, some falling and some on the ground.  If you have a special poem you are doing with the children put it on the wall and everyone can practice it while waiting for the doors to open.
 Add to the board as you go along ie, basket of apples, squirrels ect.

AUTUMN WREATH
One of my favorite leave art activities is to make autumn wreaths. Have different shapes and colors of leaves cut out of paper - acorns also. A stiff paper circle with the middle cut out (paper plates with middle cut out would work good too.)  The children can glue the leaves onto their circles front and back.  Put a hole punch through put a string through and hang - they look beautiful!

LEAF ART, POEM, AND MOVEMENT
Trace & cut out red, green, brown and gold leaves from construction paper. Pass them out along with fall colored streamers 2 pre child Have them decorate the leaves with stickers and or fall colored glitter.  As you say the following rhyme, have the children line up along the wall and listen for the color of streamer/leaf they have.  When each hears his color have them wave their streamers with the leaf attached to the end and pretend to be a leaf floating on the wind. Appropriate music such as Roger Williams 'Autumn
Leaves' could be playing. Verse:
Leaf of red, leaf of green,
Prettiest leaf I've ever seen.
Leaf of brown, leaf of gold,
Sometimes flat, sometimes rolled.

Falling from the trees so high,
Blowing in the autumn sky.
Soon the snow will begin to blow,
Then in Spring new leaves will grow.
Dick Wilmes
'Year Full of Circle Times'

LEAF ART
1). Cut out leaf shapes.  color with colored chalk or crayons.  place colored shapes on plain white paper then use thumb and rub color of shape to white paper. after rubbing all around shape lift shape off white paper.  Makes a beautiful art project.

2). Collect the largest whole leaves you can find . Have the children paint them any or all of the fall colors then make "prints" of the leaves by putting a neutral color (beige works really well) construction paper over the painted leaf. Have the children rub the paper until they can feel the veins of the leaves through the paper . Peel the paper off and you have a beautiful leaf print! Sometimes you can make more than one from the same leaf. After they dry you can even write "What I'm Thankful For..."and laminate them as a placemat for Thanksgiving too!

3) In our 4 year old class, we have the children cut out a tree with branches. They then glue colorful puzzle pieces(the leaves) on the tree. I usually buy a One Hundred piece puzzle at the dollar store.

4) Let the children cut out leaves, then marble paint with red, orange and yellow paint.

5) Glue a picture of a tree on construction paper, then the children thumbprint the leaves on the branches.

6). Have the children cut out a large leaf shape.  Dip the paper leaf into water.  Dab yellow, red, orange, green, and brown paint all over.  Fold the leaf in half and smear the paint together.  They turn out beautiful.  You can also add a little bit of glitter to make them extra special.

LEAF PILES _ A SNACK
The recipe is 6 cups cornflakes, 1 cup
karo sryup, 1 cup sugar, and 1 cup peanut butter.  In a microwave melt the karo, sugar, and peanut butter together.  Pour over the cornflakes and place them in piles.  Let them cool and dry a little.  Then enjoy your leaf piles on your leaf day.

FALL PLACEMATS
Take green leaves and place on piece of fabric. Hammer it. It will create a tie die effect. I though we might do handprint turkeys and then tie dye with the leaves for the background for our Thanksgiving placemats.

FALL MOBILE
Your youngsters will love the colorful effect of this work of art. To make a leaf mobile, arrange a fresh leaf on a sheet of waxed paper; then add a sprinkling of crayon shavings. Place a second sheet of waxed paper on top of the crayon shavings; then place the sheets between layers of newspaper. Press the sheets together with an iron set on low heat. Remove the waxed paper sheets from the newspaper and let them cool. Next cut loosely around the leaf and punch a hole in the top of the cutout. Personalize each cutout and tie it to a leafless tree branch with a length of monofilament line. Suspend this mobile from the ceiling for a colorful fall display.

SIGNS OF AUTUMN
Provide each child with a resealable plastic bag. Have each of your little ones search for and collect signs of autumn such as pinecones, leaves, nuts, twigs, and acorns. When the hunt is over, return to the classroom. Supply each child with a tagboard pumpkin shape and glue. Have him glue the items from his bag onto his cutout.

LEAF TOSS
Whirling, swirling leaves will leave your little ones all aflutter! So will this group movement activity that requires a flurry of cooperation. Space your children evenly around a large sheet or a parachute. Instruct each child to hold the sheet tightly with both hands. Place a supply of real leaves or decorative fabric leaves (from a craft store) in the center of the sheet. Challenge the group to move the sheet slowly at first, then faster until all of the leaves have flipped up and floated to the ground. Ask the group to put down the sheet, gather the leaves, and begin again. Whee!

FALL FLANNEL STORY
Submitted by Marilyn
I cut out a nice size tree from brown (the trunk) and green (the top) flannel to make a tree.  I then cut out 5 nice size leaves, in fall colors,  to go along with the following poem:

5 little leaves in the tree next door,
1 fell off and then there were 4,

4 little leaves all over the tree,
a bird pulled off 1, and now there are 3,

3 little leaves up where the wind blew,
1 fell off and then there were 2,

2 little leaves sitting in the sun,
a bug ate a leaf and now there is 1,

1 little leaf in the tree alone,
the wind blew and blew and now there are none!

Whenever I use I flannelboard poem such  as this, I play a little focusing game afterwards.  I show the children all the items on the flannel board.  For example, using this above poem - I would have all the leaves positioned on the tree.  We would count them and go over their individual colors.  Then I say, "Remember, Remember what you see"  "Something's different, what can it be?"  I then turn the flannel board away from the children and towards me and remove ONE leaf and turn it back to the children.  The children have to concentrate on which leaf is missing.  Is it the orange, red, yellow, brown or green leaf that is missing?  They LOVE THIS GAME.  It is so simple and I make a very big deal when they all call out the correct answer.  They laugh so much because I keep saying that I am going to stump or fool them the next time and they always get it correct.  I play this until I have removed all the colors.  Sometimes I really make them laugh by keeping all the leaves on the flannel board, but instead, I remove the tree.  Always giggles with this one! : -)

FALL ACTIVITY
Let the children fill a
gallon size ice cream bucket lid with white glue. Have the children take their fingers and smear the glue all over until the bottom is covered completely. "Great Fun" then let the children place either torn or cut pieces of tissue paper on the glue. Let dry for 24 hours, is all ours took. Be careful taking the tissue circle out. Makes a great pumpkin, or use different colors and let the children make what they wish. Makes very pretty sun catchers.

Thankful Fall Tree
Submitted by Karol
I work in the media center with K-2. We made a tree trunk on the wall and as each child traced or made their own colored leaf they hung in on the tree. Before they could hang it, they had to write on it something that they were thankful for.  It turned out to be a very successful project. Our tree went from the floor to the ceiling.

GLITTER LEAVES
Submitted by Debbie
I have collected small size leaves and pressed them in magazines for several days.  On Monday the children will paint the leaves with glue and then press them onto black paper to make a "glue" leaf print.  Then they will sprinkle glitter over their leaf print.  These are very striking against the black background!  Sometimes children also want to use the leaf they made the original print from.  Since glue is left on their leaf after the print, they can easily shake glitter onto these as well.  I then staple the stem onto a piece of paper to dry and take home.

FALL POEMS
Submitted by Vivian
Poem Autumn
The earth is painted with red and gold
Its a spectacular colorful bowl.
People admire that wonderful sight
When the Autumn sun
Brighten those colors with its light.
The cold and crisp air,
Its a sign the winter is near.
The squirrels are gathering nuts and seeds.
To hide them in a hollow tree.
Autum is here everybody shout!
And to enjoy this season they go out.

 Rhyme. In October What Do You See?
 Patterned after Brown Bear,Brown bear.
 sung to (Frere Jacques)
 In October 2x
 What do you see? 2x
 I see a gray squirrel
 Leaping on the trees.
 In October 2x
 What do you see? 2x
 I see Jack-O-Lanterns 2x
 Laughing at me.
 In October 2x
 What do you see? 2x
 I see children
 Saying trick or treat 2x
 In October 2x
 What do you see? 2x
 I see leaves 2x
 Dancing on the streets.

 Poem The Dancing Leaves ( Sung to Clementine)
The dancing leaves are falling down
orange ,yellow, red and brown.
They are dancing, they are dancing
They are dancing on the ground.
With their crispy and crunchy sound
They are the children delight.
Dancing, dancing up and down
From the morning to the night.

Activities for this poem. Write the color words on colored paper, red, orange, yellow and brown.
Create colored word cards for the children to match to the words on the poem.. Write the poem on constructionpaper cut into the shape of a leaf.
Rhyming words; brown, ground, around and sound.
Reproduce the poem on sentence strips. The students will be able to match the sentences to the poem.

LEAF CROWN
Be a Fall Princess!  Make a 2 inch-wide headband large enough to  fit the child's head and staple.  Glue leaves all around the crown.

OH,FALL IS HERE!
(sung to the tune of “Oh, Christmas Tree”)
Oh, fall is here. Oh, fall is here,
And wintertime is coming.
The squirrels get ready. Yes, they do.
They gather nuts to get them through.
The wintertime, cold wintertime,
It’s fall and winter’s coming.
Repeat the song, each time replacing the third and
fourth lines above with a different verse below.
The ducks get ready. Yes, they do.
They migrate south to get them through.
The bears get ready. Yes, they do.
They look for dens to get them through.
The moose get ready. Yes, they do.
They grow thick coats to get them through.

5 LITTLE LEAVES
Submitted by Sue
Five little leaves so bright and gay,
Were dancing about on a tree one day.
The wind came blowing through the town,
And one little leaf came tumbling down.

Four little leaves so bright and gay,
Were dancing about on a tree one day.
The wind came blowing through the town,
And one little leaf came tumbling down.

Three little leaves so bright and gay,
Were dancing about on a tree one day.
The wind came blowing through the town,
And one little leaf came tumbling down.

Two little leaves so bright and gay,
Were dancing about on a tree one day.
The wind came blowing through the town,
And one little leaf came tumbling down.

One little leaf so bright and gay,
Was dancing about on a tree one day.
The wind came blowing through the town,
And that little leaf came tumbling down.

PLANT YOUR SOCKS!
There was an idea for a field trip I got from my Magic School Bus club.  It suggested that you take a nature
walk with the kids and have them wear an old sock over one shoe. When you get home, have them 'plant' their
sock and see what grows!!  They suggested fall as the best time of year because a lot of plants are shedding
their seeds at this time.  Sounded like a lot of fun to me!

FALL WINDS
Fall winds begin to blow (purse lips to blow)
Colored leaves fall fast and slow (flutter hands down)
Whirling, twirling all around (turn yourself around)
And at last, they touch the ground (touch the floor).

LEAF SCIENCE
With fall approaching quickly, this is a great time to grab a few green leaves from an easily accessible tree (maples are great) and put the stem in a jar with glycerin to preserve and keep them green.  Then as the leaves begin to change color, gather leaves from the same tree and do the same... this way you can compare the various colors as they change.

TREE SONG
Tune: When Saints Come Marching In
Oh when the leaves fall off the trees
oh when the leaves fall off the trees
you know that it must be autumn
when the leaves fall of the trees!!

LEAF COLLAGE
Submitted by Verlona
Cut out large leaf shapes. Have glue and various seeds (sunflower, pumpkin, flower seeds beans, etc..) for the children to collage.
We have also done this one with colored sand. A cheap way to get colored sand is to go to the hardware store and get a bag of white sand and color it with food coloring or liquid water coloring.

LEAVES
Submitted by Lana
My students today used the foam rollers on real leave to make prints. Have the trays of paint for the fall colors of leaves, they roll the paint on the leaves front or back. Lay ,paint side down ,cover with another paper and rub. The more children that used the same leaves the better the fall colors. a real hit with the children as they got to roll and roll.

Fall Leaf Flash Cards
Submitted by Sandra
Add an autumn flair to alphabet practice using leaf shaped flash cards. Cut 26 leaf shapes from red, yellow, brown, and orange construction paper. Label each cutout with a letter of the alphabet and laminate. Punch a hole in the top of each cutout and place it on a metal ring in random order. Using the flash cards, have children name the letters, say beginning sounds, name
words that start with those letters, or name the letters that come before and after. The uses for these leaves are endless, and no raking is required!

Where Does That "Leaf" Us?
Now that it's autumn, there are plenty of leaves floating around. With this movement activity, there will also be plenty of skills floating around, such as following visual directions and increasing the ability to focus. In advance, draw a visible arrow on a large, leaf shaped cutout. Prepare two smaller leaf cutouts for each child. Laminate the leaves for durability.
When you are ready to begin, tape leaf cutouts to each child's palms. Ask students to show their leaves moving up; then show them the large sheet with the arrow pointing up. Then ask students to show their leaves moving down and show them the same leaf, this time with the arrow pointing down.Continue this experience by asking children to move their leaves up or down, based on the direction of the arrow. Leaves up, leaves down--movement skills, all around!

FALL ACTIVITIES
Submitted by Sandra
Mr. Oak Tree
(sung to the tune of "Where Is Thumbkin?")
Mr. Oak Tree,
Mr. Oak Tree, Hold your arms above your head and sway.
Leaves float down,
To the ground. Extend hands over head and flutter down.
Acorns dropping--plip, plop!
Squirrels a-scamp'ring--hip, hop! Clap once when each italicized word is sung.
All around
On the ground. Move hands in front of yourself from left to right.
Fall Leaves
Your youngsters will love the colorful effect of these appealing fall leaves. To make a leaf, pinch the end of a spring-type clothespin and insert a cotton ball. Dip the cotton ball in yellow, orange, green, or red powdered tempera paint, and then rub it on a piece of manila paper. Repeat this process several times, overlapping colors, until the paper is completely covered. Shake the excess paint from the paper. Place the manila paper on a sheet of newspaper. Using a water-filled spray bottle, mist the paper. When the paint is dry, trace a tagboard leaf cutout on the paper. Then cut on the resulting outline. Mount the leaves on a wall or bulletin board for a great fall display.

Read aloud excerpts from Look What I Did With a Leaf! by Morteza E. Sohi.
Afterward, have youngsters collect many different types and sizes of tree leaves. Back in the classroom, supply each child with a large piece of construction paper and glue. Review each page in the story, showing the youngsters each leaf creature. Then encourage each student to use his leaves to create his own simple leaf animal.

HOMEMADE RAKE
Homemade rake/one large paper plate cut in half.stapel curved sides together(lools like half circle) leaving a space at the top to slip a paper towel roo\ll in. slip it down in the hole and staple it in
plaace. draw a line about 2 inches above the cut side. They cut(fringe) up to the line. can curl a little if desired by rolling them at the tips of the cut..

FALL BULLETIN BOARD & BOOK
Submitted by Dora
For fall, I painted a tree (minus leaves) onto white butcher paper and had the children put their handprints around the tree and on the ground with red, orange, yellow paint.  While their hands were already painted, I made another set of handprints on white paper.
I placed the tree in the hallway outside the classroom and labeled it, "Fall-ing into PreK".  Then I used the set of handprints to make a class book entitled, "We are Very Handy".   We read, "Busy Hands" and "Hands"  (authors escape me) and created an experience chart, "My hands can..." with ideas generated by the children.  I then transferred those ideas onto the corresponding handprints, collated the pages into a book, added a parent response page, and sent it home each day with a different child.

FALL SONGS
Submitted by Krisplu
Five Little Leaves
Five little leaves in the autumn breeze,
tumbled and fluttered down from the trees.
The first leaf said, I am red
I shall rest in a flower bed.
The second leaf said, I am yellow
I'm a happy-go-lucky fellow.
The third leaf said, I'm violet
pick me up, I'm cold and wet.
The fourth leaf said I am green
when it rains I'm washed all clean.
The fifth leaf said, I am brown
I shall blow all over town.

Leaves
Submitted by Jodie
Before starting write each child's name in pencil on a piece of heavy paper and die cut lots and lots of tiny leaves in pretty fall colors.  Children "write" their name in glue by tracing over the pencil marks and then they attach the tiny "die-cut" leaf shapes of various colors on top of the glue line.
(If you don't have access to the die cut leaves you could use real leaves crumbled to make leaf "glitter" or leaf stickers with out the glue.
Fine motor
Before starting die cut lots and lots of tiny leaves and punch holes in the center of each tiny leaf.  Also prepare cut pieces of yarn by wrapping masking tape on each end.  You will also need straws cut in 1/2" pieces and cheerios/applejacks/fruit loops (cereal with a hole in the middle).
Have children lace various provided items on the yarn to make a leaf necklace.
Art
Create a Fall tree by painting each child's hand and arm brown and print on paper to create a tree trunk.  The hand part is the top of the tree and the arm part is the tree trunk.  When dry have children make red, brown, green, yellow, and orange fingerprints all over the "hand" part of the tree.  You can use washable ink pads or paint or you could use tiny leaf die cuts or leaf stickers.

Fall bulletin board
Submitted by Betty
I have one bulletin board that I covered with blue fabric. This is my working or ongoing board.  Right now after doing c week, we put finger painted white clouds on blue paper along the top of the board. I put some brown bul. bd. paper along the bottom and put carrots in the ground. These were cut out prints of their arms painted with orange and the hands painted with green.  We made collage black cats and I put them among the "carrots".  We then went in to o week and we made paper plate owls ( i'll explain those on another submission).  I plan to take the carrots down when I get pumpkins done in a few weeks. I'll also add bats and voila! I'll have a cute Halloween Bulletin Board.  Might have to change out the clouds for stars and a moon to make it appear more night like.

Fall Leaves
Submitted by Donna
Maybe the children could also bring in their OWN leaves to describe to the class at circle time. (i.e. size, color(s), etc. ) This would familiarize them with the concept of objects having multiple qualities. This would be especially helpful if the leaves they brought in were in several life stages...(i.e. green/healthy, JUST starting to turn different colors, withering, just about getting ready to fall off the tree) Another idea is to have several music/movement activities in which the children pretend to be leaves blowing in the wind. If you have different color scarves, they could also pretend to be changing colors if they wrap the scarves around themselves. Hope these ideas help!!!

FALL ACTIVITIES
Submitted by Marilyn
We do not do Halloween activites at my program.  However, we do enjoy the fall season with activities centered around the changing weather, apples, pumpkins.
Since we cannot go on a long fall walk, (we cannot leave our playground)  I bring in many things from the season and distribute them in the playground.  Before the children arrive, I have put out colorful leaves (all different kinds) large and small pinecones, acorns, twigs, dried grasses.  Then the children go on their own"fall walk" with paper bags.  After picking up and examining the findings, we all go inside and collectively empty our bags onto a large sheet.  I then give out magnifying glasses and the children examine everything.  I have cardboard at the tables with colored glue,(orange, brown and green colored glue) and they use the materials that they found to make a fall collage.  We place saran wrap on top of the collage to preserve it a little longer.
Another activity is to make "applesauce" necklaces.  Take a large amount of cinnamon and mix with applesauce until it makes a dough consistancy.  Then have the children roll the dough and use shaped cookie cutters to make cut outs.  Make a hole at the top with a straw to allow for a ribbon to pass through.  This should be allowed to dry for about 1-2 weeks on the window sill.  When dry, have the children paint the dough piece.  Place it onto a ribbon and then add macaroni to decorate the ribbon piece.  It smells so good and makes a cute necklace.  Send home a note to tell parent that it is not for eating.

After showing the children gourds and indian corn, place bubble wrap on the entire table.  Give the children different types of brushes to paint the wrap using yellow, orange, brown and purple paint.  Press cut out narrow oval shapes to make indian corn prints.

Take a real ear of indian corn and place in a shallow dish.  Add a little water.  have the children check the corn each day with magnifying glass.  Before you know it, each and every kernal will grow it's own root.  It is amazing and the children love it.  The corn then starts to sprout individual plants.  It is a wonderful science lesson.

Have the children paint small paper plates orange.  Give them green stems to place on the plate to make pumpkins.  Then place on the bulletin board connecting all the pumpkins with dark green crepe paper streamers to make the pumpkin vine.  Call it the Pumpkin Patch and then group a few of the colorful indian corn prints  near the bottom.

Do marble painting using black paint on white paper in a circular pan.  This becomes the spider web.  Using the child's thumbprint, make prints all over the "web"  add squiggly lines to the thumbprint to create spiders.
Cut out individual sections of the cardboard egg cartons.  Have the children paint them black.  String black yarn through the top and put black pipecleaners through the sides to make spiders.

DELICIOUS FALL LEAF
Submitted by Nina Couch
Buy the Pillsbury slice and bake sugar cookie dough with the orange pumpkin that comes out at Halloween.  Roll the dough out and mix.  The dough turns into a nice looking color, then use cookie cutter leaves to make the most delicious fall leaves your children have ever seen.  Bake according to directions.  Enjoy!

FALL ACTIVITIES
Submitted by Jan
WHAT AM I:
Make: Squirrel, Leaf, Apple tree, Rake, Acorn,  and Pumpkin etc.
There are many signs for each season. Fall is probably one of the most colorful, due to the multitude of ripe fruits and vegetables as well as the changing appearance of the countryside. Put five or six of the fall signs on the board. Say a short, descriptive sentence about one of the fall signs, such as, "I turn all different colors in the fall."  "I store my food now so I will not be hungry in the winter." " People use me to help keep their yards clean" After each description have children guess what you have described.

CLEANING UP THE LEAVES
Make: 4 or 5 varieties of leaves cut from different colors of felt, large wheelbarrow, and large trash can.
Have the pile of leaves in front of you. Put the wheelbarrow on the felt board. Talk about the different things for which the wheelbarrows are used. Then begin to fill the wheelbarrow with the various colored leaves. As you put the leaves in the wheelbarrow, have the children call out the color of each leaf.
When all of the leaves are in the wheelbarrow say, "Let's push the wheelbarrow over to the trash can and dump the leaves in it so they can be picked up on garbage day. Have the children help fill it up. Calvin come up and take all the red leaves out of the wheelbarrow and put them into the trash can. Continue asking different children to put specific colored leaves into the trash can. Pretend that the strong fall winds blew the trash can over and all of
the leaves blew out. Have the children help refill the trash can.

FALL SCAVENGER HUNT:
Make: Twigs, Rocks and stones, leaves, acorns etc.

Props: Plastic tubs for each type of things the children would have found on their walk, and l paper plate for each child.
On a fall day enjoy a hike to a near by park. Let each child carry a small paper bag which he/she has decorated at art. While walking encourage the children to pick up a variety of things which remind them of fall.

When you return to the center have the children bring their bags to the circle time area. Give each child a paper plate and have him/her dump the goodies onto it. Then put one of the fall signs on the felt board, for example the acorn. Have the children name it. Then walk around the circle with one of the plastic tubs. Let the children put all of the acorns which they found on their walk into the tub.
Next display one of the leaves - name the type of leaf it is. Talk about its particular shape and size. One again walk into around with another tub. Continue until all of the items have been sorted into different tubs.
Extension: Put the tubs in the Discover Area of your classroom so the children can examine the fall signs more closely during free play.

LEAF PEOPLE:
Make: Leaves, legs, arms, eyes, mouth, nose, and hats.

Put three or four different leaves at the top of the feltboard and the features off to the side. Tell the children that they are going to create people using the leaves as the body. Have one child come up to the board and pick the leaf for the first leaf person. Have him/her put the leaf in the center of the board. have other children continue creating the person by picking various features and adding them to the leaf. Create a second and third leaf person in the same way.
Extension: Take a walk and have each child find a leaf. Create leaf people as an art activity using markers or paint for the features and the leaf for the body.

FALL SCAVENGER HUNT:
Make: Twigs, Rocks and stones, leaves, acorns etc.

Props: Plastic tubs for each type of things the children would have found on their walk, and l paper plate for each child.
On a fall day enjoy a hike to a near by park. Let each child carry a small paper bag which he/she has decorated at art. While walking encourage the children to pick up a variety of things which remind them of fall.

When you return to the center have the children bring their bags to the circle time area. Give each child a paper plate and have him/her dump the goodies onto it. Then put one of the fall signs on the felt board, for example the acorn. Have the children name it. Then walk around the circle with one of the plastic tubs. Let the children put all of the acorns which they found on their walk into the tub.
Next display one of the leaves - name the type of leaf it is. Talk about its particular shape and size. One again walk into around with another tub. Continue until all of the items have been sorted into different tubs.
Extension: Put the tubs in the Discover Area of your classroom so the children can examine the fall signs more closely during free play.

RAKING LEAVES
Submitted by Peg
I rake and rake the leaves into a great big heap (pretend to rake)
Then into the leaves I take a great big leap (jump and squat)
I cover myself with the leaves and hide from you
Then I jump up and say, "PEEK - A - BOO!" (jump up)

FALL MURAL
Submitted by Marilyn
Here is something that the children can work on as a group!
Place a large sheet of brown packaging/wrapping paper on the table.  Set up different trays of fall colored paint (brown, red, green, orange, purple, yellow) and place a soft feather duster in each tray.  Have the children use the feather dusters to paint on the paper.  It really makes a lovely background effect, then after it dries, add the children's fall art, such as decorated leaves, pumpkins, apples.  I also have them glue on tiny twigs, acorns, grass, etc and it becomes a giant Fall collage and an ongoing activity.  I also purchased from a discount store, rolls of crepe paper in all the fall colors.  Have the children rip off pieces of the crepe paper and attach to the mural.  Long green pieces look like the vines for the pumpkins.  I have done this with2's 3's and 4's.

FALL MATH GAMES
Following games submitted by Barb
There are three different games to use with children at
different levels.The book we used for the course was called "More than Counting" and was great!
Squirrel Grid Game
Materials:
2 grids with 9 squirrels stamped on
36 acorn caps
1-4 spinner
2 small baskets for acorn caps
Child's Level:
This is for the child who is at the beginning level in math.  The
purpose is to develop one to one correspondence and move him/her up to the next level.

FALL ACTIVITIES
submitted by Krisplu
 Science/Nature
Take nature walk around your yard or area.  Point out trees and how they are changing.  Collect leaves for art if appropriate.

Art: Crayon rubbings
After reading one of any number of fall books I like to do leaf rubbings.
Materials: Fresh fall leaves, various shapes thin paper  fall colored crayons, use flat side
Place leaves on table with the vein side up.  Cover with the paper.  Holding paper still use flat side of crayon to lightly rub over the leaf -- the shape "magically" appears!  Use a different leaf or just change position of paper and crayon color for another image.  Overlap the leaf shapes if you like -- it looks nice!  One children get the hang of it they can all be successful, I use it with my 4 year old class.

Art: painted leaf prints
Materials: fresh fall leaves various fall colors of tempra paint construction paper
Have children paint their choice of color on the leaf.  After the leaf is painted to the child's satisfaction move the leaf to a clean spot, painted side up.  Have child put the construction paper on top of the painted leaf.  Have the child rub their hands all over the paper, this transfers the paint to the paper.  Let child paint and transfer the print as many times as they want on the paper. My 4 year olds enjoy this, but children as young as 3 could also be successful.

Fall songs
Title: Leaves are falling 'round the town
(Twinkle, twinkle little star)
Leaves are falling 'round the town
Watch them fall right on the ground.
Autumn's coming, it is true.
Then comes winter just for you.
Leaves are falling 'round the town
Falling, falling all around.

Leaves, leaves falling down
(Row, row, row your boat)
Leaves, leaves falling down,
Falling on the ground.
Red, Yellow, Orange and Brown,
Triangle, oval and round.

Title: The leaves are falling down
(Farmer in the Dell)
the leaves are falling down, the leaves are falling down
School is here and fall is near, the leaves are falling down.

2nd verse - some are red and some are brown
3rd verse -  they tickle your nose and touch your toes

Title: SEED UNIT
Following cross-curricular ideas submitted by Peg
Sort different types of seeds.
Estimate how many seeds in jar. Make note of everyone's estimate and then graph.
Science: Plant a pinto, pumpkin, corn, or sunflower seed and graph its growth.
Fine Motor and Language: Use your water table or small tub to make mud.
Finger-paint the letter "S".
Snack:
Pop popcorn.
Roast pumpkinseeds.
Have refried beans.
Crack open and eat sunflower seeds.
Chocolate Garden
Instant chocolate pudding - "Mud"
Broken and crunched Oreo cookies - "Dirt"
M&Ms or Skittles - "Seeds"
Prepare instant pudding according to package directions and put in bottom of bowl.
Top with "dirt" and then plant your "seed".
Eat!

Title: FALL UNIT
Follwing cross - curricular ideas submitted by Theresa
 Skills: Language Development
Circle:  Display the following objects and discuss:  acorn, leaves of various colors, football, soccerball (I usually use small nerf like sportballs), and an apple.

Listening Center & Library
I am a Leaf, Possum's Harvest Moon, Apple Pie Tree, Fresh Fall Leaves
Small Muscle Development
Fall shape cookie cutters and playdough using fall colors.
Gross Motor
Cut out large shaped leaves of different sizes and colors.  Use sturdy material such as poster board.  The game is played like musical chairs.  When the music stops, the children must get on a leaf.  Make sure there are enough leaves so that all children will have a space but not too many because you want to encourage children to problem solve and  cooperative play by helping other to find a place to stand.

Science
Mstery Box with the items displayed at circle time.  Have pictures of the items turned down on a table (they can be cut from magazines or photographs).  The child picks a picture and tries to find the item in the box.  With the leaves, I have pictures with different number of leaves on it.  Not only do they have to find the object but the number too.

Sand Table
Have acorns buried in the sand for children to find.

Title: Fall Leaves Project
Submitted by Terri
In my pre-k class, I take fall leaves that are still soft and pliable and cut them in half.  I glue the leaf half to a piece of light tagboard or heavy paper and give it to the children for them to examine and see if they can draw the other half of the leaf in. They really liked solving this problem.  They paid a tremendous amount of attention to detail and the work that they did was wonderful.  Discovering all the little veins and sections of the leaf caused them to get out the magnifying glasses and to make observations and hypothesis about the different parts of the leaf.  This led to the making of a leaf book with everyone bringing in different leaves to be sorted and compared which
led to lots of leaf experiments like putting leaves in water to see what happens and in the freezer and burying them in the playground.  The leaf project turned into a tree project and we were off and running.  

Title: Add a Tree
Submitted by Laura
To develop the concept that some trees change with the seasons, prepare a tree mural at the beginning of each season.
Using butcher paper, draw a large tree shape and hang it on the wall.
To emphasize seasonal changes, have children add appropriate collage bits or paint at the beginning of each season.
Fall - brown, yellow, red, purple, orange paper bits
Winter - bare tree with brown leaves on ground and gray painted sky.
Spring - popcorn buds and small green paper bits or paint
Summer - fully covered with green paper bits and paint
This is so neat.  And makes making your bulletin board really easy!

Indian Corn
As a tribute to the fall season, fill your room with these decorative works of art that resemble Indian corn. To make an ear of corn, trace a corncob shape onto construction paper, and then cut on the resulting outline. Crumple small pieces of brown, orange, yellow, red, and black tissue paper. Glue the tissue paper to the corncob cutout to resemble corn kernels. When the glue dries, complete the activity by wrapping a large piece of tissue paper around the cutout to represent cornhusks. Mount these harvest projects on a wall or bulletin board, arranging them in columns among tissue paper leaves and stems to resemble cornstalks.