Beaded Pumpkin Jack O’ Lantern Ornaments
We made these easy beaded pumpkin Jack O’ Lantern ornaments to add to our Halloween decorations. My children love to bead and it is great fine motor skill practice. Materials orange and black beads chenille stems (2 orange, 1 green) fishing wire Directions 1. First, I put them to work sorting out all the orange beads. 2. Then they strung the orange beads onto a chenille stem. 3. Twist the ends of the stem together and shape into a pumpkin. 4. Then, cut the green … Read entire article »
Filed under: 3-5 (Preschool), 3-5 (Preschool), 5-6 (Kindergarten), 5-6 (Kindergarten), 6-8 (Early Elementary), 6-8 (Early Elementary), Fall, Featured, History and Culture, Home Arts
Pumpkin Bird Feeder
After we finished our Pumpkin Shaving Cream Art, we had some bisected mini gourds we did not want to waste. So, we turned them into bird feeders. First, I took the gourd I had cut in half length-wise and cut two holes at the top of the gourd. Then, the children threaded the yarn through the holes. We filled them with nut butter (you can use sunflower if you have peanut allergies), bird seed, and raisins. Then we hung … Read entire article »
Filed under: 3-5 (Preschool), 5-6 (Kindergarten), 6-8 (Early Elementary), 9-11 (Elementary), All Ages, Ecology, Fall, Featured
Shaving Cream Pumpkin Art
My children have been asking me when we could do shaving cream art again. The tactile experience helps build learning and the kids have a ton of fun playing with paint and shaving cream. So, we made shaving cream pumpkins! Materials: posterboard foaming shaving cream paints (Halloween colors) 1. We traced and cut-out a pumpkin shape from poster board. 2. Then I poured foaming shaving cream and some paints (mostly orange with a little green and purple) into a flat-bottom container. … Read entire article »
Filed under: 1-2 (Toddler), 1-2 (Toddlers), 3-5 (Preschool), 3-5 (Preschool), 5-6 (Kindergarten), 5-6 (Kindergarten), Art, Bodily-kinesthetic, Fall, Featured, Touch
Spooky Halloween Creature Votive Candles
I’m guest posting on Make and Takes today…come check out our spooky Halloween votive candles! … Read entire article »
8 Picture Books About Apples
There are so many wonderful picture books about apple trees, apple cider, apple pies, and everything apples! Apple Farmer Annie, (ages 2+) by Monica Wellington: A contented-looking Annie picks, sorts, presses, bakes, and transports her apples and apple products to the city’s market. At the end there are recipes for apple muffins and applesauce. Although the story is simple, the rich illustrations have plenty of details to discuss. We own the bilingual edition, Ana Cultiva Manzanas … Read entire article »
Filed under: 0-3 (Babies and Toddlers), 3-5 (Preschool), 5-6 (Kindergartners), Ecology, Fall, Featured, Science
Criss Cross Applesauce
We went apple-picking and have two pecks of apples–and now the kids know what we mean when we sing “a bushel and a peck”? So, we made some applesauce and I think we’ll make baked apples and apple crumble and possibly some apple muffins. This is a great addition to our study of apples as well as a prelude to the (very basic) colonial lifeways studies we do in November. I need to get a canner, though, so … Read entire article »
Picture Books to Get in the Fall Spirit
Fall is my favorite time of year–the apple picking, drinking cider, butternut squash, colorful leaves, crisp air… Here are some children’s picture books about Autumn, harvest time, and falling leaves: Fletcher and the Falling Leaves, by Julia Rawlinson, shares the story of an adorable fox who tries to return the autumn leaves to the tree. His woodland friends try to tell him that the tree doesn’t need the leaves anymore but Fletcher thinks that the wind, … Read entire article »
Filed under: 0-3 (Babies and Toddlers), 1-2 (Toddlers), 3-5 (Preschool), 3-5 (Preschool), 5-6 (Kindergarten), 5-6 (Kindergartners), 6-8 (Early Elementary), 6-8 (Early Elementary), Fall, Featured, History and Culture, Weather
Fall Leaf Fairy
In the Spring we made flower fairies and now we are making leaf fairies! Materials: 1 wooden bead artificial leaves (or preserved fall leaves) 2 chenille stems 1 metallic chenille stem embroidery floss or yarn glue dots or hot glue gun Directions: 1. Bend a pipe cleaner in half and push the bent part through the wood bead so just a little loop is through the bead. 2. Roll up a loop of some embroidery floss and thread through the chenille stem loop. Tighten by … Read entire article »
Filed under: 5-6 (Kindergarten), 5-6 (Kindergarten), 6-8 (Early Elementary), 6-8 (Early Elementary), 9-11 (Elementary), 9-11 (Elementary), Fall, Featured, Weather
Four Seasons of the Apple Tree
One thing I missed when we lived in Texas was the changing of the seasons. We made this “Seasons of the Apple Tree” craft last year and the children requested that we do it again this year! We used slightly different materials but the process is very similar. Materials: blue sheet of construction paper (larger is better) glue scissors tree: brown paint spring and summer leaves: green paper buds: pink tissue paper for buds apples: red paint or red hole punches autumn leaves: orange and … Read entire article »
Filed under: 3-5 (Preschool), 3-5 (Preschool), 5-6 (Kindergarten), 5-6 (Kindergarten), Ecology, Fall, Featured, Science, Weather
A is for Apple Sun Catchers
We make new sun catchers for our windows every season. There are a few ways to make easy sun catchers and this is the simplest! For the early fall, we made apple sun catchers with an upper and lower case letter “A”. Materials: permanent (“Sharpie”) marker plastic (from a clear plastic bag, packaging, folders, whatever you have on hand) tissue paper (for whichever color apples you want, plus green for the leaf) glue glitter (optional) to hang: either glue stick OR a hole … Read entire article »
Filed under: 1-2 (Toddler), 1-2 (Toddlers), 3-5 (Preschool), 3-5 (Preschool), 5-6 (Kindergarten), 5-6 (Kindergarten), 6-8 (Early Elementary), 6-8 (Early Elementary), Ecology, Fall, Featured, Science
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About the Author
Candace Lindemann is a published children’s writer and educational consultant. She holds a B.A. from Yale University and an M.Ed. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Working with school districts around the country and some of the most well-known companies in the education industry, Candace creates custom strategies, textbooks, and lesson plans. Her articles have appeared in print and online.
While Candace’s degrees prepared her for a career in education, she’s found that the best preparation for parenting is on the job training.
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