Archive for the ‘
Fall Theme ’ Category
Monday, November 19th, 2012
Here are a collection of Thanksgiving resources you might want to use with your kids the next few days:
ED has really been enjoying dot-to-dots. I thought these printables from Busy Bee Kids Printables were really cute and wanted to mention them if you are interested.
Fall and Thanksgiving Dot-to-Dots
Color the Turkey: A handwriting activity from Rowdy in Room 300
Cute Turkey Math Game:
This is a game I played with the older kids when they were in preschool; time to bring it out for ED!! I got the turkey print outs from mathwire.com. I used some craft cubes and wrote numbers on the dice, 0-5 on two and 6-11 on the others. It was good practice counting for my preschooler. I made the spinner using a template online which I printed on cardstock and glued on cardboard. I put a brad through (it’s sticking up a bit) and used one of the laminated turkey feathers which I cut down to size, and put a hole punch as the spinner’s arrow. I wrote in “odd,” “even,” “less” and “more.”
Thanksgiving Pattern Activity from Mathwire.com:
Here are some other places you can find Thanksgiving materials for preschoolers:
For older kids there are some fall themed skip-counting sheets over at Print Activities. There is skip counting pages — 1s through 5s. Plus they have word scrambles, mazes and more:
I love these Thanksgiving Analogies by Rachel Lynette over at Teachers Pay Teachers. I’ll have LD and DD work through these during collection (our group time).
Categories: Fall Theme, Homeschool Den, Must Read, Preschool (Age 4), Preschool and Toddler Activities, Preschool Math, Thanksgiving | Tags: free thanksgiving packs, free thanksgiving worksheets, Thanksgiving preK worksheets, Thanksgiving preschool packs, Thanksgiving themed sheets
Saturday, November 10th, 2012
The last time we did spaghetti art, we simply colored strands different colors and made a free for all. This time, we had a specific goal in mind… barren trees. They turned out well!
- Cook spaghetti and cool with cold water.
- Mix glue and paint together.
- Dip the spaghetti into the glue-paint mixture and form into the desired shape
We placed ours on wax paper, but you could also place it on a plastic disposable plate or tray.
It takes several days to dry. Then we had to peel off the spaghetti-tree carefully off and let it dry for another day on the other side.
Tuesday, November 6th, 2012
If your kids are home for election day, this is a quick craft that smells great!!
These ornaments are SO easy to make and smell wonderful! The last time we made these (3 or 4 years ago!), we made them for our Christmas tree, but with the smell of cinnamon and nutmeg I thought they’d be the perfect craft for the fall season! We made them into necklaces and also hung them up in the windows as garlands.
How to Make the Dough:
- 1 cup cinnamon
- 1 cup applesauce
- 1 tsp. cloves
- 1 tsp. nutmeg
Roll it out and let it dry for a couple of days (no cooking or baking required!). Be sure to poke a hole in the dough before letting it dry if you want to hang it up.
Have fun!
My friend makes these and she said she places them in a clear glass fish bowl with colored lights. The heat from the lights warms them up and makes a beautiful smell. We haven’t done this, but it sounds lovely!
Saturday, November 3rd, 2012
This post seems woefully out of touch in the aftermath and destruction of the storm, doesn’t it? I had to put it off with my Halloween posts… then Sandy came through… and well, here it is anyway. All I can say is thank goodness for the wood pile!
The Beautiful Colors
Hot Apple Cider
Pumpkin Muffins!
Here’s a post where I share our pumpkin muffin recipe. We make these all year long, but they are especially wonderful in the fall!
Fall Decorations
Roasted Pumpkin Seeds!
We make ours by rinsing the seeds well and removing any extra pulp. Then we add 2 teaspoons of olive oil per 1 1/2 cups or so of pumpkin seed. We spread it out on a tray and lightly salt them. We bake ours in the oven at 320F for about a half hour, mixing them half-way. Yum!
Fall Festivals
Taking day trips because the weather is nice — like our trip to the zoo last weekend:
And the wildlife outside our window…
…though our dog wasn’t so thrilled to see the fox in her territory!
I know some will shake their heads about this, but I absolutely love preparing for the winter — cutting up wood and building up our wood pile. On the left, LD is helping take some of the wood I cut over to the wood pile. Then ED and I rode the tractor into the woods and we brought in a huge new stack of wood to cut up. Hubby cut that up the next weekend — and all three of our wood piles are full! Hooray!
We also love all the fall crafts and activities you can do for school, but I’ll save that for another post!
We had rain last week and saw this rainbow!
What do you love best about fall?
Friday, November 2nd, 2012
The scent of this playdough brought even my 9-year-old running! So much for the schoolwork that was supposed to get done while ED was happily playing! I had to change course and do some read-alouds while the kids were occupied.
Here’s how we made it:
1 cup flour
1/3 cup salt
1 1/2 tsp cloves
1 1/2 or 2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 Tablespoon Cream of Tartar
1 Tablespoon oil
4-5 drops each of yellow and red food dye
1 cup water
5 drops or so of glycerine (optional—I bought mine some time back at the pharmacy—it just makes the playdough a bit smoother)
Cook on the stove on medium until the playdough becomes hard.
