Fall Harvest Sensory Table

 Materials Included:

Corn feed (you can get a large bag of it for like $6 at stores like Atwoods)

Scarecrow

Ceramic squash, pumpkin and corn cob (all super cheap at Hobby Lobby)

Plastic cups

I have let Big K play in corn feed before long long ago at her 2nd birthday party and remembered that she LOVED it so I just knew I had to bring it back out somehow.  And I was right, it was a hit!

Mmm gotta love those corn drinks!

 

She was so creative. Decided the scarecrow needed to eat all the food in the bin.  Then she wanted to add some extra pumpkins (so I dug some foam ones I had made out of my stash) so she could make jack o lanterns...

THEN she decided to add a whole array of new things and turned it into an entire farm and "pumpkin patch" in her words.

...which then somehow turned into a birthday party for scarecrow ???

So there you have it! Can't go wrong with corn feed!!! 

Fall Art projects

We've been busy with a few little art projects this fall and thought I would share some of them with you.

1) Painting Pine Cones

This by far was the most surprisingly entertaining one of the bit.  We used actual pine cones that the girls found outside and then I gave them some paints to decorate however they wanted.  I had no idea Big K would get so into it and end up sitting there for over a half hour working on hers!

Little K started out strong but eventually ended up painting her entire arm instead which is what often happens.  Fine with me!

Big K's turned out beautiful (well Little K's did too but I didn't have much to work with) and it is one of my fall decorations out in my kitchen now! 

2) Apple Stamping

Cut an apple in half. Stuck a stick into it for holding and used red, yellow and green paints to make fun designs.  Her stick didn't work the best and ended up breaking off inside the apple so we just went with holding the apple which worked just fine too.  This girl LOVES her crafts!

3)  Apple Trees

Get yourself a paper plate and some green paint and get to town on painting that thing.  Then they can use their tiny fingers to make little apples on their apple tree! =)

4) Leaf Spin Art

This one I don't truly consider an art project, since the machine is actually doing all the work but you could be creative in the way you make yours if you don't have a spin art (place the leaf cut outs in a box and roll a marble around in paint on them. Same effect).  When we were done, we made a garland out of them for our back door.  

5)  "Knuckle" Pumpkins

Saw this idea on Pinterest.  You paint your kiddos knuckles orange, then press them down and they will look like tiny little pumpkins!  I then let Big K draw what she thought vines and leaves look like.  I'm all about letting the child create the art however they want rather than telling them what to do or even drawing it in for them.  This can be done on occasion but try to make your children's art "free art" as often as possible!  Helps build their imaginations! Note: I did add a few of the leaves at the end of the project once she was all done with what she wanted because she asked me too =)  She also decided to finish her art off with how she believed you spell pumpkin.  Apparently it's  "plysiehg." =)  

Halloween Art

These first two Halloween crafts, Big K actually did last year but since I didn't have this blog at that time, I'm compiling them all together to do a whole page of Halloween crafts!  Honestly, I'm quite disappointed in myself for not doing more this year because I kept having the intentions too but the month of October for us is just entirely too hectic!!!

The first project is egg carton spiders. I tore one little "egg" section out of an old egg carton and let her paint it black for the body. Then we added some googly eyes and pipe cleaners for legs.  Super cute and she kept it on her dresser forever. And you can sure bet she knows spiders have 8 legs! 

For this pumpkin I drew out the outline of a pumpkin with a pencil to give her a little bit of guidance but then let her paint it freely on her own.  I'd say quite impressive considering she wasn't quite even 3 at the time!  Handprints for the stems!  

Every year, I try to do something different and creative with our pumpkin decorating.  This year we did bat pumpkins.  Little K's only turned out looking the best because a certain someone had to glue all her pieces on.  But she did do the majority of the painting!  Big K won the award for creativity though because it was all HER work and she thought the bat should have 4 eyes.  Why not?!

And last but not least, simply pull out some pumpkins cut out of construction paper or foam with a variety of different shapes they can use and let them freely decorate their own jack o lanterns.  You'll be amazed at how much they enjoy doing something this simple.  We've done it several more times since!  

Well, that's all I've got!  I promise I'll try to start getting a little more creative soon.  The brain's just been a little burnt out lately. =)  

Apple Tree Bath

Big K has been talking about apples a lot at school lately so she's really into anything that involves them.  The girls both simply LOVED the fall leaves tree we made on our back door so I thought "why not bring in an apple tree for a special bath time treat?"  They love bringing new ideas into the tub since those same ole bath toys just get played with day after day...

So I pulled that brown washable paint out again during rest time the other day and painted them a tree in the tub!!! Made some red and green apple cut outs from foam and they now have themselves an apple tree for a couple days until it all washes off!  

You could incorporate letters or something using these too but since Big K has already mastered her letters I didn't really see the need.  I just let her have fun and free reign to do whatever she wanted!  She of course did something creative on her own and created a pattern.

Little K's apparently all fell from the tree into a pile.

                                     

Don't you just love all these easy ways of entertainment?

Leaf Decals

This idea was inspired by "Growing a Jeweled Rose." Definitely did not come up with it on my own, although I wish I would have because this thing has been a hit!  We've had it up for a week now and still playing with it daily.  

I simply painted the branches and trunk of a tree onto our back patio door using some washable kids paint.

 Gave them some fall leaves that I purchased from the Dollar Store.

And let them decorate away.

They have worked really well together on this project.  More so than others.  I was impressed! Big K is fascinated with the idea of falling leaves in the fall.  

Our tree does have a little smudge since somebody decided to bump into it before it was completely dry. Oops!

So there you have it! So easy and loads of fun!

Fall Sensory Table

Materials Needed:

Anything you find outdoors!  We found pine cones, acorns, sticks, rocks, leaves (and I threw in a few fake leaves that I had from the Dollar Store) 

What made this sensory table special is the girls and I went to an outdoor nature area and went on a scavenger hunt for all the things we could put in our table.  I was actually very surprised at how much Big K truly enjoyed this outing. It was remarkable the things she was spotting and the conversations we were having while on our adventure.  Little K did too but you know...And the weather was PERFECT!  As you can see from their outfits, although fall is here it doesn't quite feel like it yet.  But it's here and we are ready to celebrate!  Bring on the crisp air! 

Rocks weren't really something I intended them to find for their bags but that's what she wanted so that's what she got! 

Our favorite find..."Ball!" (no it's not really in her mouth, no worries)

To the squirrels:  "here you go little bud. I've got  your acorn food."

"I'm walking in the desert making footprints."

"Come on sissy, let me help you out of the dessert."

Pure Nature

These things were everywhere!  Why do I not know what they are called?!

Post hunt snack in the shade.

Then we took our bags home and dumped them into our table for some more fun.