Leaf Color Match Walk

Our Quick Pick and Project of the Week involved another nature walk. Nature walks have really been a great activity for us this fall as it involves all of us, being outside, and enjoying a place we're so lucky to live in. 

Leaf Color Match Walk

For this walk I wanted to link it to the approaching season and the leaves which are beginning to change.   

Fall Leaves Handprint Tree

It's been a while since we just posted a craft that's just for the fun of doing a craft. So, to get back to our "roots" (pun moderately intended) we're sharing our Fall Leaves Handprint Tree. 

We've been having fun exploring leaves this week as our leaves are just beginning to turn color. My hope is in a few more days we'll be close to really seeing that beautiful New England foliage. We love handprint art, and used the idea of a handprint tree in our Thankful Tree project in some of our Thanksgiving Posts previously. So while waiting for the leaves to turn, we created our own fall foliage tree. 

Leaf Print Playdough

The leaves are just beginning to turn colors in our part of New England and as the weather continues to cool I'm sure we'll see more. But, while we're waiting we're exploring creating our own fall leaf creations.

Leaf Print Playdough 
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One easy way we created fall leaves was by using pressing leaves into playdough. 

To begin with I made a batch of basic cooked playdough. I kept it white while I cooked the dough. I wanted three colors, so before kneading it I divided it into three pieces and added different colored food coloring to each piece. This did make the colors a little more muted than when I usually add it during the cooking process, but we were still able to have three colors. 

Tractor Sensory Bin

Little Brother has definitely been finding an interest in all things vehicle related, just like his Big Brother. But lately he's seemed really interested in tractors; whether it is the ones we read about, our toy tractors, or the ones we see out in the real world. To play off this interest, we created a tractor sensory bin.

Tractor Sensory Bin

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It's been a while since I set up a sensory bin, and as soon as I started Big Brother was eager to help. I didn't realize it had been quite a while since we had one to play with but his excitement (even though I was trying to connect this to his brother's interest) reminded me we need to get back into our bin and small world play. 

Quick Pick & Project of the Week: Going for a Nature Collection Walk

Many of our Quick Picks and Projects involve an arts or crafts component, but sometimes a quick book extension can also be as easy as going for a walk. 

I've always enjoyed reading kids the book Hannah's Collections, and going for a nature walk is a fun and active extension. After the walk there are several different ways kids could use their collection too. 

Going For A Nature Collection Walk

The book  is about a little girl named Hannah who loves collecting things and has several collections  including popsicle sticks, stamps, barrettes, and more. The problem is now she needs to bring a collection to school, except she has so many collections how will she ever choose one? What's so engaging about the book are the illustrations which are a mix of collage with images of real items. 

Grilled Kielbasa Dinner

Even though summer is officially "over" we still love to grill as much as we can. In fact, you'll probably find us grilling until there's at least an inch of snow on our deck. 

And although we still enjoy some of the basics, we also like to make some recipes that remind us more of fall. This grilled kielbasa dinner is perfect with all the yummy veggies coming from our fall CSA.