Fall Fun For Your Little Ones

School is back in swing and cooler weather has arrived. Your schedule may be already quite full, but here are a few simple things you can do with your children that you might find both relaxing and educational.

• Identify the trees that the leaves came from using the Internet or a book on trees.
• Using clear contact paper, preserve the leaves in a spiral notebook or book with blank pages.
• Discuss the scientific process behind the leaves turning colors.
• For toddlers, use the different colored leaves to teach them colors.
• Discuss the root system and how it feeds the tree and how the tree gives off oxygen.
• Use fingerpaints in red, gold, orange, and brown to paint an autumn scene.
• Discuss how this is all part of God's marvelous plan for his creation.
• Take photographs of your afternoon walk.
• Gather leaves in a huge pile and JUMP IN!

Here are some things moms and dads can do:

• Write a poem about your afternoon. Get your child to brainstorm with you for colorful nouns and adjectives.
• Make a holiday card from your photographs of your day.
• Help your child paint faces on acorns for decorations.
• Visit a nursery with your child.
• Plant a tree. Make it a new annual Treedition.
• Tie a yellow ribbon for our service men and women. Tell your child about what it means to serve your country and God. Pray for our service men and women.
• Visit a lumber yard with your child and discuss all the things trees can become.
• Visit a newspaper. Talk about the origins of paper.
• Write an article on conservation.
• Watch the squirrels gather nuts for winter and enjoy a cup of hot chocolate.

This is just a few of the fun, yet educational things you can do this fall. Remember it doesn't always take money. Just a bit of time and creativity.