Loving Autumn and Changing Leaves

We continue to play with our leaves from Mother Goose Time. Almost every day 5 wants to hide in them. Yesterday she included her library books to make it even harder for me to find her.

The only way I was able to convince the child to move on from leaf throwing was to ask if she wanted to paint. Day 14 from MGT provided us with a great leaf cutout. I asked 5 why leaves change colors and she told me the leaves are red, yellow, orange, and green and the trees are letting them go and when they are naked (Yes, she giggles when she says the trees are naked) that means they are ready to hold snow. So, we need to work a little more on the why of changing leaves. 5 loves the leaves we collect on our walks and didn't want to use them to make leaf prints so water colors and glitter did the trick. 

A glue wash held the shimmery glitter and since the cutout was a nice quality card stock it it was a beautiful craft and is hanging up in the kitchen of Doodle Bugs house. 

We finished up the morning by making applesauce. My lovely assistant mastered the peeler/corer and volunteered to be the official taster of every apple we used. She's selfless. I had some strawberries that wouldn't have lasted another day so I threw those in the crockpot along with the apples and some cinnamon. Nap time came and went and we had a delicious snack. Have I mentioned how much I love Autumn? 

Tomorrow, Hibernation! 

Autumn

A year ago 5 and 3 were both at our house for a sunny, rake a lot of leaves kind of Saturday. They had a lot of fun and so did their papa. 5 is only two this Autumn and doesn't remember that day but instinctively knew she was suppose to toss and try to cover herself with the leaves we discovered in the Day 7 Autumn package in our Mother Goose Time Preschool curriculum.

As you can tell, we decided we needed even more leaves. I love any reason to let little kids tear paper. I don't know why it's soothing but it is. Is it the sound or the motion? Every kid I've ever worked with or been related to has loved it. 5 is no exception. She would have torn paper all day. 

Two year olds don't understand seasons, let alone the idea that they change. But for the most part they do accept what you tell them. And since we live in the Midwest where the leaves change color, this is the perfect time to learn. 

We also sorted the leaves into color piles and put some on baby sister's seat. Big sister was sure 7 would love how pretty they made it look. 

After a while we got out play dough mats and made an apple tree. We love real life apple picking in the Autumn so why not playtime too? Here you see Sugar Plum slicing some apples for me to enjoy as a morning snack. She has a generous heart. And a fear of bugs. That's why you also see a play dough Itsy Bitsy Spider. We have made a lot of spiders to play with in the hope that the look of terror will cease to dominate her face whenever she sees one. Her favorites are the felt spider she likes to wear on her hand and scare us over and over and over with, and the pom pom spider that actually goes up and down the water spout. I love Pinterest.