Submitted by Cheryl

Visit lots of farms and collect all kinds of pumpkins.

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Hay Ride- Submitted by Cheryl

We have a hay ride to the pumpkin patch. This is simply our wagons filled with some hay.

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Pumpkin Patch- Submitted by Cheryl

We painted paper bags to look like pumpkins and the children got to go to the pumpkin patch to pick their pumpkins.

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Leaf Fall- Submitted by Christi

Have the children pretend they are leaves falling from a tree.

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Little Squirrels- Submitted by Terri

They will pretend to be squirrels and gather acorns. Then each child will bury their acorns in a pot of dirt. We will see how many little trees we can grow.

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Rake Them Up- Submitted by Sherry

Have children take out plastic rakes and rake leaves into a pile. I have to say this was the most popular of all. Puppets- If you have a puppet stage, decorate it with trees, leaves, etc; Add squirrel puppets by sewing them from felt, cutting/pasting from paper, or adding a photocopy to a tongue depressor.

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Dress A Scarecrow- Submitted by Sherry

Place a medium or large scarecrow (Or Very Large Doll) in your language area. Have the children dress the scarecrow using old clothes such as: hat, plaid shirt, overalls, etc;

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Submitted by Sherry

Place lots of play clothes in your closet for the children to dress as scarecrows, place larger child size overalls, straw hat, plaid shirt, and pull over shoes boots. Also place dress up props, such as pumpkin bodies, and scarecrow faces. These can be made by enlarging a pumpkin onto bulletin board and cutting out arm holes, so the child may place the pumpkin over his/her top part of the body. Scarecrow faces can be made the same way and cutting out eye holes and placing on a tongue depressor. This is very enjoyable to the children in front of the mirror. Get ready to take some cute pictures.

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Housekeeping- Submitted by Sherry

Place fake pumpkins, pumpkin pies, etc; in the housekeeping section. Include a pumpkin pictorial recipe chart, so that the children can pretend to make pies, desserts, etc;

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Submitted by Sherry

Place leaves in the housekeeping section and add child size plastic rakes, encourge the children to rake the leaves into a pile and place in a small paper bag and then start all over again!!

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Football- Submitted by Cheryl

Collect football gear, including balls, helmets and jerseys and play football outside.

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Fall Wear- Submitted by Cheryl

Set out warm clothes such as sweaters, coats, hats and blankets to indicate cold weather coming on. The children can use the clothes for dressing up.

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Wind Warm-Ups- Submitted by Cheryl

Have the children imagine that they are beautifully colored autumn leaves swaying in the autumn breeze. Tape long crepe paper streamers to one child's arms so that she becomes the breeze, winding her way through the leaves. The leaves begin to flutter as the wind comes closer. When the breeze is full and hard, the leaves break away from the tree and fall to the ground. Let the children see how many different ways they can fall to the ground - gently floating, spinning, swaying, bouncing, and so on.

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Pantomine Autumn- Submitted by Cheryl

Have the children in your class pantomine the following actions. Discuss why they are a part of the Autumn season.

1. Squirrels gathering nuts.
2. Leaves floating to the ground.
3. People raking fallen leaves and putting them in baskets.
4. Birds flying south.
5. Animals getting ready to hibernate.

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Raking Leaves- Submitted by Cheryl

Ask your children to pretend that they are out raking the autumn leaves. Have the children rake all the leaves into a large pile. How will the activity end? Let the children who want to play in the leaves- rolling, sliding, and tossing.

Perhaps the wind will pick up again and undo all their hard work.
The children can all wear streamers now and be the wind.

The children can stuff the leaves in large "bags". The children choose partners. One child is the giant bag, holding his arms in a wide open circle. The other child picks up armfuls of leaves and stuffs them into the "bag."

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Scarecrow Movements- Submitted by Cheryl

Playing all types of instrumental music (classical, jazz, modern, etc.) have the children move the way they think a scarecrow would move in rhythm to the music.

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A Fall Harvest Market- Submitted by Terri

Another fun idea for older kids would be to have a fall harvest market. Divide your group into smaller groups of 3-5 kids and assign each group a different harvest food to make treats from. You could have several different recipes already written for each individual harvest food item and let the children choose from the list which foods they would like to create. Harvest foods such acorns, squash, nuts, tomatoes, beans, apples and even turkey can produce quite an array of foods to choose from.

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Where Does That "Leaf" Us?- Submitted by Nan

Now that it's autumn, there are plenty of leaves floating around. With this movement activity, there will also be plenty of skills floating around, such as following visual directions and increasing the ability to focus. In advance, draw a visible arrow on a large, leaf-shaped cutout. Prepare two smaller leaf cutouts for each child. Laminate the leaves for durability.

When you are ready to begin, tape leaf cutouts to each child's palms. Ask students to show their leaves moving up; then show them the large sheet with the arrow pointing up. Then ask students to show their leaves moving down and show them the same leaf, this time with the arrow pointing down.Continue this experience by asking children to move their leaves up or down, based on the direction of the arrow. Leaves up, leaves down--movement skills, all around!

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What Am I- Submitted by Nan

Make signs with the pictures of the following: Squirrel, Leaf, Apple tree, Rake, Acorn, and Pumpkin etc.

There are many signs for each season. Fall is probably one of the most colorful, due to the multitude of ripe fruits and vegetables as well as the changing appearance of the countryside. Put five or six of the fall signs on the board. Say a short, descriptive sentence about one of the fall signs, such as, "I turn all different colors in the fall." "I store my food now so I will not be hungry in the winter." " People use me to help keep their yards clean" After each description have children guess what you have described.

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The Pumpkin Shop- Submitted by Julia

Turn your dramatic play area into a pumpkin shop. Some things to provice are aprons, hats, rolling pins, bowls, spoons, measuring cups, empty egg cartons, empty milk cartons, oven mitts, pie tins, muffin tins, small cookie sheets, etc. The children can pretend to make pumpkin pies, pumpkins muffins, pumpkin bars, etc.

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