Background Brown... Have children fingerpaint with orange, yellow and red. Press hands on paper in any desired design then put up on the board.
Background Orange... Take kids out and gather leaves. Have the kids glue leaves on large orange butcher paper.
You may have to staple them after you get it on the board. If you spend the time to laminate the leaves they last for years to use as other projects.

SCIENCE TABLE

As you will see I keep some things on the science table all year long while switching others out. Keep anything your kids continue to show an interest in.

The fish of course! But he/she will need enhancements as the year goes along. I would like to warn you your fish might die! Well that happened to me more than once. Simply ask the kids what they think you should do and you will quickly hear "bury it" So...bury it! We had a dress up funeral for our fish and it went quite well.
Fish Book or laminated pictures of fish.
Large magnifier.
Color Cans- Red and Yellow the first few weeks and Brown and Orange the last few weeks of Autumn.
Plastic Color paddles. Mine are red, yellow and blue attached with a piece of yarn. Children can look at the world in different colors as well as mix the three colors for blends.
A small bowl of mixed nuts.
A hand held nut cracker. Yes, they will want to know what is inside that nut!
Cards/pictures showing the different seasons with a tree.

ART/FINE MOTOR

As soon as my kids are at ease with our room and routine I have them lay down on child sized butcher paper. Cut off several different colors so they can choose. Trace around their bodies with a marker. Cut them out. Let them paint their bodies and hang them around the room when they are dry. This may take a few days of painting. Use big fat kid brushes. Change paint colors each day so all the basic colors are used by the time you finish. Kids will soon learn they can ask someone to help them paint and share the work. A great lesson! This is the one thing that will make your room more child oriented than anything else.
While all this body painting is going on get an outgoing child and paint their hands. Help them put prints on the windows! Wash it off at the end of the year.
Make a Autumn hand mold with clay.
Easel paint with thin yet long brushes using yellow and red paint. Yes! It all ends up in orange.
Easel paint with green and orange. It makes a lovely shade of Fall brown.
Show kids how to trace around their flat, closed hand and color in an Autumn color for a hand leaf.
Glue orange, red, yellow and brown things on paper plates or paper. Color the glue with food color.
Make a writing kit with an old calculator, old tablets and calendars. Add pens, pencils and a hole puncher. Keep this within their reach all year yet at least once a week change a few things in the kit.
Rub drawings using a leaf, flat crayons or regular,and thin paper or wax paper. Simple lay the leaf down with paper on top and rub the crayon over it until shape appears.

CIRCLE TIME

Read a book about seasons.
Use Orange Magic Box to pull out different objects representing Autumn. Example: Leaves, small pumpkin, gourds,pitures of autumn trees,nuts...etc...
Find a squirrel (stuffed,hand puppet or toy) to tell a story of how they save nuts for the winter.
Make and use a flannel board story of The Three Little Pigs. Flannel board stories grab the attention of ANY child any age!
Discuss harvest time showing picture of a farm. Bring out farm animals from Magic Box. Name and make the sounds they do.
Discuss where food in the store comes from. We are lucky to have apple orchards in our area and make a field trip each year to The Apple Barn. We buy a bag of apples there and stop by the store and buy another bag on the way home.
Play which came first using a set of four cards with trees slowly loosing their leaves.
Cut out leaf shapes from flannel and count them on a flannel board. As the year progresses you can ask them to find a certain number of leaves to place on the board. Or an easy game of leaf Hide and seek. Place out in the open around the room. Each child gets a turn to find and place on the flannel board.
If you spend money on anything for this season let it be a weather flannel board kit. It has a boy and girl with different clothes for different seasons. Ask kids how they should dress for Autumn. They will respond with how their mom's dressed them that morning. Discuss the difference from the shorts we use to wear.

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