Autumn is Awesome!

Today was all about Autumn.  We had such a full fun fall day!  We did so much today that I feel like I am going to fall over myself!  But we sure had a blast.  Since we picked and carved our pumpkin yesterday, I thought we would start with some pumpkin activities.  We started by making a pumpkin pal.  I had a cutout of a pumpkin man and Evan drew a face on it.  I asked him what he wanted to name his pumpkin pal and he thought about it for a second and then said, "Fire in it."  So that's what we called it!  After he drew the face he asked if we could put a stick on it, so we did.  He took it into the kitchen where our pumpkin was and got up on the kitchen chair so that he could introduce Fire in it to our pumpkin.  He sat there and had a little conversation with them.  It was so cute!


Evan drawing a face on his pumpkin pal.



"Pumpkin, this is Fire in it."

I taught Evan a little song called, "I'm a Little Pumpkin" (sung to "I'm a Little Teapot").  It goes like this: 

"I'm a little pumpkin plump and round. 

Here is my smile, Here is my frown. 

When you take my top off, you will see,

All the seeds inside of me!" 

I got out 10 orange plastic eggs that we pretended to be pumpkins.  The boys enjoyed hiding them around the room and then finding them.  I used the 10 pumpkins to review counting.  We sang "10 Little Pumpkins" while we gathered them and put them in the bucket.

"One little, two little, three little pumpkins,

Four little, five little, six little pumpkins,

Seven little, eight little, nine little pumpkins,

Ten little pumpkins in the pumpkin patch.

Come on Evan, let's go pick one.

Come on Alan, let's go pick one.

Come on boys, let's go pick one.

Nine little pumpkins in the pumpkin patch."

After there were "No more pumpkins in the pumpkin patch," Evan decided that he would just throw all of the pumpkins out of the bucket.  Both the boys of course thought this was hilarious and he just had to do it several more times!



One little, Two little, Three little pumpkins...

 

Heads up!  Pumpkins pumpkins everywhere!

We read several books about Autumn and talked about all the beautiful colors that we saw in the pictures.  This turned into a good lesson about colors.  We were getting ready to finger paint a pumpkin so I had Evan mix red and yellow paint together so that he could see what would happen.

 

Red

 

Plus yellow



Makes orange!

After his finger painted pumpkin dried, I stapled the edges shut and Evan stuffed it full of wadded up paper towel.  He was so proud of his stuffed pumpkin that we hung it from the fan.  


Stuffing his pumpkin.



Proud of his stuffed pumpkin on display!

Since we had been talking about all the beautiful fall colors, we went outside to see how many colors we could find.  Evan found green, orange, red, yellow, brown, purple, blue, white, and black.  He was most proud of the purple flower he found, and before I knew it he had pulled it off and carried it around the yard on the rest of our color nature hunt.
 

"Mommy, can I take the purple flower to my house?"

We couldn't talk about Autumn without playing in the leaves!  So Evan got his rake and made a nice little pile of leaves for him and Alan to play in.  They had so much fun.  They would make a pile and then Evan would say, "Ready, Set, Go!" and run and slide into it.  Alan just thought it was hilarious!  He played in the leaves too, but was a little distracted by the friendly neighbor cat that came to see what all the laughter was about.  


Evan raking together a pile of leaves.



Alan giving Stella kisses!



Evan having a blast in the leaves!



Alan enjoying the awesome autumn day.

While we played in the leaves, we sang "Autumn-Time is Coming" (sung to the tune of Frere Jacques).

"Red leaves falling, Red leaves falling,

On the ground, On the ground,

Autumn-time is coming, Autumn-time is coming,

All around, All around.

Orange leaves falling, Orange leaves falling,

On the ground, On the ground,

Autumn-time is coming, Autumn-time is coming,

All around, All around.

Brown leaves scattered, Brown leaves scattered,

On the ground, On the ground,

Autumn-time is now here, Autumn-time is now here,

All around, All around."

We used our pumpkin bucket to gather some of the beautiful colored leaves that we found.  Evan was fascinated by the gumballs that had fallen off the trees, so he gathered several of those as well.  When we got inside, we dumped the bucket on the table to see all the beautiful fall colors.   



Admiring all of the fallen treasures that we found.

We used all of the fallen treasures that we found to do several projects.  The first project we did was make leaf rubbings.  We peeled a couple crayons and I showed Evan how to rub the crayon over the paper to make a rubbing of the leaf under the paper.  This was a little tricky for him at first, but he got the hang of it and he made several rubbings. 

Evan learning how to make a leaf rubbing.



Posing with all of his leaf rubbings.

The next project we did was making leaf prints.  Evan dipped leaves in finger paint and then made prints of them.  Anything that involves paint, he loves.  So this was big hit.  It turned into just finger painting.  One of the images that he made looked a lot like a pumpkin.  So after it dried, he drew a "scary face" on it just like our carved pumpkin.  


Making leaf prints.



Proud that his picture looked just like our pumpkin!

 The final leaf project we did was making leaf stainglass.  Evan arranged several of his favorite leaves on some wax paper.  Then he shaved some crayons all over the leaves and wax paper.  I showed him how to iron over his project to melt the crayons and paper together.  And when he was done, WA LA!  He had a beautiful leaf stainglass!  It didn't turn out quite like I had thought it would, but Evan thought it was awesome!  So that's all that mattered!


Evan shaving crayons all over his project.



He already LOVES to vaccuum, and now this!  His wife is going to thank me one day!



Evan's beautiful leaf stainglass!

 A wonderful family friend, aka Nanny, gave Evan a packet of fun fall activities called, "God made the Garden Seasons!  It is FALL!".  It went along perfectly with what we had been talking about and doing today.  We reviewed the 4 seasons and talked about what happens to the garden during each one.  In the Spring, the garden soil wakes up.  It's time to plant garden seeds.  There are cool days and warm days.  Ladybug eggs hatch.  In the Summer, the garden soil is moist and warm.  It's time for garden plants to bloom and grow.  There are warm days and hot days.  Ladybugs do their job - they eat bugs that harm the garden plants.  In the Fall, it's harvest time.  There are warm days and cool days.  Then comes winter and the garden soil rests.  There are cold days and the ladybugs sleep.  Nanny had given Evan worksheets to go along with her lesson.  He followed along as we talked about the seasons and then he glued some seeds onto the vine.


Gluing seeds onto the vine.

Then we talked more about Ladybugs and how God made them on Day 6.  He cut out and glued some things on the worksheet and then drew a picture of a ladybug.  If you look closely you can make it out.  He was trying to make it look like the one on the paper.  I thought he did a really good job!


Proud of his Ladybug Worksheet!

Then we made a Ladybug puppet and Evan couldn't wait to put on a puppetshow!  I had checked out a book on ladybugs from the library and Evan wanted to read it to his Ladybug puppet.  Before he went to bed tonight, I asked him what his favorite part of the day was.  He said, "My Ladybug!"  Thank-you so much Nanny for giving us these fun fall activities!  You made Evan's day!


Putting on a puppet show with his new favorite puppet!



Reading a ladybug book to his new friend.

 To top off the whole day, Nanny gave us the ingredients and recipe to make a delicious fall pie.  Evan had so much fun making it!  It is made with Cushaw squash - fresh out of this years garden.  When I got the squash out for him to put in, he said, "What is it?  Applesauce, or something?"  He couldn't wait for it to get out of the oven.  I turned the oven light on for him and he kept running into the kitchen to watch it bake.  He just kept saying, "That is so cool!"  When it finally got done (to him it seemed to take an eternity to bake!) he was proud of it.  He got to enjoy the first piece.  He liked it so much that he told me to take the coolwhip off - that he just wanted his pie!  What a wonderfully sweet way to end our awesome autumn day!


Evan making the delicious Fall pie!



While rolling out the pie crust he says, "Mommy, it's kind of like making bread!"



Patting the crust down into the pie pan.



So proud of his first pie!



YUMMY!

When he finished his piece, he kept begging for more.  I told him that he could have some more tomorrow.  His response, "Can tomorrow be today?" 

We had such a fun day!  The highlight of my day was as I was tucking Evan into bed, he said, "I love you so much Mommy!  Thanks for playing school with me today!"  WOW!  That just melted my heart!  Thank-you Evan for being such a joy and blessing to my life.  I am so glad that I am your Mommy and that we get to share all these moments together.  I hope that you never forget them - I know I won't!