Autumn Leaves

It is always a joy to get a specific compliment.  Today after teaching Toddler Tales and Trails a mother told me that she will come back and that she especially liked the activity with scarves.  Yeah! It is just a reninder that with 2 year olds- the simplest things bring joy.  I had just taught the song, “Autumn leaves are  falling down, falling down, falling down. Autumn leaves are falling down, red orange yellow and brown…” to the tune of London Bridges.  We then took out scarves and threw them in the air while singing. Smiles and community followed. 

The art of teaching is a dance.   It often is best to work on the simplest level.  Try to develop relationships.  Be playful.  Sing lots!

Here are the stories we read today: The Little Yellow Leaf by Carin Berger, Fall Leaves by Loretta Holland and a book in Haiku One Leaf Rides the Wind by Celeste Davidson Mannis with pictures y Susan Kathleen Hartung.

Toddler Tales and Trails October

Today's focus was: Who lives in the autumn forest and What do they Eat.  We started out with an activity where you glue cut out shapes on paper in the shape of birds.  For the preschool age kids this worked great, for the younger kids it was just an opportunity to chew on markers and paste down shapes.  It is hard to reach the developmental stage of each child, but I call it a success just giving kids access to art materials.  They will develop comfort at their own pace. The activity was also just a time when parents / caregivers could connect.  Then we began our session.

Since it was a rainy day we started with a song called “Pitter Patter, Pitter Patter, The Rain is Coming Down.  Then I shared a poem by Langston Hughes called April Rain Song although today I suggested we call it October Rain Song.  Then we read Bring on the Birds by Susan Stockdale.  Followed by singing Little Bird Come to my window…recalling the birds from the book.   Next we read Earl the Squirrel by Don Freeman and then acted out the Grey Squirrel Song before heading out on our nature hike where we looked for food in the autumn forest.

We found Douglas Fir Cones, lichen, and many insects during our bug hunt.

We played a game of “everybody’s it” but called it squirrel tag and when I said home you had to find a tree to rest on and be safe.

It was a lovely day in the rain.