Sticky Sensory Bin

I started by putting wood pellets in the two tubs.

 Then I added a Pringles can that I had covered with brown paper 

then with contact paper - sticky side out.

 Finally I added acrylic leaves in the side with the Pringle can

 and acrylic acorns in the other tub with a big coffee can

that I had cut a hole in the top.

 It was a mistake putting the sticky can into the tub with all the wood pellets

because they stuck to it and left little room for the leaves.

 It worked better to put the sticky can on the tray between the two tubs

The children's fingers stuck to the can while they tried to stick leaves on.

It was a struggle keeping the can upright sometimes.

 She tried sticking an acorn to the can but it was too round.

The other tub wasn't played with as much.

The children were more curious about sticking leaves to a can

rather than dropping acorns in a can.

It was fun picking everything off to clear space.

Painting Leaves

We have been playing with leaves.

Shaking them from the tree and raking them up

into baskets.

An invitation to paint leaves the same colours as the ones we are seeing outside.

Watercolour paints and leaf shaped paper invited them to paint.

Mixing the paint and water was a side bonus for the toddlers.

I noticed calmness and focus.

The children really enjoyed this activity and we had so many leaves

that we used them as a border on our bulletin board.

Pinching Leaves

         
                While thrift shopping I found this tree, a photo tree. 
        I like to offer different ways of seeing things and practicing skills.
       
                      I placed it in a basket with fabric leaves to hang.

It took the children several tries to figure out how to work it.  It takes two
hands; one to pinch and the other to place the leaf inside, then close.

They had more success removing the leaves which made it a great parent
                                participation activity.

Match the Leaves

                  
This is a sticky matching activity.  The leaves are drawn on a piece of paper and then covered with sticky contact paper, with the sticky side out.
              
 
The children search through the basket, pick a leaf and match it to the shapes.  I realized I have way too many leaves in the basket which made it difficult to find the different shapes.  Next time I’ll put a few of each shape.
                         
This activity helped us look closely at the leaves and talk about how many points and parts each have.
            
I need to look for better contact paper as this one didn’t hold the leaves very long.
        
   The leaves were moved over to our trees and were perfect for raking.

Autumn Leaves

             
A favourite activity to do at this time of year is to paint leaves and make prints.
 
               

                 
        
You can paint over the same leaf with more colour and the prints continue to look wonderful.

Leaf Hunt

This week we walked in to our forest to look for four
          specific leaves.
     
This is our fourth week walking down the same path. 
      Each time we have a different goal. 
           
Each time I notice more children are taking the lead
            in the adventure.

Checking their findings as the grown ups are there for support.

       And sharing the experience together.
        
We are very fortunate to have this lovely woods just
        out the back door of our school.