Fall Colors Lesson Plan

Art:
Fall Color collage
Use construction paper or card stock as the background where the kids can glue different colored materials. For fall colors, use orange, green, red and yellow. The materials can be anything you can find around the house.
Paper,
Felt,
Other fabric,
Pictures of things like pumpkins, apples, leaves etc,
Pompoms,
Leaves
And whatever else you can think of for fall.

Coloring Pages:
Here are some fall theme coloring pages that I found.
Basket of apples,

fall leaves,
or
acorns.


Literacy:
Make a fall colors book.
Fall Colors Book

Sensory Play:
Fill a tub with fall colored pompoms, plastic apples, plastic pumpkins, acorns, leaves etc along with some cups and scoops.
There are a lot of good ideas for sensory tubs out there.
Autumn Sensory Tub
from School Time Adventures.
Autumn Sensory Bin
from 1Plus1Plus1.

Play-dough:
Pumpkin Pie Recipe
Play-dough Recipe
Add apple spices and food coloring.

Movement:
Take a nature walk.
Talk about the colors you see.
The leaves changing,
Fallen leaves and acorns,
Dark clouds,
Talk about other things you see, smell, hear and feel.

Math:
Take a platter or tray with dividers.
Cut pieces of red, green, yellow and brown construction paper and tape them inside the tray.
Have the children sort objects by color such as leaves, acorns, pumpkins, apples, etc. Basically, you can use any objects that are the colors you want them to recognize.

Matching:
Fall Colors Matching

Fall Colored Snacks or additions to Meals:
Red: Apple, strawberries or anything with tomato sauce.
Orange: orange slices, pumpkin, carrots.
Yellow: Corn, pineapple, bananas, cheese.
Green: Grapes, apple, Broccoli, celery.
Blue: Blueberries.
Brown: Wheat bread, whole wheat oat meal, brown rice, chocolate.
Idea inspired by the following post from: Counting Coconuts.

Families Theme Lesson Plan

Art:
Make family portraits.
Have the children draw with crayons or markers on paper or a paper plate.
If the portrait is on a paper plate, you can attach a piece of yarn to it to hang it on the wall.

Make a family collage:
Have the children cut out pictures of people and pets from magazines. Then glue them on to paper. Let the children tell you about their picture. They can tell you why they picked the pictures and who they resemble in their family. This would work better with children who are at least preschool age.

What I like about my family book:
Have the children bring in pictures of each member of their family. Make a book for each child or have the children make them by stapling pieces of construction paper together. Glue a picture on each page. Then you can ask the children what they like about each member of the family and write it for them.

Dramatic Play:
You can use doll houses with the different people figures. I’ve seen the figures that are made to look like grandparents, babies, bigger children, people of different races etc.

Have a corner set up like the home. You can use a kitchen play set or turn a sensory table into a dish washing center. The kids I work with loved that one. One boy said, “we’re being like grown-ups.” We put water, a tiny bit of dish soap, plastic dishes, sponges, dish rags and a scrub brush.

Last year, I also turned the sensory table into a baby washing center with babies, soap, brushes and wash cloths. The kids always love anything to do with water so there’s always a waiting line.
You could do cooking, cleaning, taking care of babies or get other ideas from the children. Ask them what sorts of things they help out with in the home or what they do with their families.

For some extra sensory play, let the children use baby powder, baby shampoo, baby oil, lotion and wipes to wash babies. It’s probably a better idea to only use one or two of those things at a time since it’d make a huge mess.

To include some science and sorting in your family theme, play a file folder matching game. I don’t have one made up so I can’t take a picture of it, but cut out pictures of mother and baby animals. Tape one picture to the folder and laminate the corresponding picture. Have the children match the mothers and babies. You could also have pictures of animal families and match it with pictures of the same single animal. That way it would be asking the children which family does this animal belong to.

To learn about social studies, you could also have families bring in photos of each member and have the children glue them to paper trees. You can compare families and discuss different types of families. Some families only have one parent, some have two parents, some families are living with grandparents, some families are big while others are small etc.

Literacy:

Are You My Mother?

I Like It When...


Just Like Mommy
They have a version for dads as well and you can find it through the link above.

Fall Theme Lesson Plan

Literacy:
The Tiny Seed, by Eric Carle
A counting book, The Case of the Disappearing Acorns
Math: Sorting leaves, pinecones and acorns by color or type of object.
Sensory: Grab bag.
Contains fake apples, pumpkins, gourds, acorns and other fall related objects.
Children are to guess what’s in the bag before looking at it.

Apple Match
Cut out apples of green, yellow, and red. Put corresponding apples on a manilla folder.
Have your children match the apples.
You could also do this with pictures of food made from apples or make another matching game using pictures of different types of leaves.

Fine Motor:
Have two baskets.
Fill one with nuts and a set of tongs.
Have the children transfer the nuts from one basket to another using the tongs.
If some of the children are allergic to nuts, use fall colored pompoms or acorns.

For dramatic play, you could turn an area into a farmers market since they are selling fruits and vegetables through the fall.
You could include:
Cash register,
Fake money,
Fake fruits such as apples, peaches, pears, pomegranates,
Fake vegetables such as corn, gourds, pumpkins etc.
You could include boxes and or jars of foods that can be made with those fruits and vegetables.
For an extension of that area, you could set up a small tub of water where the children could pretend to wash the fruits and veggies.
I thought of this idea on the spot so if you can think of anything to add, feel free.

Movement:
Take a nature walk to collect leaves and other fall objects.

Art:
CRUSHED LEAF MOSAIC
Materials:
Dried leaves,
Construction paper,
Glue.


Steps:
1. Gather a small bag of fallen leaves.
2. Dry them out completely.
3. Crush the leaves.
4. Cut a piece of paper into a leaf shape and give it to the child
5. Cover the leaf shape with glue and sprinkle on the crushed leaves.

Discussions: Different types of leaves and the trees they come from. Also, discuss when seasons change and the cycle of how leaves fall off trees and new leaves grow next spring.


Leaf Wreath
What You Need:
Leaves (various colors preferred)
Paper Plate
Paste
What You Do:
Have your children collect interesting leaves.
Next, cut the center of the plate out and let your children attach their leaves.
Painting with Apples
Cut an apple in half and let the children stamp or paint with it.

Recipes:
Frozen Pumpkin Treats
For each child, mix 1 tsp. pumpkin-pie filling with 3
Tablespoons whipped topping. Spread on one graham cracker and top with another
Graham cracker
. Freeze.

Individual Pumpkin Pies
For each child: Measure 1/4 cup of vanilla pudding, 1
Tsp canned pumpkin and dash of pumpkin spice; mix together. Put mixture in single bowl. –serve with graham cracker crust and top with one candy pumpkin.

Reading, Math and Science Activities for an About Me Theme

Here are some more ideas for an about me theme.

For infants, have plenty of mirrors around so the children can study their faces and facial expressions. Infants and toddlers can try mimicking facial expressions while looking in the mirror. Mirrors are good for older children too. For preschoolers, they can try to draw what they see in the mirror.

For infants and toddlers, look at photos of the child and family members. See if they can pick out who’s who and talk about what they see in the picture. It can be a good labeling activity for infants and toddlers.
Preschoolers enjoy looking at photos too. You can take photos of them throughout the day doing normal things like playing, eating, getting ready to go outside etc. Make a picture schedule that you can add to and change. This can also be good for toddlers or any child getting used to a new routine.


For preschoolers, make a photo matching game.
Have two photos of each child in the class and have the kids try to match them up. To make it more challenging, you can do a memory game with it were all the photos are face down on the table and the kids have to remember where the photos are in order to match them up.

Look at fingerprints.
Fingerprint each child. Have the children look through magnifying glasses so that they can see the differences between fingerprints. You can talk about how everyone’s fingerprint is unique.

You can do a measuring activity. Have the children measure how tall they are against a piece of string. Cut the string to their height and then tape them to a large piece of paper. The children can see how tall they are and will be able to compare it to their friends.

For literacy, you can find or make picture books that have different people and faces for infants to look at. You can read books that go along with the theme to children of any age. There are a lot of books to choose from. I like It's Not Easy Being a Bunny. It’s a cute book and it’s about how Bunny tries being something he’s not, but in the end, he finds out that he likes being himself after all.

For preschoolers, you can have them draw pictures and decorate pages with things about themselves. They can use handprints, family photos, pictures of their favorite foods and things to do, pieces of paper or stickers that show their favorite colors etc. If they can write, they can write a sentence or two about each page or they can tell you what to write for them. You can keep these books on hand so the children can look at them later to learn about each other and enjoy their creations.

Ocean Theme Lesson Plan

Ocean Theme Lesson Plan

Literacy:
A House for Hermit Crab by Eric Carle
or
By the Seashore : A Natural Trail Book (A Touch and Feel Adventure)
or
Islands of Ice: The Story of a Harp Seal
Ocean theme word wall with pictures of sea creatures labeled.

Music and movement: Ocean finger plays:
Five Little Sea Creatures


Five little sea creatures
On the ocean floor;
The lobster walked away
Now there are four.
Four little sea creatures
Living in the sea;
The octopus crept away
Now there are three.
Three little sea creatures
Wondering what to do;
"Good-bye," said the starfish
Now there are two.
Two little sea creatures
Not having much fun;
Off swam the sea horse
Now there is one.
One little hermit crab
Sad and all alone,
Back came the starfish,
Back came the sea horse,
Back came the octopus,
Back came the lobster,
Then all five went home.


Five Cranky Crabs

Five cranky crabs were digging on the shore.
One swam into a net and then there were four.
Four cranky crabs were floating in the sea.
One got tangled up in seaweed then there were three.
Three Cranky crabs were wondering what to do.
One dug a deep, deep hole. Then there were two.
Two cranky crabs were warming in the sun.
One got scooped up in a cup. Then there was one.
One cranky crab was smarter than his friends.
He hid between the jagged rocks.
That's how the story ends.


Math:
Shell sorting,
Pouring water or sand in the sensory table,
Seashell Match Up
Sensory:
Sensory tub with sand and water: have kids dig for shells.
Water and fish in the sensory table with nets to catch the fish.

Science:

Ocean Bottle
Materials:
Plastic bottle,
water,
blue food coloring,
glitter,
pebbles,
sand,
shells,
plastic fish
and some hot glue.


Steps:
1. Clean out an empty plastic pop bottle.
2. Add water, blue food coloring, glitter, and maybe a few pebbles. Also, you can add sand, shells, or plastic fish.
3. Seal the bottle closed using a little hot glue and allow to completely dry before the children can play with it.


Note: Have the children tip or role the bottle to see what happens.

Discussion: What happens when you role or tip the bottle?
What happens in the actual ocean?
What kind of creatures live in the ocean?
How do those creatures get their food?
What do we get from the ocean?

Extension:
Listen to sounds of different fish, sea birds and the ocean atmosphere.
Make a guessing game out of different sea sounds.
Take a trip to the beach.


Fine motor:
Make shell or starfish imprints in play dough.

Art:
Sea shell rubbings with crayons.

Sand art in beach buckets that cover like the ones below.
Take small cups of sand and add food coloring.
Mix well.
Have the kids scoop the sand from the cups to the buckets in layers so they can create a cute beach bucket while practicing their pouring and scooping skills.


They came in packs of three and they had bubblegum inside.

Pasta Shell Painting
Use large pasta shells and paint.
Let the kids paint them any way they want and you can discuss how no two shells are alike.

Dramatic play:
OCEAN PLAY AREA


Directions:
Turn the space under a card table into an ocean hideout for your child.
1. First, hang some blue crepe paper streamers or twisty ribbon all around the table so that it hangs down to the floor.
2. Next, place some pillow "rocks" inside for your sea creatures.
3. Provide your child with some plastic or stuffed sea animals to place in the den.
4. Decorate with pictures of the sea and place books about the sea inside.
You can add plush animals like the ones below to any ocean themed dramatic play area or put them on display.