We’re in full-on fall mode here in the Okanagan and the kids and I have been collecting beautifully coloured leaves since they’ve started falling. Some have become part of the little nature table below our autumn bucket list, some have become leaf creatures, and tonight, a pile of them become part of a fall leaf bath.
I actually set this little fall leaf bath up for Sam last fall and it was such a hit that I had to do it again.
It couldn’t be easier, which I love. Just give your leaves a good rinse and place them on the surface of a tub of water.
This time around I also put some up on the wall – a trick Sam discovered last year. All you have to do is get either the leaf or the wall wet, and so long as the leaf is fairly flat, it’ll magically stick to the wall.
What he discovered this time around? That he could stick a leaf onto a leaf!
While he was playing, we also briefly talked about the different types of leaves in his fall leaf bath… Well, the ones I knew at least. {#momneedstodosometree/leafresearch}
And of course there were leaf hats, leaves stuck on legs and bellies, and several rounds of leaf peek-a-boo.
After Sam was done, it was Miss G’s turn for a bath, and this is what I walked into when she was done… She had separated the leaves by colour and created a game for me by having one misplaced leaf on each wall that needed finding. : ) Gosh, how I love my girl…
Creating a seasonal bucket list of things we’d like to do is sort of becoming a thing for Miss G and I… and I love it. Last year we created this Holiday Bucket List full of all the things we wanted to do throughout the winter holidays and although I didn’t create a digital version, this spring we did the same – only in handwritten form. Our most recent one is this printable autumn bucket list that is currently hanging on the wall in our main living space.
The bucket list includes everything from splashing in puddles to making autumn spice play dough to doing a good deed and taking a family bike ride.
Ours is hung right above the kids’ table that’s turning into a bit of a nature shelf with all of the lovely autumn treasures Grae and Sam have collected while outdoors. It’s low enough for them to access it easily and it’s nice and big as I actually printed it on 11 x 17 paper to make it just a little more kiddo-friendly. {I just took the file down to my local Staples print shop and printed directly from my phone to an 11 x 17 which cost me around 15 cents if I remember correctly.}
No surprise that Grae’s the one who stays on top of updating it and we’ve actually already checked off a pile of items on the list.
That being said, we’re pretty low key about our bucket lists… If the things happen, fantastic, but we certainly don’t stress about completing each and every activity / task. It’s really just there to give us ideas should there be a time when we’re looking for something fun to do and don’t have anything in mind already.
Our space is quite minimalist {okay… maybe ‘stark’ would better describe it} and filled with loads of white with little bits of brick, grey, black, so our black and white minimalist version is a perfect fit, but if you like a little more colour and whimsy in your life, I also created this pretty pastel fall bucket list for CBC Parents:
It doesn’t include quite as many tasks as the black and white version does, but sometimes less is more, right?
And if you’re looking for a custom fall bucket list? My friend Stesha of Stesha Rose. tipped me off about Belle Bucket – a company that creates beautiful minimalist bucket lists that can be printed out on architect’s paper so they’re HUUUUGE.
Welp, the first official day of fall is nearly here and I’m doing my best to embrace it despite the fact that the arrival of fall means we’re that much closer to another loonnnnng winter in our small town. A loonnnng winter in our small town that nearly did me in last year. Now if it were to stay fall for a few months and we got to soak in that crisp fall air mixed with little bursts of sun, the beautiful autumn colours, and sweater weather for a while before transitioning into the snow, freezing cold, parkas, and permanently feeling like a block of ice, I’d totally be down for that. Come on Mother Nature, work with me here! {Pleeeaaase.}
I usually switch up our play dough and play dough kits each season despite the fact that our go-to homemade play dough can last even longer than that {our black, sparkly play dough that was part of our tinker play dough activity is still going strong!}, so this week Sam and I whipped up the most delicious smelling autumn spice play dough.
It’s just our basic no-cook play dough recipe {made without food colouring or flavour packets} with a few of our favourite fall spices added to it, and let me tell you – it smells divine! {We chose to use cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves, but if we would have had allspice on hand, I would have added that too!}
To make it, we measure out our dry ingredients plus our vegetable oil and glycerine into a large bowl.
Then we whisk it up really well.
Next, I add the boiling water and immediately mix it {quite vigorously} to get the texture as uniform as possible. As soon as it’s cool enough to handle, I get my hands in there, bring it all together in a ball…
And then dump it out onto a clean, dry countertop.
The one question I always get asked about our play dough is how we get such a smooth texture, and it’s all about the kneading! I knead our play dough for probably a solid 2 or 3 minutes, or until it’s pretty much cool. I know that there’s a proper way to knead doughs, but when it comes to our play dough recipe, I start with it all in a mass close to me…
Then I push it away from me while using a decent amount of pressure to flatten it right out. Then I pull it back and repeat. (Many, many times.) I find that this method works well when the dough is still a little sticky {our recipe tends to feel a little wet until completely cool} and it really works to get rid of any little lumps an bumps that might be hiding in the dough. By the time it’s completely cool, the dough should be smooth as can be and should no longer be sticky.
Can you tell how smooth it is?
I’m pretty sure we’ve made some version of this play dough every fall since Miss G was one or two years old, and I love pairing it with natural loose parts. We often go out on a nature walk and collect conkers, acorns, pinecones, and pretty leaves to pair it with, but another favourite over the years has been whole spices and that’s what we decided to go with this time around.
Sam and I popped by our local bulk store and picked up some cinnamon sticks, cardamom pods, whole allspice, whole nutmeg, some anise stars, and some whole cloves – all of which smell amazing and have interesting shapes and textures. Then I popped everything into one of my favourite divided trays {I got this one in Kuwait at City Star in Egaila} and set it out on the table with a couple of placemats for the kids to discover after school.
I love having some sort of invitation to play or create out on the table in the afternoons… It’s always something that is open-ended and requires very little / no adult help, which means that they can just dive in and play or create independently, which I think is good for all of us, but especially Grae.
After a long day at school, I really find that she just needs some time to unwind and decompress… Some time when there’s nothing expected of her and nothing she has to do on a timeline – and creating or reading seem to be two really good options for her.
I often pick a chilled out, calming playlist on Spotify and play that too, which really sets the mood for some low-key, focused play.
Of course with play dough and loose parts, there’s really no end goal. Miss G usually works on some sort of careful creation…
While sam loves to burry and poke and dig and hide.
Both of which are equally valuable, important ways to play.
Here’s our autumn spice play dough recipe…
Autumn Spice Play Dough
1 cup of all-purpose flour
1/4 cup of table salt
1 tablespoon of cream of tartar
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of nutmeg
1 teaspoon of ground cloves
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
1 tablespoon of glycerine
3/4 cup of boiling water (measured in a dry measuring cup – this is important as wet and dry measures aren’t the same)
Place all of the ingredients, save the boiling water, in a bowl and whisk well. Measure the water using your dry measuring set and add it to the bowl. Give the mixture a quick mix with a wooden spoon, banging off it off every once and a while. At this point, the mixture may seem too wet and sticky to make good play dough… Do not fret! Once the dough has cooled just a little, use your hands to carefully bring it into and ball and then dump it out onto the countertop and knead really well. You’ll know you’re done when the dough is fully cooled, soft and squishy, and no longer sticky
My gosh it’s been cold in the Okanagan already… The other day, after a two degree school drop-off, I actually told Brad that I don’t know how I’m going to make it through the winter up here. My bones are chattering just at the thought of several months in the negative temperatures – brrrr! All I have to say is thank goodness for fire places, fuzzy slippers, cozy blankets, and hot lattes. Thankfully the kiddos don’t seem to be as bothered by the cold as I am, though they’ll very happily take a steamed milk anytime one is offered. Lately I’ve been making them these delicious maple spice steamers on chilly mornings and crisp afternoons and they’ve just been loving them.
Fall has officially arrived here in Vancouver and it is absolutely beautiful. So today when Miss G suggested finishing off our day by going for a walk and park visit after school, she certainly didn’t have to convince me.
After a couple of years away, it was so nice to be able to spend Thanksgiving weekend up in the Okanagan with family this year. Sadly, our visit also involved saying goodbye to one of Brad’s uncles, but overall, it was filled with loads of visiting, gorgeous fall weather, time outdoors, and {way too much} delicious food.
Ahhh…. Autumn. It’s something we haven’t experienced in the last couple of years, and though I certainly would mind being poolside soaking up Kuwait’s 40 degree heat currently, I’m loving seeing all of the beautiful fall colours pop up early around Vancouver this year. Of course, Gracen {my little collector of sticks, rocks, and all things nature} is loving it too. There are just so many fun things to be discovered outside right now!
Last year Gracen and I created our first ever showcase of gratefulness with a giant thankful tree. I loved having a visual representation of all of the things she felt thankful for and the process of creating the tree together provided the perfect opportunity for us to discuss just how much we have to be grateful for. This year, we decided to switch things up a little bit. We once again created fall leaves {but this time using real leaves as stamps} and then turned them into a beautiful garland of thanks.
Today before starting on our stamped leaf garland of thanks, Miss G and I did a classic kid project – leaf rubbings! Although we’ve tried rubbings once before while still in Canada, Grae was only 2 then and the process was still a little tricky for her. At 4 though? She rocked it!
Throughout our days together, it’s not unusual for Gracen to come up to me and say something like, ‘Okay, Mama. There are 3 little ducks swimming in the pond at the park. 2 more ducks come to swim. How many ducks are there now?’ The girl comes prepared, too. More times than not, she has a pencil sketch on a huge piece of white paper in her arms to help illustrate the problem. She waits for my response eagerly, then pauses to calculate the total herself once she’s received my answer. I get a peppy ‘Yup! You are right!’ and then it’s my turn to create a story problem for her to solve. This goes on again and again.
Last year I asked Gracen what she was thankful for, and her answers melted my heart. This year, I decided it would be fun to make a visual representation of her responses so that we could revisit and reflect upon them throughout the weekend.
A thankful tree is something I’ve actually done in my classroom many times before. We start the project out as a group with a read aloud, a discussion, and everyone contributing a few leaves, and then throughout the week the students are free to add leaves as they are reminded of things they’re grateful for. It’s always turned out to be a gorgeous project that serves as a wonderful reminder of just how much we all have to be thankful for. Our smaller at home version was no different. We’ve revisited it many times and added things as Miss G has requested to and the entire project, start to finish, was a lot of fun.
It started a week or so ago in our courtyard with a stack of coffee filters, some watered down food colouring (we used approximately 3 tablespoons of water for 10 drops of colouring), some droppers, and an old piece of cardboard as a work surface.
Using a stack of 2 or 3 at a time, Grae squeezed our homemade watercolours out onto the filters and watched the colours run and mix to create gorgeous colour combinations and patterns. Here in the October heat, they dried so quickly that I was able to cut them into very simple leaf shapes as she continued painting more filters.
Throughout the week, we talked about things we were both thankful for and I recorded one idea on each leaf.
Some of the things she felt happy to have were really eye opening. While I do appreciate the construction across the street from our building for the entertainment / education if provides Miss G, often times it just seems like a whole lot of extra noise, dust, and traffic. Well, Gracen doesn’t agree. She said she’s happy to have it because “it’s really cool and we get to watch all of the cool stuff happen like big trucks and cranes and cement coming”.
When we were ready to assemble our tree of thanks, I sketched an outline of a leafless tree onto an Ikea flatpack I had tucked away. Brad cut it out and we hung it in our main room using painter’s tape rolls.
Then it was time for Gracen to begin adding her leaves.
She added all of these on her own, save the very top row, and I love how she included a few falling leaves “since it’s fall”.
My favourite of the bunch has to be “Papa’s nice socks”. And it’s true – she really does love Brad’s tall athletic socks – so much so, that she can often be sporting them {hiked up around her thighs} around the house.
I haven’t decided what we’ll do when we take our thankful tree down, but I may just keep the leaves and make them into some sort of thankful book… We shall see!
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Contact paper is one of those art supplies that we always keep on hand. It’s awesome for using with glitter and is a ton of fun stuck up on a wall, plus if you pick it up on the roll at the dollar store like we do, it’s really inexpensive too. Knowing that it can be found here in Kuwait (my team of first grade teachers used it all the time during our first stint here), I didn’t pack any with us from Canada. So imagine my dismay when I found myself amidst a giant back to school / office supply display the other night with not a single roll of clear contact paper in sight {the horror!} The lovely lady working in the section did turn me onto something else, however, and in fact, I think it’s even better than the rolls we usually get. When she first handed me the package, I was skeptical. Clear book covers? For real? But then I realized a few things… 1) They are essentially just pre-cut sheets of contact paper. 2) They are inexpensive and sold in packs of 10, which covers a lot of future projects. 3) They come flat so I’d have to wrestle with tightly rolled contact paper no longer – score {ecause we all know how annoying that is}!
Let’s be real here for a moment… At 43 degree this afternoon, it doesn’t feel like fall here in Kuwait in the least. So when I told Gracen that today was the very first day of fall, she glanced out the window, furrowed her brow and said, “It certainly doesn’t look like fall!’ in an almost accusatory tone. Hah! Gotta love her spunk. I told her that she was right and that the desert is tricky when it comes to seasons, but back home in Canada, fall changes are beginning to happen. We read a stack of fall-themed books which seemed to help convince her, then decided to create a fall tree in celebration.
I’ve been a long time fan of No Time for Flashcards, so when Allison, the author, announced that her very first post was live on Adventures in Learning (the new PBS Parents blog), I headed on over to check it out. As usual, her learning activity was creatively set up, engaging as could be, and easy to put together. While we really haven’t started doing activities that have specific learning outcomes in mind (we’re more in the play and learn along the way stage), Gracen does love counting and all sorts of games, so I decided we’d give it a shot.
Books for the trip.
