Preschool ~ Fall

A lot of our activities this week have involved the changing season. It is finally starting to look like fall around here, with the weather cooling down, leaves falling, wind, and lots of pumpkins everywhere :)

Fall Theme

Smiley is fascinated by pumpkins (he already was last year). He completed this pumpkin cycle. I can't remember where I got it, but maybe from Montessori Now?

We then did the same with our Apple Cycle cards...

We baked our first pumpkin muffins of the season. Smiley was an excellent helper measuring the ingredients, pouring, and stirring.

And we all liked the finished product :)

We did quite a few puzzles this week as well...

Waldorf

I am beginning to like several Waldorf traditions more and more. One is oral story telling. I found a very cute apple story, that I told the kids. Smiley is very imaginative and LOVED the story. He even jumped in at several points adding some information to the story ;) I told the story LITTLE RED HOUSE, which you can find on page 103 of this booklet. In the end of the story, the little boy finds the little red house, with a star inside by cutting opening his apple, so this is what we did... We then used our apple star to make apple prints.

 One of the most important parts of our days is going outside. We go for a nature walk, a bike ride, a walk along the beach, or to play at the playground at least once every day, but we try our best to go out twice, once in the  morning and once in the evening. I find it so so so important to spend lots of time outside at this young age. My kids have plenty of energy and need lots of time to run around outside and explore nature. One of Smiley's favorite activities is to look for snails, worms and bugs :) He was thrilled when it rained this week and we went on a snail expedition (his name, lol). Another evening this week was spent on the beach. It was quite windy and chilly, which really confirms the change of the season...

Math
We continued to work on sequencing the numbers 10-20 and 20-30, with the help of these fun printables from Confessions of a Homeschooler.

On a different day, I drew a tree and had the kids make a specified number of play dough apples to put on the tree. I got this idea from Homeschool Creations...

The kids were only interested in this idea for a minute. Smiley then made a giant worm, which was much more fun than making apples, apparently. This happens quite commonly by the way, where we start a mama-led game, and after a bit, it turns into child-led play, which is totally fine with me. I think that at this age, kids learn best through play, anyways :)

 Fine Motor Skills...
In terms of fine motor skills, we worked on cutting this week. Smiley cut apart paint samples from a hardware store. His sister then matched them by color...

 After cutting all the pieces, he relaxed on the floor and kept cutting and cutting his pieces into smaller and smaller parts. He plaid that they were tags... He LOVED this. Again, this was totally child-driven and something he truly enjoyed and played for a long time.

Felt Birthday Crown for a Special Girl

Our little girl turned two this week!! I love the adorable Waldorf felt crowns, and of course, I had to make one for my special birthday girl as well. Her favorite colors are purple and pink and she loves flowers, so this crown is inspired by her favorite colors and flowers :)

Here are the simple instructions if you decide to make one yourself :)

You will need:

• Wool felt (I got 100% wool felt from our local natural toys store that we frequent regularly, but you can also find felt online)
• 3/4-1 inch elastic, 5 inches in length
• Embroidery floss and fun things to decorate the crown (beads, buttons, felt etc.)

Instructions:

• Draw a crown template (just half the crown), and cut out
• Fold a piece of felt in half and pin the template on top. Cut out two pieces of felt (one for the front and one for the lining. 
• Decorate the crown front. appliquéd the birthday child's first letter and several felt flowers. 
• Lay the lining on the back of the crown front and pin in place. Insert the elastic in between the two felt pieces and pin in place as well. I covered mine with a piece of fabric (2 inches wide and twice the length of the elastic). 
• Begin sewing your crown together. I hand-sewed it, using a blanket stitch. I used extra stitches when sewing over the elastic, to reinforce it. 

Crown your special birthday princess or prince and let the celebration begin :)

Linked to: The Magic Onions