As fall sets in, you might notice your kids having a little trouble paying attention to their education. The holidays are right around the corner and it’s easy to lose focus with so many distractions.
To help keep your child engaged and excited about school, try out some fall educational activities focusing on skill development and learning. You’ll get them interested in learning while motivating them with exciting sights, sounds, and problems.
Let’s take a look at some fun activities you can do with your child this autumn.
1. Pumpkin Seeds Exploration
Pumpkins are an excellent, versatile tool and the center of several activities to do in the fall. They’re large, brightly colored, and great for educational play. Get kids involved — they can watch you carve the pumpkin and help you scoop out the seeds. Have them talk about the different textures and smells they notice. Once you have the seeds washed and cleaned, there are several things you can do with them:
- Rainbow seeds: Dry the seeds and place them in a plastic bag. Add liquid watercolor to the bag and seal. Shake the bag, drain the liquid, and remove the seeds onto newspaper or paper towels to dry. Once you have your rainbow seeds, you can use them for kid-friendly crafts, have children review the color names and play grouping games with them. Get your kids involved in the dying process for extra fun.
- Counting practice: Take dry pumpkin seeds, dice, and a silicone tray. Have your child roll the dice and place the corresponding number of seeds into the tray. This practice will help them become more familiar with numbers.
- Roasting: Getting kids involved in the kitchen is a great way to practice various skills. Toss dry pumpkin seeds in a bowl with oil, salt, and paprika. Spread the well-coated seeds evenly on a lined baking tray and bake for around 20 minutes at 375 F. Let your kids help you measure the ingredients, coat the seeds, and place them on the tray. Ask them about numbers, textures, and smells while you perform the activity.
2. Leaf Art Rubbing Activity
A good fall activity is one that embraces the season, and how better to do so than with the changing leaves? You can make this change an educational opportunity for your children with a fun leaf-rubbing activity.
First, take them outside to look at all the falling leaves. Talk to them about how the changes in temperature and daylight lead plants to stop their food-making process. Once they no longer make food, the chlorophyll that turns their leaves green breaks down, the leaves begin to change colors, and they fall from the trees.
You can accompany this lesson with some colorful leaf art. Gather crayons and printer paper and head outside. Have your child pick out their favorite leaves and place them under the paper. Have them slowly rub the crayon across the paper over the top of the leaf. An outline of the leaf will form! As they gather rubbings, you can discuss different tree species and parts of a leaf with them.
3. Fall Play Dough
Give your child a project-based learning experience by making fall play dough with them. Fall play dough provides the perfect autumn activity, with warm scents, bright colors, exciting textures, and an involved creation method. Have your child hunt around the kitchen to help you gather these ingredients:
- 1 cup flour
- ½ cup salt
- 1 tablespoon cream of tartar
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 cup water
- Food coloring
- Pumpkin pie spice
To make your play dough:
- Add flour, salt, and cream of tartar to a medium pot.
- Add oil, water, several drops of food coloring, and a dash of pumpkin pie spice.
- Stir the mixture over medium heat until it forms a ball in the pot center.
- Take play dough out of the pot and place it on the counter or parchment paper to cool.
- Once the dough has cooled slightly, form it into a ball.
- Enjoy!
Get your child involved by teaching them about the different scents and ingredients. You can make multiple balls with red, brown, and orange food coloring and experiment with the spices to make different fall scents.
4. Write a Fall Haiku
Fall is a wonderful time for writing activities — the changing season can inspire gorgeous imagery and metaphors. Getting your kids engaged in some fall haikus can teach them about various writing techniques and inspire a love of poetry. Teach them haikus’ syllable and line structure and talk about their usual focus on nature. You can have them pen their haikus on their leaf-rubbing art to make it even more fall-themed.
5. Pine Cone Decor
Pine cone art is a staple of fall activities for kids. Send your kids out or take a family walk to collect any fallen pine cones they see. Once you have a good-sized collection, it’s time to break out the crafting supplies.
Your child can use feathers, googly eyes, glitter, construction paper, and kid-safe glue to personalize their pine cones. One common craft is pine cone turkeys — glue feathers on the back, place googly eyes on the front, and cut out small construction paper beaks to complete the look.
Share some fun facts about pine cones as you collect and create to keep kids learning!
6. Favorite Fall Foods Graph
A fall foods graph is a great way to incorporate education with your child’s personal interests. Have them draw a bar graph or make one on the computer if they’re old enough. They can label their favorite fall foods on the X-axis and how much they like them on a scale of one to 10 on the Y-axis.
Let them decorate the graph and use different colors so they can customize it even more. Some food examples are pumpkin pie, apple cider, cinnamon rolls, and candy apples.
Explore Personalized Learning at CCA
At CCA, we believe in developing every student to their fullest potential. You, your student, and their teacher design a personalized learning program to create the best possible education for your child. Our fully-virtual school allows children to work at their own pace and receive individual attention when needed. Our individualized approach helps foster confidence in students and encourages them to see education as fun and intriguing.
While cyber schooling takes place at home, we offer a variety of socialization opportunities to help your children meet essential social needs without sacrificing a quality education. Additionally, you and your child can engage in many outdoor activities to foster growth and education. Encourage hands-on learning with CCA and help your child achieve success. Request more information about CCA online today!
