Fun Fall Leaf Activities & A Simple Explanation for Color Changing Leaves

Your curious kiddo has probably noticed the changing colors of the leaves that mark the beginning of fall. Color changing leaves are pretty magical, but the science behind the magic is so simple that even the littlest leaf lovers can understand!Start by explaining that trees grow and thrive by eating, just like kids do. Trees happen to eat glucose, which they make all by themselves, using water from the ground, carbon dioxide from the air, and sunshine from the sky. Plants put this recipe together in their leaves, which contain something called chlorophyll, which happens to be green. You can tell a plant is “full” of good, healthy food when its leaves are green. But as winter approaches, the sun shines less than it does in summer and it’s harder for the trees to make their “food”. The less food a plant makes, the less green chlorophyll it has, and the more you can see the yellow, orange, and red colors that were there all along, covered by the green.You can bring this mini-science lesson to life with fun arts and crafts using beautiful fall leaves! We’ve compiled four awesome projects from some of our favorite bloggers below:

• Doodled Autumn Leaf Mandala – Check out this gorgeous piece of fall wall art, made of kid-doodled leaves arranged in a mandala shape, from our friends at The Artful Parent!
• Sticky Picture Frame – Make your fall leaves last forever by capturing them in sticky paper and framing them with sturdy twigs collected on a nature walk! Find step by step instructions at NurtureStore.
• Lovely Leaf Prints – Make colorful leaf prints using a press and print method perfect for preschoolers, as outlined by the experts at the Kleas preschool!
• Classic Leaf Rubbings – Pour some warm cups of cider and settle in for an old school leaf rubbing session using just leaves, paper, and crayons, with our friends at Hands On As We Grow!And don’t forget to check out the leaves up-close you’ve collected underneath your GeoSafari® Jr. My First Microscope! With a bright LED light, easy-focus knob, and two extra-large eyepieces, your child will view the leaf’s veins magnified 8x larger!

Download and print these activity sheets for FREE, and add a little color to yourPlayfoam® Pals™!

[ Click here to download connect the name coloring page in PDF format ]

[ Click here to download maze coloring page in PDF format ]

Sneak in Some Skill Development with 7 Everyday Activities That Are Actually Fun!

Developing fine motor skills is super important. Fine motor skills let us do advanced things like type, knit, and sort the mail, but they’re also a total necessity if you want to do practical things like hold a spoon or button your pants. Many kids need a bit of extra work to develop these skills and we’ve found a few ways to sneak in some fine motor practice that’s fun. Give ‘em a go and let us know which activity your kiddo likes best.

Touchy Touchy

Clapping hands and touching fingers are a great way to get started with fine motor development. First, see if your child can clap their hands together. Then see if they can clap their hands to yours. Next, challenge your little one to tap the fingers on one of their hands to the fingers on the other. If they can do this, show them how to do it one finger at a time, like an evil super hero. Once they’ve got that down, make it a follow-me game. You clap, they clap. You tap, they tap. You do the super hero, they do the super hero. Then switch and let them lead!

Button Buster

Buttons can be tricky to pick up from a table, which makes them a great tool for developing fine motor skills! Set out at least five of each of several colors of buttons and give each player a plastic bowl. Ready, set, sort… challenge each child to find a specific color of button, pick them all up, and put them in their bowl. The first one to finish wins! Bonus – this is a great way to practice colors, too.

Squeeze Those Skills

The act of squeezing is another fun way to develop fine motor skills. Start with a small bowl full of water, placed next to an empty bowl of the same size. Dunk a large sponge into the wet bowl and have your child pick it up and wring it out into the empty bowl. Continue until the first bowl is empty. Put a creative twist on the squishy, squashy, and squeezable play with Playfoam®, the no-stick, no-mess, never-dries-out crafting material that’s just perfect for preschoolers.

Finger Paint Fun

YES! Finger painting is super fun and a perfect way to give those fine motor skills an artistic workout. Squeeze out several colors of paint onto a tin foil lined plate and let your kiddo go to town! Dip a finger, make a mark on a sheet of paper and repeat! Drawing and coloring with pencils and crayons also helps develop fine motor skills – the stubbier the supplies, the better.

Tong Transfer

Get pompom playful with this simple squeezy exercise designed to develop those fine motor skills! Set out a plate and a cupcake tin, hand your little one the kitchen tongs, and show them how to use the tongs to pick up the pompoms and place them, one at a time, in the cupcake tin. Older kids can use tweezers to pick up smaller objects. Some games, like EI’s The Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel Game even incorporate mini-tongs into game play.

Stack It Up

Block play, including sorting and stacking, really works those motor skills! Challenge your kiddo to stack two blocks on top of each other, gradually adding more when the base seems stable. Lightweight cubes like the Bright Basics™ Nest & Stack Cubes are a great first set, large enough to grasp easily and graduated in size for easier stacking.

Nuts and Bolts

Got a bitty builder on your hands? Screwing a nut onto a bolt is a fabulous way to work those fine motor finger skills. The Design & Drill® My First Workbench encourages constructive kids to use a real, working, mini-drill and kid-friendly hammer to screw colorful bolts and pound sturdy plastic nails directly onto the board. Plus, all the parts store in the attached drawer. Nice.These fine motor activities are brought to you by Bright Basics™ a brand-new line of early learning toys featuring skill-based activities ranging from super-sweet sensory play to splishy, splashy alphabet adventures. Bright Basics celebrates the abilities and possibilities in every bright child.

10 Not-So-Wet-But-Somewhat-Wild (and Totally Family-Friendly) Activity Ideas

Sure, spring break was different before you had kids… but that doesn’t mean it can’t still rock! Below are 10 ideas to help you make the most of your spring break stay-cation, create some awesome family memories, and have some serious PG-style fun.1. Go Wild in the Drive Through Car Wash – We like to name each step – Topsy Tentacles, Rainbow Falls, etc. Turn on some trance and pretend it’s a rave.2. Make Up Some Mad Libs – Pick up some Mad Libs – they’re great parts-of-speech practice for older kids and you can find preschool-appropriate versions here Fill ‘em out, then act ‘em out together, Jimmy Fallon-style.3. Rock Kid-Style Karaoke – Make a tinfoil mic, cue up your kid-jams playlist, and challenge your kids to a lip-synch battle!4. Space Out – Okay, your backyard’s no planetarium, but turn on some Pink Floyd, grab your telescope, and give it a go! Follow these five simple steps for a totally stellar experience.5. Go Old School – With an old-fashioned park day complete with pillow case sack race, hula hoop bean bag toss, and egg-on-the-spoon race.6. Cruise the Strip – Of sidewalk out front on your bikes, scooters, and skates. Go the extra mile and rock your rides with streamers, playing cards, pipe cleaners, and balloons.7. Blow Up Balloons – Speaking of, balloons are perfect for slo-mo catch, hot potato, indoor volleyball, laundry basket ball, and so much more. Get the glow-in-the-dark kind to really amp things up.8. Raise the Roof – With a dance party! Dim the lights, turn on your favorite kid-friendly tunes, and get lost in the music for a little while.9. Trick Yourselves Out with Temporary Tattoos – Stock up online, then go wild with as many as your kids want. Do it early in the week and they’ll wash off by the time school’s back in session ????.10. Make a Time Capsule – You’re sure to remember this wild week if you document it in a time capsule! Include a selfie and have your kids write a letter or draw a picture of all their favorite things. Then, plant it in the yard.

Bonus Idea!

You’re bound to be wiped after this awesome week, so why not fashion a fort? Grab your comfiest pillows, some books and mags, and climb under the table and into your very own Fantastic Fort – together.

What words would you use to describe your OWN bright child? Let us know in the comments below, then download our free printable and fill it out![ Click here to download in PDF format ]Step 1:  Cut the along the dashed linesStep 2: Fold the vertical lineStep 3: Color and add your own message

Rock this Father's Day with a downloadable coloring craft, courtesy of Raccoon Rumpus![ Click here to download Racoon Rumpus coloring page in PDF format ]Step 1:  Cut the along the dashed linesStep 2: Fold the horizontal line to form a t-shirt, create the shirt collar with foldsStep 3: Color and add your own message underneath the shirt to surprise dad

The sun is shining, the birds are chirping – it’s time to get out in the garden again! Gardening’s not just good for your soul – it’s good for your kids’ souls, too. Kids can help water, weed, plant, and harvest and spending time together, outside, is therapeutic and oh-so healthy! Gardening also teaches things like patience, nurturing, and responsibility. This year, include your kiddos in the fun with the simple together-time gardening ideas below:Butterfly Blossoms -Itty bitties love insects! Encourage your kids’ love of gardening by planting flowers that attract beautiful butterflies to your yard. Butterflies love to munch on nectar-rich plants like wildflowers and choose to lay their eggs on plants like dill, fennel, and milkweed. The plants butterflies love vary from region to region – a quick online search will tell you what to plant. No matter what you choose, be sure to avoid pesticides and to plant in a sheltered area that will hide caterpillars and butterflies from predators. A water feature or even small puddles will attract butterflies to your garden – they get thirsty, too! Visit your plants every day, checking for butterflies laying eggs, caterpillars, and cocoons. If you’re very lucky, you might even catch a fresh butterfly emerging from its chrysalis.Worm Hunt –Another note on the creepy crawlies – worms! Worms are squiggly, wiggly, and wonderful. They help our plants root and thrive, they recycle food scraps into compost, and, best of all, most kids love them. Take some time out of your gardening duties to host an earthworm hunt! They love dark, damp places, so check under rocks and logs, turning the dry top layer of soil carefully with a small shovel. Hold them and admire them, then place them back in the damp soil, covering them with a layer of top soil so they don’t dry out.Hanging Garden –If you’re short on backyard space or just looking for a fun, self-contained project, try a vertical bottle garden! Start by cutting a rectangle of plastic out of one side of a clean, empty soda bottle. Punch a small hole on the same side as the opening, near the base of the bottle, and a few small holes on the underside, opposite the rectangular opening. Then, with the cap on, place a shallow layer of gravel or pebbles, followed by a layer of soil. Plant anything from small, leafy veggies to herbs and hang, stringing twine from the hole on one end and just below the cap on the other. Pick a sunny spot and watch your vertical garden grow!Garden Labels –Add a touch of arts and crafts to your outdoor gardening fun with handmade labels! Your kids can write each plant’s name in marker on a craft stick or collect small rocks and paint the name of the plant – and a picture of the final product – on the rocks. Let your kids place the labels in the appropriate spots, helping them learn what’s what in the garden.Hydroponics –Gardening doesn’t have to take place outside and it doesn’t even have to require dirt! Teach your kids about the amazing properties of hydroponics with a kit like the GeoSafari® Hydroponics Kit. Hydroponics involves the growing of plants in water, which provides a crystal clear, magnified view of the entire root structure. Keep your rooted plants in the kitchen or near another light source and check on their growth daily.For more fun ideas about gardening with your kids, visit our Pinterest page (don’t forget to follow us!). Do your kids garden with you? What’s their favorite part? Let us know in the comments below.