Lesson Plan- Ladybugs

Nature School

July 1st, 2013

Ladybugs

Welcome Song

Letter of the day

Ladybug fun facts:

1.   There are about 4,300 kinds of ladybugs in the world.

2.   Female ladybugs can eat as many as 75 aphids in one day!

3.   Ladybugs smell with their feet and antennae.

4.   A ladybug’s jaws chew side to side instead of up and down

     like our jaws.

5.   The color of a ladybug’s spots begin to fade as it gets older.

6.   Ladybugs are most active when their body temperature is 75 degrees    

     or warmer.

7.    A ladybug’s bright color warns birds that it does not taste good.

8.   When a ladybug flies, its wings beat 85 times every second.

9.   There are almost 400 different kinds of ladybugs in North America.

10. Female ladybugs are larger than male ladybugs.

Craft:

Cut and paste- Ladybug Life Cycle

Life Cycle:

Ladybugs aren’t so cute when they’re born—you may not even recognize them.

They hatch from eggs and look like tiny alligators. The new bug is called a larva, and it takes about 21 days for it to grow up to be a ladybug beetle.

Eggs

Mother ladybugs lay 10 to 15 eggs on the underside of a leaf. They look like tiny, elongated yellow jelly beans.

Larva

Larvae crawl out of their eggs and begin to look for food. Mother bugs make sure there are lots of aphids or mites nearby because the larvae will eat a lot of them before they become adults. Ladybug larvae look like tiny alligators—and they bite!

Bigger Larvae

After a few days, the little larvae begin to grow, and soon they shed their skins. This is called “molting,” and it happens several times. If you look closely you can see old skins clinging to leaves or to the grass in your ladybug jar.

Pupa

In about two weeks, the bigger larvae begin to look a little different, something like a lobster without legs and claws. They attach themselves to a leaf and hardly move at all. They are doing something extraordinary under their skins.

Imago or Adult

In another few days the ladybug splits its pupa and emerges looking very different. For the first few hours it’s pale and soft. Its shell quickly hardens. Its color becomes brighter. Now it looks just like its mother—a perfect adult ladybug beetle. What seems like amazing magic is one wonderful way the natural world works: ladybug metamorphosis.

How many of you have ever seen a real live ladybug? Did you pick it up? Were you afraid of it? Not very many people are afraid of ladybugs, are they? Ladybugs are kind of pretty, aren't they? When you see one it is hard not to want to pick it up and look at it a little closer. They kind of tickle when they walk on your arm, don't they?

Most people don’t mind having them around especially people who like to grow fruits and vegetables and flowers. They are glad to see them because they know that ladybugs are very helpful.

Along time ago the farmers in California had a big problem. Some very harmful insects, called the cottony-cushion scale, were eating and killing all their orange trees. They found out that the bug had been brought over from Australia by mistake on some ships. The insects weren’t so bad in Australia because Australia had ladybugs that ate the cottony-cushion scale. These farmers knew that they needed the Australian ladybugs to help them save their trees. So 500 ladybugs were sent to California. When they arrived they started eating the cottony-cushion scale and within two years the trees were saved. Yes, those ladybugs were very helpful. The trees were no longer dying.

Games:

Ladybug matching game

Ladybug fly through my window

Ladybug, Ladybug

Written by Nancy Foss

Ladybug, Ladybug turn around. (Have the children turn around.)

Ladybug, Ladybug touch the ground. (Have the children touch the ground.)

Ladybug, Ladybug show your love. (Use the sign language sign for "I love you.")

Ladybug, Ladybug point to heaven above. (Point up.)

Ladybug, Ladybug stomp your feet. (Stomp your feet.)

Ladybug, Ladybug take a seat. (Children all sit down.)

A Teeny, Tiny Ladybug

Written by Nancy Foss

(Sing to the tune of "Itsy, Bitsy Spider)

A teeny, tiny ladybug crawled up my arm this way. (Walk your fingers up your arm.)

Giggle, giggle, giggle this is what I say. (Hold your belly and laugh.)

Along came the wind and blew my friend away. (Blow wind with mouth and wave your arms.)

Out came the sun and my friend is here to stay. (Make sun with your arms.)

With a giggle, giggle, giggle we'll have fun today. (Hold your belly and laugh.)

Lesson Plan- Trees

Nature School, June 10th, 2013

Trees

Supplies: Trees are Special book, Crayons, Paper, ink pads, Put Together a Tree supplies,

Welcome: Nature School song

Letter of the Day: T

Today we are going to talk about trees!

Group Activity:

First, let’s talk about the different parts of a tree. We are actually going to put a tree together (cut out parts of a tree and tape onto a piece of paper in the shape of a tree). Okay, what is the sturdy middle part of the tree that keeps it upright? (trunk) What about the part of the tree that is underground and sucks up water? (roots) What about the part of the tree that is like arms and sways in the breeze? (branches) And the small round or pointy things that help make food for the tree? (leaves)

Pretend Play:

Now let’s use our bodies to pretend to be a tree. What should our arms be (branches) and fingers (leaves)? What about our tummies and legs (sturdy trunk)? What about our feet (roots)?

Now, our roots needs to suck up water. Let’s all make a big huge slurping noise! Now, the water travels up, up our trunk (crouch down with hands on ground, then stand up tall raising hands up high). Now our leaves use the sunlight and water to make sugar and oxygen. We let the oxygen out of our leaves for humans and animals to breath (take a deep breath) and the sugar, we trees use to feed ourselves and grow bigger and taller (stand up taller and puff out chest).

Discussion:

We are really lucky to have trees. What are some things that you love about trees?

-They give us oxygen to breath fresh, clean air

-The provide us with shade on a hot sunny day

-Trees are fun to climb

-Many things we use are made out of trees- our houses, toys, beds, paper, pencils, bookshelves, etc.

-Trees make our world a more beautiful place

-Many animals use trees to make their home- bird, raccoons, squirrels, chipmunks, owls, snakes, monkeys,

Nature Walk:

Take about 20 minutes to let the kids explore and be creative.

Get to know a tree activity:

Have you ever met a tree?

I want each child to find a tree to meet. Let me show you how. Oh, here is an interesting looking tree! Hello, nice to meet you. I’m going to be a nature scientist and learn all I can about this particular tree.

-Look for special traits- branches, bark, leaves, roots, markings, mushrooms, holes, etc. Let the kids get to know it by smelling, touching, listening, looking with magnifiers.

-Have the kids sit under the tree and look up into the branches. What kinds of animals might live here? Now everyone be very quiet and listen to our tree. What does it sound like? Do we hear birds, squirrels, branches creaking?

-What about the soil around the tree. Is it wet, squishy, dry, hard, rocky, etc?

-Feel the bark. Does it feel soft, smooth, rough, cold, warm?

Bark rubbing- A bark rubbing is a way to remember our special tree and take a part of it home without hurting it. Give each child a crayon and piece of paper. Have an adult help hold the paper in place on the bark of the tree, while the child rubs a crayon back and forth over paper.

Games:

Play “Ring around the Tree” with the tree you have found. Have the kids make a circle around the tree by linking hands. Sing the following to the tune of “Ring around the rosie”

Ring around the tree, you are so tall and free

Wind blows, wind blows the leaves fall down!

Tree Tag

This is a very, very simple game that kids as young as 1 ½ can play!

Find an area with lots of trees. Have the kids stand next to a tree. When you call out “Switch!” they run to a new tree. Wait till all the kids have found a new tree, then call out “Switch” again. Kids love the anticipation and getting to run. We have played this game for a good twenty minutes before losing interest ;)

Book:

Read “Be a friend to trees”

Discussion:

Why are trees important?

-They give us air to breath- we could not live without them

-Wood to build things

-Nice to look at

-Homes for animals and insects

-Food for animals and insects

How can we take care of trees?

-Climb gently

-Plant a tree

-Protect forests

Craft:

Finger print tree craft. Give each child a piece of paper with a trunk and branches drawn on. Let the children use a stamp pad to make finger print stamps all over the branches as leaves.

Lesson Plan- Inchworms

Nature school

May 20th, 2013

Inchworms

Welcome song

Letter of the day- I for inchworms

Facts:

-Inchworms are interesting! They are not actually worms- they are caterpillars. They metamorphose into brown moths called Geometer moths. These moths are like butterflies, but they are nocturnal!

-Inchworms are green, yellow, brown or grey. They protect themselves from predators by blending in with their surroundings!

-Inchworms love to eat oak tree leaves. Maybe we can find some inchworms by finding an oak tree and looking at its leaves!

-What do you think might eat inchworms? birds, wasps, lizards, spiders

-Inchworms can spin thread, like spiders! They use the thread they spin to drop to the ground

-Inchworms don’t have to drink water because they get all the water they need from the leaves they eat.

Pretend Play:

They move by looping their bodies. They do this is because they have three pairs of legs in the front and two or three pairs in the back, but no legs in the middle of their abdomen. So they move by bringing their hind end towards it’s front, over and over. Let’s pretend to be inchworms!

Fingerplay:

Inchworms

5 little inchworms crawling up my door

one fell off and then there were 4

4 little inchworms inching up a tree

one fell off and then there were 3

3 little inchworms crawling on my shoe

one fell off and then there were 2

2 little inchworms in the summer sun

one found some shade, then there was one

1 little inchworm tired from the fun

inched off to bed, then there were none

Craft: Inchworm bracelet

Pasta dyed green

Twine cut to the size of child’s wrist + a little

-have the children string three pieces of pasta onto twine. Tie around wrist

Books:

Inch by Inch

Math/Science:

Let’s all collect some little twigs, leaves, flowers, and sticks! Then we will measure them and see how many inches long they are. They we will make a little chart to compare!

Lesson Plan- Clouds

Nature School

May 6, 2013

Clouds!

Welcome Song

Hello everyone! I’m so excited to see all you kiddos today! We are going to have so much fun on our hike, looking for some interesting things in nature. Today, we are going to learn about something that we see up in the sky, it’s big and white and sometimes round of puffy shaped. What is it? Clouds!

Letter of the day- C

What are clouds?

Did you know that clouds are a collection of tiny, tiny water droplets way high up in the sky?

How do clouds form?

All air around us has water in it. Did you know that? The water in the air gets warm. It starts to rise up. It goes so high in the air, but way up high the air is actually colder. There are also little air dust particles up high in the air that the water vapor clings onto. When they all clump together, then clouds are formed. When there gets to be too much water in the cloud, then it rains!

Science experiment-

2 Plastic bags

2 cups

water

Let’s put some water in this cup and place the cup in this plastic bag. One of the bags we will leave open and the other, we will close. What do you think is going to happen? Let’s see what happens when we get back from our hike and talk about it.

Clouds are really cool. They can tell us things! Did you know that you can tell what kind of weather is coming by looking up in the sky at the clouds?

- Long, wispy cirrus clouds= pleasant or fair weather. Usually indicate a change in the weather in the next 24 hours

- Cirrostratus clouds= long, sheet like cloud that covers entire sky, but sun or moon can still be seen through them. They usually indicate there will be rain or snow in the next 12 to 24 hours

- Puffy, cotton ball Cumulus clouds= good weather!

- Thick, grey Stratus clouds= that is what we have in Seattle almost all winter. These clouds mean a little drizzle here or there

Let’s all lie on our backs and look at the clouds for a bit. What shapes to do you? Do you think the clouds are high or low? Are the moving fast or slow? Are the white or grey?

Story- Drippy the raindrop (cutouts of drippy, salty, tree, cloud, and sun)

Once upon a time there was a raindrop named Drippy (picture of drop of water). Drippy was having fun! He was doing his favorite thing in the whole wide world- lying on his back floating in the ocean. He looked up at his good old friend Mr. Sun, who had just come up (hold up picture of sun). Mr. Sun rose higher and higher and Drippy got hotter and hotter!

Just then, Drippy saw a big, dark cloud moving across the sky. “I wish I could go up to that cool looking cloud and cool down a bit!”

All of a sudden, Drippy felt himself rising up into the air! He was evaporating! Can we all saw evaporate together? EVAPORATE!

He landed softly on a huge, fluffy cloud. There were thousands of other drops of water too. One of the drops of water called out to Drippy, “Ahoy there! I’m Salty!” (hold up picture of another drop of water with captain hat on).

“I’m Drippy! Nice to meet you. Where are we headed?”

“We are going right toward those mountains over there and it looks like a storm is a brewing. If things get rough, just abandon ship. Jump right off the cloud and toward the earth” Salty said.

After awhile, things did start getting rough. Drippy got ready to jump. 1-2-3-JUMP! Drippy was raining now! He fell with millions of other raindrops down toward the forest near the mountains.

Drippy landed right on a tree (show picture of tree with roots). He slid down on leaf onto a branch and then down the trunk. Down, down, down he slid down the trunk and into the soil near the tree’s roots. Wow! What an adventure we was having. When we reached the soil, he found lots of other water drops there too. They were filling up the soil pores. He sunk deeper into the soil and into an underground stream. Then, guess what happened? The underwater stream came out of the ground as a spring!! The stream was now above ground. The stream eventually led him out into the ocean again!

Drippy leaned back, floating on his back and looked up at his good friend Mr. Sun again. “Hello there, Mr. Sun!” What an adventure I’ve had! I’ve been through the water cycle. Can you all say WATER CYCLE? I’m learned so much and seen so much of our beautiful earth. What a wonderful world we live in!”

The end

Craft-

Paper clouds

Yarn

Paper rain droplets

Give each child a cloud, three pieces of yarn and three rain droplets. Let them color the rain droplets or cloud if they would like. Have them glue the cloud down on another piece of paper, hang yarn from cloud, then attach the rain droplets.

Song- to the tune of “the farmer and the dell”

The clouds are floating by

the clouds are floating by

heigh-ho, just watch them go

the clouds are floating by

They’re sometime high or low

they’re sometime high or low

heigh-ho, just watch them go

they’re sometimes high or low

Clouds move fast or slow

clouds move fast or slow

heigh-ho, just watch them go

clouds move fast or slow

Lesson plan- Pillbugs

Nature School

Pill Bugs

April 15th, 2013

Welcome Song

Letter of the day- P for pillbug

Today we are going to learn about Pill Bugs! Sometimes we call them Potato Bugs or roly-pollies. Has anyone seen one before? Sometime we find them rolled up in a ball or under dried leaves. Have you ever looked under a rock or piece of wood and found some pill bugs?

Can you try and roll up like a pill bug? Let's all try!

Pictures of pill bugs:

Pill Bug facts:

-They live in your garden, under a flower pot, under rotting leaves, anywhere where they can eat rotting and decaying matter.

-They like to eat all the time! Their poop is square shaped! Isn't that strange?

-Pill bugs are not insects at all! They are crustaceans- like crab and shrimp

-Pill bugs live on land- but they can swim for a little bit if they accidently fall into the water

-In addition to eating decaying matter- pill bugs also eat bits of concrete and rocks to help with their digestion

-To protect themselves against predators (ants, frogs, lizards, lots of animals), they roll themselves into a ball.

-They have an exoskelton which they shed many times as they grow. First they shed their rear half, and the next day they shed their front half.

- In the fall, they dig deep into the ground and sleep until spring!

Pill Bug races- Use markers stacked top to bottom, lie them down on the ground to make different track lanes. Line up pill- bugs and let them go.

Make a pill bug maze with rocks, twigs, and sticks. See how quickly the pill bug can make it’s way through the maze.

Roly-poly relay races:

Tie two kids legs together like a two legged race. Tell the kids that they are like a pill-bug and must work together to coordinate their movements. Pill-bugs have seven pairs of legs!

Make a Pill Bug House:

1. Put a few inches of soil into the box

2. Find a rock or piece of concrete in the box

3. Find some moss, piece of potato, carrot peelings, bits of fruit, bit of lettuce. Mostly, pill bug love dried leaves and rotting pieces of wood. And a bit of shredded newspaper

4. Find a few pill bugs. Look under leaves or turn over a rock

5. Keep your pill bug home moist by spraying lightly with water once a day

Lessons on leaves and trees

Over the past 2 plus years of teaching this nature preschool, I've done a number of lessons on leaves and trees. I thought I'd go ahead and post up a few of these lesson plans. Tomorrow, once again, we will be talking about leaves and trees (I just really like trees and I want the kids to also :) 
For tomorrow's lesson, I'll pull the favorite activities from these various lesson plans. You will see from the lessons that there is quite a bit of overlap. I try and incorporate at least a few of the following into my plans: welcome song/circle, pretend play, hiking and exploring, songs, a craft, gross motor and fine motor, a group activity, and games.

#1
Here's one of the first nature school lessons I put together from Sept. 2010:
Nature School, Sept. 2010
Fall Time

Welcome Song
Does anyone know what time of year it is? What kind of clothes you wear in the fall? What fun activities do you like to do in the fall? What happens in the fall? (days get shorter, leaves change color, temperature gets colder, rain)

Discussion on Photosynthesis
Plants need to eat food to grow just like people do. Plants make a special kind of sugar for food using sunlight and a chemical inside of them called chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is what makes the leaves green. In the fall, there isn't very much sunlight and plants can not make as much food. The tree starts to get ready to sleep for the winter. Because the leaves aren't making as much food, they don't make the bright green color anymore. The chlorophyll is all used up. When the leaves aren't bright green, they start to show other colors they have inside like red, orange, yellow, and brown.

Pretend Play
When the leaves finish changing color, they fall off the tree branches and onto the ground. Let's pretend to be a leaf falling from high up on a tree branch. Imagine you are a little leaf whirling from the tree. Wheeee!! Now let's pretend to rake up all the leaves that I have fallen and jump in our big pile of leaves!

Hike
While hiking, sing some songs with the kids about fall time.
Leaves on the Tree (to the tune of "wheels on the bus"
The leaves on the tree turn orange and brown...  orange and brown.... orange and brown
The leaves on the tree turn orange and brown, all around the town
The leaves on the tree come tumbling down.... tumbling down... tumbling down
The leaves on the tree come tumbling down, all around the town
The leaves on the ground go swish, swish, swish... swish, swish, swish.... swish, swish, swish
The leaves on the ground go swish, swish, swish, all around the town

The Leaves are falling down (to the tune of "the farmer and the dell"
The leaves are falling down
The leaves are falling down
Red, yellow, orange, and brown
The leaves are falling down

Collecting
Give each child a brown lunch sack. Let the collect various items that they find and are interested in. Remind them not to pick things off of living plants. Encourage them to search for interesting rocks, leaves, sticks, seeds, etc. After awhile, find a place to sit in a circle and let each child share what they found.

Color Hunt
Give each child a paint square sample. Let each child explore an area until they find that color, then exchange color square for a new one.

Craft
Leaf Rubbings- Let each child find a leaf that interests them. Give them a piece of paper and crayon. Place the leaf under the paper and rub crayon on top of paper to create a rubbing.


#2
Another lesson, from Jan. 2011 called "be a friend to trees"

Nature School, Jan. 9th, 2011
Be a friend to TREES

Welcome song

Letter of the Day
T for tree
Talk about children’s names that start with “t” and other words they like- treat, tooth, toe, table, tears, try, etc.

Pretend Play
Act out the parts of a tree-
Curl up in a ball and pretend to be a seed. Then slowly stand up tall and stretch arms out. Plant your feet into the ground like roots. Slurp, slurp, slurp. The roots suck up water from the ground. Now puff out your chest- your middle is the trunk, sturdy and strong. The trunk has an important job- it holds up the branches and the leaves. It also protects the tree from getting sick and insects eating it all up! Now, sway your arms in the breeze. Feel the mighty wind through your branches and leaves. Now wiggle your fingers! Your leaves are super important they are what make food for you to eat (pretend to feed yourself with your hands). Close your eyes and imagine what it feels like to be a tree.

Group activity
Adopt a tree
As a group, go on a search for a “special tree”. When everyone agrees on a tree, take some time to let the kids get to know it. Look for special traits- branches, bark, leaves, roots, markings, mushrooms, holes, etc. Let the kids get to know it by smelling, touching, listening, looking with magnifiers.
Have the kids sit under the tree and look up into the branches. What kinds of animals might live here? Now everyone be very quiet and listen to our tree. What does it sound like? Do we hear birds, squirrels, branches creaking?
Feel the bark. Does it feel soft, smooth, rough, cold, warm?
Bark rubbing- A bark rubbing is a way to remember our special tree and take a part of it home without hurting it. Give each child a crayon and piece of paper. Have an adult help hold the paper in place on the bark of the tree, while the child rubs a crayon back and forth over paper.

Games
Play “Ring around the Tree” with the tree you have found. Have the kids make a circle around the tree by linking hands. Sing the following to the tune of “Ring around the rosie”
Ring around the tree, you are so tall and free
Wind blows, wind blows the leaves fall down!

Tree Tag
This is a very, very simple game that kids as young as 1 ½ can play!
Find an area with lots of trees. Have the kids stand next to a tree. When you call out “Switch!” they run to a new tree. Wait till all the kids have found a new tree, then call out “Switch” again. Kids love the anticipation and getting to run. We have played this game for a good twenty minutes before losing interest ;)

Book
Read “Be a friend to trees”

Discussion
Why are trees important?
They give us air to breath- we could not live without them
Wood to build things
Shade
Nice to look at
Homes for animals and insects
Food for animals and insects

How can we take care of trees-
Climb gently, plant a tree, protect forests

Craft
Homemade Paper- this craft must be done at a home because you need a blender, water, screens, etc.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Homemade-Paper/


#3
Another lesson from March 2011 called "trees are special"

Nature School, March 14th, 2011
Trees are Special

Supplies: Trees are Special book, Crayons, Paper, Blindfolds, clover seeds,

Welcome to nature school today!! I’m so excited about our class this morning and I’m pretty sure you are all going to have fun, even though it is raining!

Let’s sing our welcome song to everyone!

So today we are going to talk about trees. First, let’s use our bodies to pretend to be a tree. What should our arms be (branches) and fingers (leaves)? What about our tummies and legs (sturdy trunk)? What about our feet (roots)?
Now, our roots needs to suck up water. Let’s all make a big huge slurping noise! Now, the water travels up, up our trunk (crouch down with hands on ground, then stand up tall raising hands up high). Now our leaves use the sunlight and water to make sugar and oxygen. We let the oxygen out of our leaves for humans and animals to breath (take a deep breath) and the sugar, we trees use to feed ourselves and grow bigger and taller (stand up taller and puff out chest).

We are really lucky to have trees. What are some things that you love about trees?
-They give us oxygen to breath fresh, clean air
-The provide us with shade on a hot sunny day
-Trees are fun to climb
-Many things we use are made out of trees- our houses, toys, beds, paper, pencils, bookshelves, etc.
-Trees make our world a more beautiful place
-Many animals use trees to make their home- bird, raccoons, squirrels, chipmunks, owls, snakes, monkeys,

Nature Walk- take about 20 minutes to let the kids explore and be creative.
Picking a “special tree”. (Give each adult a blindfold, a piece of paper, and a crayon)
I want each child to find a tree that they want to get to know better. Take some time to wonder around and pick a tree that you find interesting. Once you have found your special tree, take a few minutes to be scientist, observe the branches, the bark, the roots, the soil around it, if there are cones or needles or dried up leaves on the ground beneath it. After a few minutes, have an adult put the blindfold on so the child can use he/she’s sense of touch to get to know his/her tree even better. Does the bark feel smooth or rough, wet or dry, cold or warm? Does it have cracks? Are they big or small, narrow, shallow, deep, long, short?


Craft:
Bark Rubbing-crayons and paper

Song
The Plant Part Song
Tune: The Farmer in the Dell
written by Mrs. Jones

The seed makes a plant.
The seed makes a plant.
With soil and rain and sunny days,
The seed makes a plant.

The roots find the water.
The roots find the water.
With soil and rain and sunny days,
The roots find the water.

The stem holds it up.
The stem holds it up.
With soil and rain and sunny days,
The stem holds it up.

The leaves make the food.
The leaves make the food.
With soil and rain and sunny days,
The leaves make the food.

The flower makes the fruit.
The flower makes the fruit.
With soil and rain and sunny days,
The flower makes the fruit.

The fruit holds the seeds.
The fruit holds the seeds.
With soil and rain and sunny days,
The fruit holds the seeds.


#4
This lesson is entitled "leaves" from Oct. 2011:

Nature School, Oct. 17th
Leaves

Welcome song


Today we are going to be talking about fall time and leaves. Let’s go around the circle and share with our friends one of our favorite things about the fall.

Letter of the day- L

Storytime:
Can I tell all of you a story? Once upon a time there was a big tall oak tree named oakie. In the spring time, tall oakie had little buds that opened up into lovely green leaves. She loved her green leaves, the way they’d rustle in the breeze, little caterpillars would come visit for a little snack, birds would come build nests in her branches because the leaves helped them feel safe. The leaves also helped make food for oakie. When the sun would shine on her leaves, something would happen inside of them and the leaves would turn the sunlight into tree food. And oakie LOVED tree food! It helped her grow taller and stronger and it helped keep oakie’s leaves bright green!

But then something really, really strange would happen at the end of summer. There was less sunlight so the leaves weren’t able to make as much tree food. With less tree food, oakie started to feel really, really tired. The cold weather made oakie want to go to sleep for the winter. With less tree food, oakie’s leaves began show all the other colors they had inside- bright red, orange, yellow and brown!

Then the leaves on oakie started falling off her branches and down, down, down to the ground. With no leaves, oakie wasn’t able to make any food, so she fell asleep or hibernated till spring came and new leaves opened up from her buds again. It was like a cycle!

Pretend play
Let’s pretend to be a leaf on oakie’s branch rustling in the breeze

Let’s pretend to be a leaf falling from oakie’s branch. Imagine you are whirling down, down, down from the tree. Whee!

Let’s pretend to rake up all the leaves into t big pile. Rake, rake rake!

Now, let’s jump in! Jump, jump, jump!


Exploration time
Find an area with interesting free objects (twigs, nuts, grass, flowers, berries, seeds) and tell the children to take some time to explore using their senses- smell, touch, hearing, sight.

Color hunt
Give each child a paint sample and ask them to find that color

Numbers Activity
Find a place with a bunch of acorns. Ask the kids to find a partner. Hand out the numbers and ask the kids to find that number of acorns and place on their number. If they want to find something different, that is completely fine.

Craft
Stainglass leaf art