Now that the weather has turned colder, it is safe to say that autumn is here and that winter won’t be too far away. As well as new layers of clothing and getting your coats and boots out, there are so many lovely things about the season, as well as so many lovely colours and things to embrace with your little ones. Have you created an autumn bucket list for the season? The good news is that there is plenty to do, both indoors and outdoors. But what about crafts & activities? Here are some Montessori inspired crafts & activities that are perfect for this time of the year. It would be great to hear what you think.
Autumn Nature Table
We love to get out and explore new places as a family — whether it’s hiking a new trail, nature parks, woods or finding a new playground! Set up an Autumn nature exploration table for finding out about natural objects and learning about the seasons. Incorporated with a family nature walk, it becomes a lovely way to find out about Autumn together in a hands-on way.
Autumn Leaf Suncatchers
All hail the humble paper plate and sticky-back plastic for this kind of craft. Simply take a paper plate, cut out the center of it, and place a circle of sticky-back plastic in its place. Then your little ones can put leaves or anything else autumnal that they find outside on the stick side. Seal with another layer of the sticky-back, and then hang by the window. A fun way to incorporate an outdoor activity to hunt for things, then followed by a craft.
Craft Tray
Autumn is a great excuse to get out some craft tools and to have some fun. You can use whatever works for you, though, as not everyone wants to embrace the mess! You could use water paints, colorful paper, play dough, for example. There are many options for something Autumn inspired.
Autumn Colours – Sorting Activity
I set out this autumn colours sorting activity using Montessori Colour Tablets and random objects. Mia really loves this tray. If you follow my instagram stories you can see her sorting her colours.
And also to consider:
No-Carve Pumpkin
Depending on the age of your children, carving pumpkins can be tricky and a little dangerous (not to mention messy). So how about getting some small pumpkins to then just decorate, rather than carve? You could also ‘make’ a pumpkin of your own, using something like a roll of foam, rolled and stuck together into a ball shape, and then painted orange and decorated. You can see here what I mean by a roll of foam, but it can be fun and inexpensive way to embrace autumn and Halloween. All you need is stickers, glue, or pens to draw on them. I will be writing more about our Halloween fun activities next time.
Thanksgiving Peg Turkey
Though Thanksgiving isn’t something we traditionally celebrate over here, it doesn’t mean that we can’t embrace something from our colonial friends. Using cardboard you can cut and decorate a turkey face and body (think felt beak and googly eyes,for example). Then you can decorate or paint some wooden pegs, that can then be pegged onto the card, to create the turkey feathers. A great craft for fine motor skills too.
Happy Autumn 🙂
xx,
Leila
11 Comments
Rosie (@greenrosielife)
I love Autumn activities and these ones are a wonderful way to get children to really begin to appreciate the natural world around them.
Leky83
Thanks Rosie.
Emily Leary
Some super ideas for families with little ones. My 6 year old daughter loves all things crafty so we’re going to go for some lovely Autumnal walks and see what ideas she comes up with!
Leky83
That sounds fun. Thank you Emily!
Kylie
These are such cute ideas! I love the sun catcher one
Leky83
Thanks Kylie.
Fi Anderson
Such fabulous ideas! I’m actually going to try the one with the leaves on the window with my toddler this afternoon. Thanks so much for the autumn inspiration ????
Leky83
Thank you Fi.
Rosie (@greenrosielife)
Thank you for adding this post to #GoingGreen 🙂
karen reekie
Oooh, I am going to try the leaf one at our toddler group, thank you for that!
Some lovely ideas! Thank you for sharing!
#goinggreen
Leky83
Thanks Karen!