Squirrels and Leaves

Thumbprint trees- Use a photocopy of a bare tree or draw one. Run it on brown paper. Use red, yellow, green, and orange paint. Using fingerprints, press on "leaves" onto the tree.

Squirrels-Use a blackline master of a squirrel and run on gray paper. Use grey cotton balls/or fake fur and let children glue onto the tail. Another idea is to let the children paint a squirrel on the easel.

Craft squirrel-You can either use a walnut or acorn. A walnut is easier because it is easier to manipulate. Use gray pom poms and make a squirrel, attaching it to the nut. Then add tiny wiggle eyes and whiskers. Whiskers can be made from yarn, fishing line, cross stitch floss,etc;

Macaroni leaf-(Great for fine motor). Run a blackline master of a leaf onto tagboard and cut out. Glue on fall colored/shaped macaroni. Kids love this one.

Autumn windsock- Take bags outside and collect leaves. Bring them inside and lay out on the art table. Using long sturdy white paper, glue leaves on, and let dry. Laminate and then roll into a windsock shape and staple. Then punch a hole on each top side. Add colored yarn to form a hanger. Then add colored crepe paper to blow in the wind.

Leaf rubbings-Use gathered leaves, and tape them to a tabletop. Place large pieces of paper over and tape down. Use crayons to rub over and magically leaves appear.

Leaf place mat-Glue leaves onto heavy paper. Add glitter, crayon shavings, confetti, etc; Then either laminate or cover with contac paper.

Centers/Playtime

Sensory table-Add plenty of autumn colored noodles/macaroni.If not, try finding some really large tupperware tubs/dishpans, and use them. I used green, yellow, orange, and leaf shaped macaroni. You could also add leaves or acorns. Then add squirrels (paper,plastic) to find. **If you are lucky enough to have a sandbox in your room or easily accessible, add leaves so that children can jump into them***

Blocks- Build houses for the squirrels to live in and store their acorns.

Tree- Make a paper tree and add a few paper leaves. Attach the tree to a wall in your room. Place squirrels in the tree or at the bottom of the tree. Using an acorn pattern, run some acorns small and some large on brown paper. If your children have already grasped small vs. big, use a color concept. If using a color concept, have the children match the different colored acorns to different colored leaves or squirrels. Provide containers to seperate the acorns into ,at the bottom of the tree. Use velcro to attach the acorns to the tree.

Squirrels and Nuts- Make different colored squirrels and nuts from different colored paper. Laminate. Give each child a different squirrel and have them find their nuts. After children have mastered this, hide the nuts in the room and send them on a hunt.

Rake them up- Have children take out plastic rakes and rake leaves into a pile. I have to say this was the most popular of all. Puppets- If you have a puppet stage, decorate it with trees, leaves, etc; Add squirrel puppets by sewing them from felt, cutting/pasting from paper, or adding a photocopy to a tongue depressor.

Books- If you have your own book collection and bookcases, use it as a center. Add stuffed animals and change them according to the theme. If not, try to hurry to the library and check out some themed books, like trees and squirrels. Try to find a squirrel stuffed animal/beanie. Let the kids read to it under your tree.