Laura @inspiremyplay Founder of @inspiremyplay, Early Years teacher for 11 years and mummy to three gorgeous girls. I'm passionate about about the benefits of play in early childhood. This post may contain affiliate links. This means that if you click on a link and go on to make a purchase, I may receive a small commission (at no additional cost to you). Please read my disclosure policy for more details. Here are 25 of the best autumn activities for kids. Autumn is upon us, and with it comes the rustling leaves, the cozy sweaters, and the perfect time to dive into autumn-themed sensory and creative play for our little ones. It is such a beautiful time of year and there are so many ways to enjoy the gorgeous colours and textures of the season, whilst creating inviting learning opportunities for little ones in their early years. Whether you’re planning an autumn/fall theme at a preschool or kindergarten or you simply want to have some creative fun at home with your child, we’ve got loads of low-cost craft activities, small world play, creative and sensory play activities using natural resources, perfect for toddlers and preschoolers. Benefits of Autumn-Themed Sensory Play Autumn provides the perfect opportunity to teach our kids about seasonal change. Sensory play lets them see the changes up close as they watch leaves change from green to shades of gold and red, feel the different textures of natural materials and listen to the sounds they make. Develop fine motor control: Crunchy leaves, smooth acorns, squishy pumpkins - Autumn provides so many different textures to explore! Little fingers get to discover and differentiate between them. Picking up the leaves, sticking them down in the correct place, threading beads or using tools like scissors, all require the use of tiny muscles in the hands and fingers. The more use these muscles get, the more fine motor skills are developed. Whether its during autumn, or at any other time in the year, open-ended sensory play allows children to express their creativity and imagination. We go into some more depth about the wider benefits of sensory play here. If you’d like to find out how you can start your sensory play journey today you can download our free Beginner’s Guide to Sensory Play ebook: Get your FREE ebook For more simple DIY recipes & ideas for sensory play at home download your Beginner's Guide to Sensory Play by subscribing to Inspire My Play today. Get Yours Now Autumn/Fall Activity Ideas for Kids Autumn/Fall Nature Brushes and Painting This was some fun process art that uses up all those autumn treasures that kids like to collect! To make the nature brushes I attached the nature bits to the top of sticks using some elastic bands. We also used some autumn objects to print with and roll around the paper. Lots of lovely exploration and messy fun! Autumn/Fall Coloured Rainbow Rice Coloured rice is great fun to scoop and pour! Put a bed sheet under the tray or table to catch the bits and add scoops and bowls! To give your rice play an autumn/ fall makeover all you need to do is add a little bit of the complementary colour when colouring it. Watch our video as a guide. Red and green. Orange and blue. Yellow and purple. I used food colouring to colour the rice here and used my most concentrated type for the dominant colour and a weaker type to add the complement. You can get the same effect by just adding less of the complement. To help disperse the colour over the rice add a squirt of hand sanitiser (not a taste safe option) or a tablespoon of vinegar (taste safe). Scoop and Fill Autumn Leaves Now that you’ve added some complementary colours to your rice to give it that autumn feel, you can use it to fill autumn leaves made from toilet rolls. Rice makes a great sensory base and is always a winner alongside containers and scoops. To make the leaves I cut a toilet roll into strips and pinched one side to form a leaf shape. I then placed them around a branch that we picked up on a walk. I like that this activity is easy to repeat. Just remove the leaves and branch and pour the rice back into a bowl before starting again. Window Leaf Printing Leaf printing is such a classic activity and easily accessible for different ages. We also love doing this on paper but we thought we’d switch it up by doing a bit of a collaborative effort on the window. We used paint sticks for this- they’re a low mess alternative to painting and work really well on glass or a mirror. They worked especially well for leaf printing! For anyone wondering...it comes off easily with a bit of glass cleaner. Leaf printing works best when the leaves are fresh. Paint on the side with the veins before printing. Then peel off carefully. The paint sticks are by the brand Little Brian. Buy paint sticks on Amazon UK Nature-Based Fine Motor Activities for Autumn/Fall Autumn brings a whole host of nature-based play opportunities! Here are 5 simple activities you can do to work on those all important fine-motor skills. 1 - Wrapping pinecones in yarn/wool. This is a great work out for little hands. For older kiddies you could challenge them to try weaving around their pinecone. 2 - Leaf kebabs. Grab a stick and some leaves to thread onto the stick. If your little one is struggling you can make some pre-cut holes-it’s still a great hand-eye coordination challenge to thread them on. 3 - Berry transfer. Use tweezers to transfer the berries. You could float them in water instead and use a spoon/scoop. 4 - Leaf snipping. This is an easy way to practice scissor skills. If your child is new to scissors you can help them by drawing a smiley face on their thumb. This encourages them to keep their thumb facing upwards at all times so that they can see the smiley face. 5 - Hole punching leaves. Use craft punches or a hole punch. This builds hand strength. You can use this natural confetti afterwards for making pictures. Shadow Leaf Drawing This is great fun and perfect for the September sun. I set this up by pegging leaves on some string hung between two chairs. Underneath I rolled out a big piece of paper and we traced around the shadows created by the leaves. This is a great fine motor challenge and good for concentration and observational skills, as well as being a great conversation starter to talk about shadows. Mine enjoyed colouring them afterwards and adding details to their leaves. Check out our blog post to find out more details. Autumn Fairy Stick Puppets There’s so many gorgeous coloured leaves around at autumn so it’s a perfect time to make these nature stick puppets. We made spring versions of these too and they were also a hit with my kiddies! The girls used PVA (school glue) to glue on leaves and other nature bits that we found on a walk and then we mounted them to a stick with a bit of tape so they could play with them once dry. You can download the free templates for these fairies via our printables page here. Autumn Loose Parts Nature Play View this post on Instagram A post shared by Inspire My Play ® (@inspiremyplay) All you need is a little imagination, some loose parts and a PlayTRAY is handy too! Nature provides the very best resources for play so why not set up something similar and see where their imaginations take them? I love sitting back and watching my littlest play. There was no hidden agenda, no planned outcome and she had the most wonderful time just playing her way. Leaf Colour Search It’s so easy to prepare these boards and once you have the cardboard bases you can swap the contact paper (sticky-back plastic) over as much as needed. We used paint sticks for speedy colouring of the cardboard. They’re also easy to blend together so we could make some extra autumnal colours. Such fun for a sunny afternoon walk! Buy Paint Sticks on Amazon UK Q-Tip Painting Have you tried q-tips/ cotton buds as an alternative to a paint brush? They’re great for developing fine motor skills and the dotty effect offers a new and interesting way to paint. It worked really well for this Autumn/ fall tree. We glued down a few sticks first and then dotted around them to create the leaves. If you have a PlayTRAY this activity is a great one for our triangle storage inserts. These are made from super soft silicone, are perfect for organising little bits or using as a paint pallet with washable paints. Autumn/Fall Soup View this post on Instagram A post shared by Inspire My Play ® (@inspiremyplay) Such a beautifully simple idea for fall / autumn from @lovebloomlearn on instagram. One of the main reasons I first fell in love with sensory play was how it appealed to all three of my kids despite their differing ages. I love that this involved both baby & toddler, just with an added challenge for the older sibling of transferring the leaves from the PlayTRAY to another bowl. Pumpkin Threading This is another simple activity that’s great for working on fine motor skills (plus it makes a cute little pumpkin at the same time!). With this one we started easy and gradually added more challenge. First up was a pasta pumpkin. As the holes are quite big this is a good place to begin if you’re just starting out. I have a bag of pasta that I’ve coloured with paint for activities like this and it lasts for ages. We then moved on to chunky beads that had a decent sized hole. As she was fine with these we also made a pumpkin using little beads too, which was definitely more of a challenge. These are all threaded onto orange pipe cleaners. As well as helping form the pumpkin shape, pipe cleaners are generally easier for little ones to handle as they are more rigid than string. So if you have a little one struggling with threading onto string do try a pipe cleaner instead. To make the pumpkin I twisted the two ends of the pipe cleaner together and fastened a mini peg onto them with a bit of curling ribbon. Pumpkin Collage We love a sticky contact paper craft and especially love this mixed media pumpkin version! After cutting out out the pumpkin I covered it in contact paper (sticky-back plastic) with the sticky side facing up. We used lentils, popcorn kernels, leaves in different shades and tissue paper to decorate it. We’re pretty in love with the results. Autumn/Fall Egg Box Hunt Next time you’re going for a walk grab an egg box and print out this scavenger hunt to take with you! My girls loved finding these autumn treasures to match to each picture and the egg box is super handy for keeping them safe! You can download this for free via our printables page. Get Egg Box Hunt Printable Pumpkin Spice Oobleck I just love the smell of pumpkin spice at this time of year but have you ever tried adding it to oobleck?! If you can’t get hold of pumpkin spice (not always easy in the U.K.) you can make your own by combining ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and all spice. Watch our video to find out how to do it step by step. Watch Our Video Here Autumn/Fall Leaf Pictures We used a white acrylic paint pen to draw our leaf designs but paint sticks or a white crayon also work well. If your little ones might struggle to draw their own leaves you could always put some leaf outlines underneath the kitchen towel to trace! Get Acrylic Paint Pen on Amazon UK Autumn/Fall Loose Parts Faces We had such fun with this! I filled the PlayTRAY with loose parts- a mixture of natural autumn items and other things in autumnal shades. I provided little miss with some blank face outlines and she had a great time arranging the items to make faces. This activity is great for creativity and also develops their fine motor skills as they carefully place things in position. Leaf Art This is a great way to use up those endless leaves the kids like to pick up! Leaf art works best on fresh leaves, before they become too brittle. We used paint sticks to decorate some and acrylic paint pens to add details. You can preserve leaves pretty well using a laminator but if you want to do this just stick to acrylic paint pens as they hold up best. Leaf Doodling If you’ve never tried it you need to! Such a simple activity but great for their imaginations! Once stuck down, as long as the leaves aren’t too thick, you can pop it through a laminator and it will preserve the picture to enjoy for longer. Black Glue Resist Art Did you know you can make your own black glue with a few drops of food colouring or paint in regular PVA/school glue? We love the effect of black glue art and it’s great for helping little ones practice keeping in the lines. We were coming to the end of one of our glue bottles so it was the perfect time to do this and I love the way the colourful leaves pop against the black glue! Leaf Identification Pebbles These leaf pebbles are a handy resource to identify the many leaves we pick up on walks! They’re also lots of fun to make! Here’s how to make some yourself. What You Will Need: Large pebbles Small leaves Mod Podge Flower press or microwave How to: 1 - The first step is to press the leaves. This can be done in a flower press or for a shortcut method use a microwave! 2 - To use a microwave put the leaves between two pieces of kitchen towel and then between two dinner plates, with a cup of water in the microwave too and heat for 20-30 seconds. The cup of water is really important to ensure the leaves don’t catch fire so don’t forget it! 3 - Cover the pebbles with a layer of Mod Podge and then stick the leaves to them. 4 - Cover the leaf and pebble with a second layer of Mod Podge paying special attention to the corners of the leaf to make sure they are stuck down well. An adult might need to do this bit. 5 - Once everything is dry you can write the name of the leaf on the back of the pebble using a permanent marker or acrylic paint pen. Autumn Leaf Sewing Use a hole punch around the edge of these printable autumn leaves to create holes. Take some wool/yarn and thread it through the holes. This is a simple activity to help develop fine motor skills. You can download the printable using the link below. Download Printable Pumpkin Spice Cloud Dough This smelt amazing thanks to all the lovely spices we added to our regular cloud dough recipe! Pumpkin pie spice seems quite hard to get hold of in the UK so we made our own. I don’t think getting the ratios exact are so important in this scenario but we used: • 2 tbsp cinnamon • 2 tsp ginger • 1 tsp ground cloves • 1 tsp ground allspice • 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg We added that to our usual cloud dough recipe (4 cups flour & 1/2 cup of vegetable oil) . Cloud dough is powdery but thanks to the oil you can also mould it. Mine love it, usually for some cooking/ baking pretend play. It’s guaranteed to keep them all busy and it keeps really well in the PlayTRAY for another day. If you think your little one might like a cheeky taste, you can bake the flour in the oven first for 10 mins at 350F/180C to kill any bacteria that there may be. You can download a recipe card for this activity for free from our printables page. Download Printable Pumpkin Fairy House A little pumpkin fairy house complete with table and chairs! We used twigs to make the windows and it was so easy to do (way easier than trying to carve them!). We put this together for a little small world play with their fairies. I made these toadstools a few years back by painting pebbles and sticking them to a piece of air dry clay. All the other small world resources are listed in our Amazon storefront. Autumn/Fall Colour Mixing This is so simple to set up using three pots of water coloured with food colouring and some droppers (pipettes). We used a white ice cube tray to mix our colours, which helped the colours to show up so well. I would start by letting your little one have a good explore first before moving on to mixing colours to match the autumn objects. We had lots of brilliant conversation about colour mixing and what colours we needed to add to get closer to matching the colour of the object. This activity requires a good deal of precision to manipulate the droppers and to not add too much at a time, so it’s a great one for fine-motor skills too. Coffee Filter Autumn Leaves This is a very simple craft but such a lovely outcome! To make these leaves you will need coffee filters and some water coloured with food colouring. I set out yellow, red and green water and we used droppers to cover the filters. This is such a fun one for experimenting with colour mixing and we ended up with a beautiful array of coffee filters, each one slightly unique. Once the filters were dry, I cut out the leaves and we strung them up using fishing wire. These would also look great hanging from a piece of wood or simply stuck onto a window. Autumn/Fall Play Dough Tray I think a play dough tray will always be my favourite activity to set up. And with the PlayTRAY I now keep it out to return to over several days so all my effort making it isn’t wasted! Here’s some inspiration for an Autumn/ fall tray- a mixture of natural resources and other things we’ve accumulated over the years. If you’re new to small world and sensory play and are looking to build up your resources, do check out my small world resources post. To make the play dough we used our regular recipe: 1.5 cups of flour 1/2 cup of salt 2 tbsp of cream of tartar 2 tbsp of coconut oil 1 cup of boiling water. Mix the dry ingredients together then add the coconut oil and boiling water with food colouring mixed in. Keep mixing until it comes together as a ball and then remove it from the bowl and knead it really well on a worktop. Too sticky? Add a little more flour. If it’s too dry and a splash more water. You can find out more about our play dough recipe in our post here. Autumn/Fall Word Leaves To prepare for this activity use a paint pen to write words containing the sounds your child is currently learning onto large leaves. Then write the individual sounds onto little leaves. Encourage your child to read the words and then collect the little leaves to build up the word to match. This activity was so quick to set up, but was such a great way to practice lots of important phonic skills. Autumn/Fall Leaf Count This was a simple counting activity we did adding the correct number of autumn leaves to the trees. I grabbed some twigs from the garden, laid out the numbers and I encouraged my 4 year old to add the loose parts to match the number shown. I find our Grapat Mandala pieces get used for a great many things (the beauty of open-ended toys) but they are especially useful for developing mathematical concepts like sorting, counting and patterns. Autumn/Fall Letter Hunt A quick and easy set up I used to practice matching lowercase letters to capitals. I used an out of date packet of lentils in the base of the PlayTRAY, which was perfect for hiding our letters in! I then used a whiteboard pen to write capital letters in each of the PlayTRAY compartments for my 4 year old to sort the matching letters into.

Steiner-Waldorf education is a holistic approach to schooling developed by Rudolf Steiner that emphasizes the integration of intellectual, artistic, and

We are beginning to move full swing into the holiday season and I have been planning the two weeks we will all be at home. With some down time I thought it would be a great chance to plan a few activities with my little ones, and since I do love all things Waldorf, I

Se avete scelto una scuola steineriana per il vostro bambino, o se l'avete frequentata voi durante la vostra crescita, ci saranno delle cose che non potranno più essere levate dalla testa, o che, nel momento in cui verranno riviste, susciteranno ricordi e sensazioni che solo chi è stato in una classe steineriana potrà capire! Ecco 10 cose che solo gli steineriani capiranno: piccole curiosità che solo chi è stato in una scuola Waldorf riconosceranno immediatamente 1. La poesia del Mattino: Ve la ricorderete per sempre, e ogni tanto vi ritroverete a ripeterla nella vostra testa. In effetti è sempre utile! La riproponiamo, per chi non la conoscesse (o per chi volesse riguardarla con un sorriso!). Del sol l’amata luce,
 il giorno a me rischiara
 dell’anima la forza, 
agli arti dà vigore
nello splendor solare,
 onoro o Dio la forza 
che tu benevolmente,
 nell’anima ponesti
 che io sia laborioso, 
di apprendere desioso
 nascon così da te, 
la luce ed il vigore 
fluisca ognor a te,
 riconoscenza e amore. 2. Probabilmente vi ricorderete con un sorriso che chiamavate la maggior parte dei vostri insegnanti con il nome proprio! 3. Avrete ancora da qualche parte quella ciotola creata partendo da un blocco di legno e lavorata con nient'altro che della carta vetrata e una sgorbia. thelittlegnomeshome.blogspot.com.au 4. Conoscete tutte, tutte, tutte le potenzialità e le modalità di utilizzo della cera d'api: quante volte la si utilizzava! 5. Vi ricorderete dell'imbarazzo in quegli attimi in cui i vostri amichetti (di altre scuole) parlavano di quel cartone o di quel film divertentissimo, di quel programma per bambini o di qualcosa relativo alla tivù: niente, non sapevate niente, ché la tv era p-r-o-i-b-i-t-a! 6. Quantomeno, i vostri quaderni erano bellissimi, mica come i loro! Foto Credits: wiws.org 7. Avevate una familiarità incredibile con la seta tinta e il legno laccato. 8. Al contrario, le penne stilografiche erano off-limits. 9. Le vostre scuole, architettonicamente parlando, sembravano evitare come la peste gli angoli retti. Ma questo non è un difetto, no? Foto credits: http://www.vitra.com/en-gb/magazine/details/alchemy-of-the-everyday 10. Dopo qualche anno, avete capito finalmente che le pigne apparentemente rappresentano il giocattolo per eccellenza: per gli insegnanti, il loro utilizzo era praticamente illimitato! Foto Credits: http://theimaginationtree.com/2011/07/discovery-box-11-pine-cones.html Sara Polotti Foto Credits: http://www.nymetroparents.com/queens/listing/The-Waldorf-School-of-Garden-City-58699

We chose Waldorf education as it addresses our concerns about societal development, including our disconnection from nature and each other.

Preview: Find inspiration and ideas in simple activities and crafts for 3 year olds. In a constant search for new developmental activities, I looked for specific crafts for preschoolers. As I found many beautiful craft ideas and beneficial activities, this time I focused on Waldorf inspired crafts. Mostly inspired by the natural materials and

Pinay Homeschooler is a blog that shares homeschool and afterschool activity of kids from babies to elementary level.

Pinay Homeschooler is a blog that shares homeschool and afterschool activity of kids from babies to elementary level.

How do you tell time without a watch? Use the sun! This simple activity will show your child how to build his own sundial.

Dozens of educational busy bag ideas to keep your little one engaged while learning! A ton of free printable busy bag ideas included!

Che differenza c’è tra la pedagogia del metodo steineriano, conosciuto anche come metodo Waldorf, e l’approccio educativo stilato da Maria Montessori? Proviamo a rispondere a questa domanda complessa con una serie di altre domande che mettono a confronto questi due metodi, i loro approcci e le differenze tra i due: Montessori e Steiner, due metodi a confronto Cos’è il Metodo Waldorf?È un approccio educativo sviluppato da Rudolf Steiner nel 1919. Si basa sullo sviluppo del bambino in relazione alla sua crescita e alla sua maturazione. Secondo questo metodo, l’educazione è arte e passa attraverso tutte le abilità, da quelle manuali a quelle più strettamente intellettuali. Cos’è il Metodo Montessori?È l’approccio educativo sviluppato da Maria Montessori. Si basa sulla ferma convinzione che il bambino debba essere libero di esplorare, e scoprire il mondo circostante con un approccio sensoriale, e indipendente. Il Metodo Waldorf è simile al Metodo Montessori?L’obiettivo dei due metodi, il naturale sviluppo del bambino, è molto simile, mentre le filosofie su cui si basano entrambi sono molto diverse. Cosa hanno in comune il metodo steneriano e il metodo Montessori?Entrambi riconoscono nella pedagogia il mezzo migliore per migliorare la società e credono che la libertà del bambino sia il primo passo verso la formazione individuale. Secondo i due approcci, inoltre, l’ambiente deve essere a misura di bambino e la scuola d’infanzia deve riprodurre la vita casalinga. L’approccio di entrambi è religioso?No, in tutti e due i casi l’obiettivo è educare il bambino indipendentemente dal contesto culturale e religioso. Quali sono i punti cardine del metodo Montessori? Importanza ai materiali pratici sottoposti dall’educatore, strumenti con cui il bambino impara e vive le esperienze del mondo circostante.L’attività sensoriale, volta a sviluppare tutti i sensi del bambino, è fondamentale. È un’abilità che sviluppa attraverso giochi, anche artigianali, che incuriosiscono il bambino e mirano a renderlo attivo e partecipe.L’autodisciplina è fondamentale per il piccolo e per la sua crescita.Il bambino deve imparare a essere indipendente nelle piccole attività quotidiane, come vestirsi da solo o lavarsi i denti. Quali sono i punti cardine del metodo steineriano, o scuola Waldorf? Il bambino è libero nel gioco e l’educatore non interviene mai, favorendo così la libera azione della fantasia.L’insegnante ha un ruolo centrale, di educatore e modello di comportamento.Le attività di tipo creativo sono importanti, come la fabbricazione della carta, l’apprendimento di uno strumento musicale o la recitazione.I bambini seguono un ritmo preciso, giornaliero, settimanale e mensile per ricercare la sicurezza all’interno delle proprie abitudini.Ai genitori è richiesta una partecipazione attiva all’interno dell’ambiente scolastico; partecipano alle iniziative e contribuiscono al buon andamento della comunità. La redazione di mammapretaporter.it

Many of my most treasured childhood memories involve one-on-one time with my father: ice skating, hiking trips, studying astronomy. (Okay, and cuddling on the coach watching the original Star Wars …

I absolutely love so many aspects of homeschooling. One of my favorite parts, so far, is that we are able to study whatever the kids are interested in at the moment, and run with it! ⁣⁣ We attended…

Explore EC Activities' 82 photos on Flickr!

Which number do you see? This set is ideal for introducing numbers in the first class! The large cards allow children to learn numbers in a creative imaginative, symbolic and meaningful way. These "Hidden numbers" cards can be printed recto verso in order to have the image on the front and the beautiful poetry on the back. The children can guess the hidden number observing the image. They can read the image on many levels (counting elements, listening to the poetry, finding numbers in shape and geometry); each child sees something different and when this happens is really magical! The "Hidden numbers" document can be printed in A3 format. The resolution and quality of the drawing are high (were originally made on A3 paper). Ideal to hang in the classroom after guessing, drawing and number writing. The small cards (8,5x11cm) can be introduced in a second moment to exercise and memorize the numbers and symbols. For example the children pick a card and have to say the number and show it with their fingers as fast as possible. This material is made by a Waldorf teacher with lots of love, first for the pupils, now for you. In proceeding to the command you will have: -two pdf documents that group the digit posters (to be printed in A3, A2, or A4 size) - numbers 1 to 9 -one pdf document that includes the small cards (to be printed in A4 size and cut them out) - numbers 1 to 10 You can then directly access the documents by following these steps: 1. Log in to your Etsy account. 2. Click on “You” (top right) 3. Choose “Purchases and reviews” 4. Find the order. Click on “Download Files” (to the right of the order) 5. The file will go to your “Downloads” folder Please leave me a comment if you are interested in buying the finished cards and how big would you like to have them. Thank you! Note on authors copyright: this material cannot be copied or disseminated I also offer support and advice about planning a Steiner - Waldorf curriculum at home or in small school realities :) please contact me if you need. www.amaeducation.one

I will freely admit to anyone that knows what Waldorf form drawing is that I was terrified to bring it into a homeschool environment. What, exactly, was encoded in those mysterious lines and shapes? What esoteric wisdom did I need to attain before I could try to impart this practice to my son?

I think it’s safe to say that ALL toddlers love a trip to the zoo. We are lucky to have a pretty fantastic zoo close to where we live so we take full advantage of that and visit every few weeks or so. Madelynn always loves seeing what the animals are up to, so I knew this […]