Autumn is my favourite time of year. It starts with the warm air in September which can lead to the last of the BBQ, the final few days spent in the garden and a time to look ahead. It finishes with the cooler nights and the approach to Christmas and the New Year. It is a time for a change, not just in the weather. The beauty of nature as the leaves on the trees begin to change colour and cover the ground in a colourful carpet. This beauty creates a whole new world of discovery.
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Here's some great ideas for activities you can do with your little one, whilst getting them outdoors:
Create a circle using a piece of wire and take some tape or bendy wire and go on a walk with your toddler. It doesn’t have to be far but it does need to have leaves. Have your toddler pick up leaves in various colours, perhaps talk to them as you do so about what the colour is, maybe how big the leaf is or even what the shape is. As they do so and you’ve finished chatting to them about it attach the leaf onto the metal wire using the tape or wire twists. Eventually as the walk progresses the wire will become full of leaves creating a wreath. An Autumnal wreath that can then be hung up on your door and becomes a talking point for your toddler to discuss their walk again.
Leaves are also good for making pictures with. You can use leaves as stamps, simply pressing them into paint and press the leaf onto paper. This tracing can be repeated and create patterns using various colours. Alternatively using glue the leaves can be stuck onto paper to create a picture. Either way, all three of mine have loved painting and sticking as toddlers and created some wonderful masterpieces.
Twigs and sticks are another material that is abundance in Autumn. They can be used for many crafts and activities. Building dens on a walk with larger sticks for your toddler to hide in with you create wonderful memories. As they grow older they can become more involved in the den building and seeing how creative they can become with the den structure.
Sticking twigs to paper to create a tree shape leads to a lovely Autumn activity. Using finger paint have your toddler use different colours and their fingers to create the leaves on the tree. This could be an activity which follows a walk, after showing your toddler the leaves.
There is something rather fun about playing in leaves and so why not share the experience with your toddler. It is free and simple to do, all you need is a pile of leaves. The bigger the pile of leaves the better. You can jump in them, run through them, kick and even throw them. Many toddlers love to try and catch them as they start falling down around them. I haven’t met anyone yet who doesn’t love a good jump into a pile of leaves!
Autumn is also the perfect time to get creative with salt dough too. Salt dough creations can be painted and varnished in order to preserve them for the future. It means you can create a salt dough shapes with your toddler to decorate ready for Christmas, that you can keep and hung on the tree for years to come.
