Once Upon A Book ~ Leaf Man

 

Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert 

Book Summary ~ With a body made of fallen leaves and acorns for eyes, Leaf Man takes off from a backyard and flutters away on the breeze, meandering past animals, over fields of fall vegetables, above waterways, and across prairie meadows. From ducks to pumpkins to fish, all of the objects described are fashioned out of life-size leaves of various shapes, sizes, and colors.

Bible Verse

We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. (Isaiah 64:6)

Nature Walk

Before doing anything, we took a walk around our neighborhood and looked at the colors starting to peek through. Even though it is still a few weeks away from the perfect time for our area, we found some trees that had some fall color starting. While we were walking, Jonah gathered leaves in a ziploc bag to take home and use for some of our activities.

Art

The most obvious art activity was to make our own "Leaf Man" pictures. Jonah wanted to use a leaf for the body and add body features with his crayons similar to the pictures in Fall Leaves Fall, another book we had read during the week. We made a family portrait, a fish scene, a butterfly, etc. We spent lots of time coming up with pictures! Jonah told me that this was his favorite activity out of all that we did. He thought the leaf pictures we made were hilarious.

 

Leaf Sort & Patterns

I used a leaf punch from my scrapbooking supplies to punch out leaves from red, orange, yellow, and brown paper. Jonah sorted them by color and then used them to make patterns. Jonah glued the patterns on paper.

Leaf Counting

I divided a piece of paper into 6 squares and wrote numbers in each box. Jonah used some of the leaf punches to count each number. He glued them all by himself. When he was finished with the first set of numbers he asked for another number page with "big numbers." I quickly obliged!

L is for Leaf

I wrote "L is for Leaf" on a piece of paper and Jonah glued leaves on the letter L.

 

L Highlighter Tracing

I took a highlighter and quickly wrote some rows of the capital L for Jonah to trace. Using a highlighter saved me time printing out a tracing page and printer ink. It's one of my favorite quick tips for tracing practice.

Song

(sung to the tune of "The Farmer in the Dell")
The leaves are falling down,
The leaves are falling down,
Red, yellow, orange, and brown,
The leaves are falling down.

Once Upon a Book ~ Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf

 Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf

by Lois Ehlert

Summary:  Lois Ehlert teaches you about the life cycle of a maple tree . . . that is fun and delightful to read.  What I like?  A few of the pages have leaves actually cut into them!  (I’m a texture girl!)

Bible verse:  Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years.”  Genesis 1:14

Activities

Rake Leaves

This is the first year that Gabe has had any desire to help rake leaves.  So . . . I Iet him.  I was actually pretty impressed with his precision and handling of the rake! 

He also had some fun jumping in our new compost bin . . . pretending to be a grape leaf stomper.

 

Leaf Snake

I found this idea first at Delightful Learning who found it from Cindy, at Along the Way (who also found it elsewhere).

Supplies

• button
• tote strap/ribbon (approximately 1 foot long)
• thread
• needle
• felt (red and yellow)
• scissors

Directions

• Sew button on to the end of the ribbon.  Make sure to use a larger button.
• Cut out felt shapes. 
• Fold felt in half to make slits slightly smaller than your button with a pair of scissors
• Have your kiddo thread the shapes over the button and down the ribbon!

 

Draw A Maple Leaf

My sister occasionally sends me some great art blog posts that she has discovered.  And I am now passing them on to you after asking Kathy, the blog owner of Art Projects for Kids.  Drawing the maple leaf would be a great activity to combine ages.  Allow your older children to draw the leaf, but have that cute tot of yours color the maple leaf in! 

 

Click on the picture for instructions!

 

Gabe and I modified this activity.  I had him gather red and yellow leaves . . . and brown leaves.

• He I sorted them according to color.

• Counted the points of each leaf.

• And colored an imprint of the leaf.

To do this, take all of the paper off the crayon of your choice.  Place leaf under a sheet of thin paper.  You can tape the leaf with masking tape . . . knowing that it “could” rip should you opt to remove the leaf. 

Hold the paper for your child, while they lay the crayon sideways (horizontally) and slide the crayon back and forth over the hidden leaf. 

 

Tissue Paper Leaf Painting

Supplies

• the above leaf made into a pattern on cardstock
• tissue paper
• Sharpie
• watercolor paint
• glue stick
• watercolor paper
• these instructions from Art Projects for Kids

If you draw, cut, and later trace around the leaves, your child could glue them on and accomplish the painting . . . leaving them feeling very proud of their accomplishment!

 

Textured Fall Leaves

 

Supplies

• paper towels cut into leaves
• water
• glue
• paint brush
• watercolor paper
• crayons
• watercolor paint
• instructions from Art for Kids

Your tot just might be able to tear leaves on already traced paper towels.  You might also let them try to cut out the leaves.  I really like this project because you are using a texture . . . and when the paper towel gets wet, it will delight your tot!!!!

Head on over to Granola Mom 4 God to win this great Fall Unit Study from The Simple Homeschool  – 66 pages!  A great compliment to Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf for your older children. 

Want to see what's coming next (and books we've done in the past)? Click here to see our Once Upon a Book webpage!

Mommy Made Printables ~ Fall

We are excited to share some Fall printables for you to use with your tots as you explore together!

Fall Preschool/Kindergarten Pack {from Homeschool Creations}

Fall Fun Cards {from Musings of Me}

Fall Leaves Songs {from 1+1+1=1}

Leaves {from 2 Teaching Mommies}

Let’s Make a Scarecrow {from Musings of Me}

Pumpkins {from 2 Teaching Mommies}

Pumpkin Songs {from 1+1+1=1}

Pumpkin Patch Parable {from 1+1+1=1}

Christian Pumpkins {from 1+1+1=1}

Pumpkin Grid Game {from Mama Jenn}

Pp is for Pumpkin {from Confessions of a Homescooler}

Do you have any free Fall printables YOU have created {and share}? If so, leave a link to your blog post in the comments below!

Once Upon a Book ~ The Pumpkin Patch Parable

The Pumpkin Patch Parable

by Liz Curtis Higgs

Book Summary: This is an wonderful story about how a farmer can transform a pumpkin into a glorious sight. With Bible scriptures throughout the book, the story is related to the way that God's transforming love can fill our hearts so that our light shines for Him.

Bible Verse: Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father in heaven.  Matthew 5:16

Color by Letter: The boys LOVED coloring their Pumpkin Color by Letter page from 2 Teaching Mommies.

Counting: The boys took turns lining up and counting some foam pumpkins that I found at Michaels.

Stacking: Then they worked on those fine motor skills and concentration by stacking up the foam pumpkins so that each was facing in the same direction.

Game: The boys played the Pumpkin Grid Game. They used our homemade puff ball magnets (along with a magnetic cookie sheet) and our Education Cubes (with the Pumpkin Counting insert cards).

Tracing: The boys traced and colored their pumpkin page from Making Learning Fun.

Do-a-Dots: We switched it up a bit and rather than using our homemade puff balls, the boys put stickers on the Pumpkin Do-a-Dot page from Homeschool Creations.

Craft: We followed the pom pom tutorial from COAH to make orange pumpkins. We transformed the pom pom into a pumpkin by gluing a small twig to the top. The boys were so proud because they got to help wrap the yarn!

 

Following Directions & Positioning: We used our pom pom pumpkin to work on some position words (above, under, over, inside, next to, etc.). I called out instructions and they moved the pumpkin accordingly (in relation to the bowl). Below they were putting the pumpkin IN the bowl and then BESIDE the bowl.

Snack: The best part (according to my boys) was snack time. They had a blast helping to make our Crispy Pumpkin Treats and then eating them up!

Want to see what's coming next (and books we've done in the past)? Click here to see our Once Upon a Book webpage!