Sweet fruits of Fall
OPINION —
We are so blessed to have a community that celebrates all the Fall activities. This is truly a very busy and active time of year. Fall has been creeping in with its soft coolness and beautiful colors. This is a wonderful time of year to take nature field trips as leaves begin to turn colors, squirrels bustle around for acorns and nuts and just observing the changing season. Even though it is a busy time of year, this time of seasonal change offers many teachable moments. The landscape with leaves changing to beautiful colors, sunflowers are celebrating this season with their bright yellow petals turning toward the sun, the rivers, lakes and streams and ponds in our community reflect the change and beauty of this season like a mirror. Observing the beauty of Fall takes time to enjoy and learn. It doesn’t take a lot of money or going far to observe changes in this season in order to teach your child life lessons and do family projects with what Fall has to offer.
Children can take nature walks around their home or neighborhoods. Point out nature items that they can put in a simple bag such as Fall leaves of many different colors, nuts, acorns, pine straw, etc. Children can glue the items they find on a piece of paper and discuss what they have found. Nature items present a wonderful art project opportunity. Classification can be taught by sorting leaves of same color, different shapes, largest to smallest, leaves versus seeds.
One thing children like to do is to help the family rake up leaves. Mountains of leaves and straw offer many teachable moments as well as playing moments. Let their little imaginations express themselves as well as maintaining a safe environment by checking the leaves pile and straw.
As families drive, walk, hike with your children point out the birds, ducks, geese gathering in flight as they migrate to other places. You can see the flocks of birds flying in a V-Shape to their warmer winter destinations. This is a teachable moment of explaining migration to your children of moving to a warmer environment in preparation for winter. One project that children can help with is throwing bread crumbs and seeds to the birds. As the birds fly in families can point out the different birds that fly in according to color. They can use their counting skills to count the number of birds. Another amazing nature phenomenon is the flight of the Monarch butterfies. Monarch butterflies have beautiful orange wings and black veins edged with a black border and white dots. They live in North, Central, South America, Australia, some Pacific Islands, India and Western Europe. The most fascinating thing about Monarch Butterflies is the very large migration of North American Monarchs every year. Every Fall, as cold weather approaches, millions of these fragile insects undertake a journey from the United States and Canada and begin flying south. They continue to fly approximately 2,500 to 3,000 miles until they reach Southern California or central Mexico. These travelers go to the forests in the mountains and land on different trees, plants, bushes. When early childhood classes are studying this one fascinating fact they learn is that Monarch Butterflies migrate south not due to parent characteristics or traits but due to a natural compass that is within their body. What a wonderful opportunity to teach your children about compasses with north, south, east and west. A wonderful intergenerational activity that the young and old enjoy is to view the many different films which have been published on “The Flight of The Monarch.” Ask your local library for resources.
Point out to your child how the bushy tail squirrel rushes about to gather acorns and nuts. We can sit back and relax as we observe the many different places the squirrel runs to. This can incorporate drawing a simple map of the different places the squirrel runs to as a family project. Observe and talk about the different kinds of nuts and acorns the squirrel is gathering. Your child can use their counting skills as they add up how many nuts the squirrel is gathering.
When we think of Fall we always think of apples. We think of yummy treats such as apple sauce, apple butter or apple pie. Johnny Appleseed Day is on Thursday, Sept. 26. Johnny Appleseed, whose real name is John Chapman, was an American Missionary nurseryman who is famous for planting many apple trees across the American Midwest. In preschool we love to celebrate this day by doing an apple tasting party. As a teacher I love to cut a big juicy red apple horizontally and show them the star in the middle. I see fascination on young faces as we scrape the apple seeds, look and observe the seeds, then talk about planting them as Johnny Appleseed did.
Lee County displays the real meaning of Harvest we citizens view and enjoy. Point out to your child that harvest is a time of bringing crops in from the fields. As you ride along county roads you can point out bales of cotton, hay and grain. You can pretend harvest at home by tying up little piles of pine straw, nuts, fruits, etc. As a teacher I have always enjoyed taking my classes on Fall field trips to different farms. As a family you can check in with local farmers to see it they would allow you to come out on a family field trip.
Another fun, simple excursion is to take a blanket and enjoy fall picnics in the seasonable weather as you talk about what fall means to your children. The skies usually appear rich blue and the sunsets are beautiful during the Fall.
Truly nature sings out to us about the beauty of fall and God’s love as we enjoy and teach our children about life and the world they live in. During the bustle of the season, please spend time with your child and point out the beauty of the Fall season. The time you spend with your young child spells L-O-V-E.
Beth Pinyerd has taught in the early childhood classroom for many years. She holds a master’s degree in early childhood education.
