Happy Harvest Candles

Materials: Baby food jars; white glue; paint brush; yellow, orange and green tissue paper. 

Method: Tear tissue paper into little pieces. Paint the outside of the jar with glue, thinning the glue with water if needed. Stick the tissue paper bits to the jar until it is completely covered. Let it dry overnight. Place a small tea light in the jar and have an adult light the candle.

Pin the Apple on the Tree

You will need a large brown paper tree shape; blindfold; paper apple with the child's name and tape on the back; a basket. 

Tape the tree to a door or a wall. Give the child his or her apple, put on the blindfold, and point the child toward the tree. The child tries to stick the apple on the tree. After all the apples are placed on the tree, count them and ask each child to "pick" an apple and place it in the basket.

Pamela Pigella's Haystack Snacks

Ingredients:

•     12oz. package of butterscotch morsels
•      2 cups of thin chow mein noodles

Adult: Heat morsels in a double boiler or microwave on medium 3 to 4 minutes until melted. Stir well. Add noodles and toss with two forks until evenly coated.

Children: Drop mixture by spoonfuls onto foil or wax paper. Refrigerate until set. Makes about 24 yummy haystacks!

Fun Fingerplays - Autumn Leaves

Autumn leaves are floating down.
(float arms and hands up and down)

They make a carpet on the ground.
(make a spreading motion on the ground)

Then, swish! The wind comes rustling by,
(move arms to side quickly)

And sends them dancing to the sky.
(point upward)

Miss Pennypack's Autumn Puzzler

You will need a yellow, red, and green apple.

Each apple is a different color 

In this puzzler's apple game. 

But when the apples are cut open, 

Each one is just the same! 

People are different colors. Are we the same inside?

See "Hayride" and other seasonal songs on Months of Music.
 

Excerpted, with permission from
Months of Music: Music and Activities for the Year-Round

 The Name Game

Use the "Jack be Nimble" nursery rhyme.

Materials: Tape; toilet tissue roll; small paper plate; red construction paper cut into a flame shape. 

Instructions: Construct a candlestick by cutting small flaps in the bottom of the paper roll. Fold the flaps out and tape it to the plate. Insert the flame into the top of the roll. Put the child's candlestick on the floor and say the rhyme substituting each child's name for "Jack" and having each child jump over the candlestick. Do this several times so the children learn each other's names. 

Pigella's Friendship Cookies

Buy or bake large, round, plain sugar cookies. Ice with yellow frosting (use vanilla frosting and add yellow food coloring.) Make eyes and a smiling mouth with chocolate chips or raisins. Share with a friend.

Miss Pennypack's Pointers

If you have two cookies
It's sooooo nice to share.
Give one to your friend
And show that you CARE.
Only one cookie! What should you do?
The answer is easy...break it in two!

Fun Fingerplays - Where is Your Home?

A nest is a home for a robin
(cup hands to form nest)

A hive is a home for a bee
(turn cupped hands over)

A hole is a home for a rabbit
(make hole with hands)

And a house is a home for me.
(make roof with peaked hands)

Wear a Smile

The most important thing you wear is a smile
It makes everything else worthwhile
So draw on a big grin
And push the corners in
The most important thing you wear is a smile

Put on your hat and your coat
Wrap a scarf 'round your throat
To keep you cozy when it's cold outside
But if you add a big grin
Then the glow will come from within
Could be the warmest thing you've tried.

The most important thing you wear is a smile
It's always right in style
So draw on a big grin
And push the corners in
The most important thing you wear is a smile
And I love to see you wearing that smile!

Excerpted, with permission from Karen Rupprecht & Pam Minor's
    Months of Music: Music and Activities for the Year-Round

Listen to Hayride in the audio player, below.

A Patriotic Flower Pot

Materials: An unglazed small or medium terra cotta flower pot; red white and blue tempera paint; small flat dishes; sponges; scissors; a small paint bush; paper towels.

Method: Paint the entire pot white and let it dry. You may need another coat to completely cover it. Cut the sponges into star shapes if possible or into small pieces. Place red and blue paints into flat dishes. Dip sponge into one color, blot on paper towel, then dab sponge lightly around the pot's surface. Repeat with the other color, letting some of the white pot show through. Plant with a red, white, or blue flower; even all three!

Say "Uncle", Uncle Sam, That Is - Playground Game

The child who is Uncle Sam stands in the middle of a playground with others lined up opposite him. The object is to get past him to the other side. Players lined up say, "Uncle Sam, can we cross your river dam?" He answers, "Yes you may, if you're wearing red today." Everyone wearing red tries to run past him. If he tags a child then he must help catch the next group of colors called until everyone is caught but one, the next Uncle Sam.

Pigella's Yankee Fruitle Doodle

Ingredients: strawberries, blueberries, vanilla yogurt or pudding, and a clear plastic cup.

Place one scoop of blueberries in the bottom of the cup. Next place 2 scoops of yogurt and one scoop of sliced strawberries in the cup. Top with another scoop of yogurt. Admire your red, white and blue creation as we celebrate the birth of our nation!

Miss Pennypack's Safe 4th of July

Play it smart on the fourth of July
Don't get any sparks in your eye.
Keep sparklers and fireworks away
You can still celebrate this day.
Decorate your bike, have a parade,
Enjoy a picnic, games and lemonade.

Fun Fingerplays - 5 Hungry Ants

FIVE hungry ants marching in a line
(march in a line)
They came to a picnic where they could dine
(stop marching)
They marched into the salad
(march)
They marched into the cake
(march)
They marched into the pepper
(march)
Uh oh, that was a mistake. AAAchooo!
(big sneeze)

 Musical Seeds to Shake

Materials: Empty cans with lids like coffee, snack cans or soup cans; or make lids by covering tops with plastic wrap securing with a rubber band; construction paper, crayons; markers; tempura paint; tape; scissors; and seeds.

Method: Leader cuts out paper to fit around each can. Children can draw a flower or vegetable on the paper. Tape the decorated paper around the can, and have children place a handful of seeds into the can. Replace the lid or make one. Use cans as rhythm instruments and shake to music.

Pigella's Seedy Snack Mix

Mix the following ingredients together:

2 cups dried banana chips, dried apples, dried apricots quartered
1 cup oat, rice, corn, or bran cereal
1 cup peanuts
1/2 cup pumpkin or sunflower seeds

Combine all in a plastic bag, close and shake well. Store in an airtight container for up to one month. Makes about 4 cups.

Miss Pennypack's Plantings

Tools and Supplies: Egg carton bottom; potting soil; easy to grow vegetable, flower or herb seeds. 

Take an egg carton and some dirt
(Don't worry this won't be much work!)
Poke a small hole in the bottom of each cup
Fill with soil, three quarters way up.
In each little cup you plant a seed
Now water and sun is what you need.
Give your seeds a drink when they're dry,
Watch them grow, reaching for the sky.

Fun Fingerplays - Eat an Apple

Eat an apple
(right hand to mouth)
Save the core
(close hand to make fist)
Plant the seeds
(dig at the ground)
And grow some more
(extend both arms)

Excerpted, with permission from Karen Rupprecht & Pam Minor's
    Months of Music: Music and Activities for the Year-Round

Listen to Feathered Friends in the audio player, below.

Duck Race

Children line up at a designated starting line. At the word "waddle" they bend over, grab their ankles and begin waddling toward the finish point. The child first to finish, without letting go of his or her ankles, WINS. Asking children to quack while waddling is ducky too.

Flying Paper Duck Craft

Materials: A paper plate, glue, stapler, pencil, yellow and orange construction paper, yellow paint, black marker, string, and a hole punch.

Method: Trace the child's hand on yellow paper and cut it out. Fold a paper plate in half and paint it yellow. After it dries, staple the hand shape onto the left side of the plate to become the tail feathers. Cut out a 3" circle from the yellow paper for the duck head and cut an oval from the orange paper for the duck's bill. Make a tab on the end of the bill by folding in half and glue it to the end of the circle. Draw eyes with the marker or glue on "googly" eyes. Punch a hole in the top of the plate, thread string through it and hang up to fly.

Fun Fingerplays - All the Little Ducklings

All the little duckings line up in a row.
(Stand up in a line.)
Quack, quack, quack away they go.
(Clap 3 times and then walk in place.)
They follow their mother waddling to and fro.
(Put hands behind like a tail then waddle.)
Quack, quack, quack, and away they go.
(Clap 3 times then waddle away.)

Miss Pennypack's Funnies

Question: What happens when ducks fly upside down?
Answer: They quack up!

Question: What does a duck say when he buys something?
Answer: "Please put it on my bill!"

Question: How do you get down from an elephant?
Answer: You don't. You get down from a duck!

Listen to Feathered Friends in the audio player, below.