Pumpkin Stamping

 After we had our pumpkin science we decided to be resourceful and use our gutted pumpkin again. This time we did pumpkin stamping. Although you will only get a stamp of the outline of the cut pumpkin it still worked out. I gave Bear a brush and he traced around the pumpkin which was a great way to reinforce CIRCLE which we have been working on this past week.

Wolf of the other hand flipped that little pumpkin half right over and painted the inside. Well after the attempted to eat the paint of course. What is it with my boys and their silly faces? W in this last picture makes me laugh every time.

More leaf activties

       

       

       

   Well fall is officially upon us. How exciting!!! I have yet another leaf activity to share with you. (what can I say...we have been taking a lot of walks and leaves are free. It's a win win people!!!) This time it is from The Artful Year: Autumn crafts and recipe e-book.

Our first project we decided to make was her Fall Leaf Suncatchers. As you can see Bear was really focused on his work here. I mean seriously look at those chubby toddler hands at work. So cute. (okay doting mommy moment over). The results were lovely and I especially liked the fact that it was a craft that Bear could easily make.

If you are looking for Autumn activities to do with your little ones this season this e-book is well worth the money. With 78 pages of lovely pictures displaying each activity it is as much eye candy as it is instructional. There are so many great ideas. I have been reading the Artful Parent for some time now and am excited to be an affiliate for such a great book. For a sneak peek and info on how to purchase just click on the image above or on the sidebar. I can't wait to get started on a few of these.

Fall Leaf Confetti {Kids Co-op}

As I mentioned HERE we have been really into nature walks lately. We have been collecting a ridiculous amount of leaves, but what to do with them? Crunchy leaf confetti/glitter (I really don't know what to call it)  of course. 

First I placed all of our leaves in a shallow baking dish and let B make a big crunchy mess (this was the highlight of this project). I made sure to take out the stems and veins that you couldn't crunch and  some of the leaves that were not dry enough. We crunched them up as best we could with our hands. I think that maybe a mortar would have worked better or maybe even a food processer to make it extra fine.

I placed our leaf confetti in a salt shaker. We slathered our paper with glue. (Yes, slathered. There is no other word to describe a toddler with glue) and shook our confetti bottle over it. It seemed to work okay but as I mentioned I would have made it finer in retrospect. B started getting impatient with the bottle and decided to just pour it over the glue with  his hands. Works for me. 

The results are really cool, you actually get to see all the various shades of colors the  leaves had. I let it dry and then went over the top of it with craft glue to seal the leaves a little bit more. I also went back and cut out the paper into a leaf shape but you could leave it as is. For older kids I think it would look really neat if you draw with the glue and use the leaves as a glitter project. 

My first guest post {Raising Tots}

I am way too excited about this. (like on the verge of nerdy) I had my very first guest post on Love, Play, Learn. I shared a fun fall game idea that the boys love.  If you would like to read more about it and also check out Brittany's blog that is always full of fun ideas just head on over HERE.

Fall sand play {Kids Co-op}

Fall is almost here!!! I, like so many would say that fall is my favorite season. That slight chill in the air, pumpkin spice, the extra blankets you throw on the bed at night. Oh yes it is all so sweet. 

Over the weekend we went on a nature walk and collected rocks, sticks, and some pretty freshly fallen leaves. The next morning we placed those collected items in the sand table and let the boys explore. W mainly liked hitting the sand with his shovel while B dug the sand with the sticks and had fun hiding the rocks under the sand and coming back to dig them up. He even made a "tree" from one of the leaves we collected. 

B loved collecting items during our walk in his little pail and seemed to like playing with them afterwards as well. I loved that it was such a simple activity that can change each time we do it based on what we collect.