Halloween Craft for Toddlers: Paper Pumpkin (Jack-O-Lantern) Decorations

Materials:

• orange construction paper
• yellow foam sheet/s
• black felt
• Sharpie marker
• pencil
• scissors
• white glue
• Popsicle sticks

Instructions:

1. Using a pencil, draw different sized pumpkins on orange construction paper. Cut them out
2. For the large pumpkins, cut out appropriate sized eyes, noses and mouths from the black felt. To give the kids some choice, cut different shapes for the eyes, such as circles, triangles, and crescents (for a winking pumpkin face). They could also choose from circle shaped mouths, smiles or frowns. (I kept the noses simple and made them all triangles.)
3. Do the same for the smaller pumpkins using the yellow foam, cut into smaller shapes.
4. Draw with pencil on each pumpkin stars where the eyes should go, a swirl where the nose should go, and a line where the mouth should go.
5. After providing the toddlers with glue and a Popsicle stick each (though they could also use their fingers), give them one small step at a time to follow at a time. (Eg. Put lots of glue over one of your stars, and then I will give you an eye to stick on. Withhold each facial feature until they have put enough glue in that spot, to keep things less confusing for them.
6. Once they have finished each jack-o-lantern, write the first initial of their name in Sharpie marker on the stem of the pumpkin. (This helps with teaching them what letter their name begins with, since they are motivated to find the jack-o-lantern they made when they later see the various decorations on the wall.
7. Decorate the area with the finished masterpieces (some could even go on the door). (I used clear plastic tape to stick them up. Yep, my home is very classy.)

Apple Picking at Chudleigh's

Last weekend Dan and I took Noah apple picking at Chudleigh's, located 9528 Highway 25 in Milton. It's getting late in the season, and not all apple types are available for picking. Still, we had a great time picking Fuji and Red Delicious apples!

Noah immediately went for the apples that were the easiest for someone of his size to get at: those on the ground. Obviously, some of those that he collected were bitten into, or looked like they were starting to rot. He thought they looked just fine! (We had to sneakily ditch his bag when he wasn't looking and tell him we had combined the apples into two bags.)

It's been ages since I've been apple picking. Actually, I haven't been since I was a kid. The day we chose to go turned out to be quite cold and dreary, but it was such a nice family experience that it seemed as if it warmed up throughout the afternoon.

Noah absolutely loved it. It was so cute to see him carrying his own little bag and busily looking around for the right apples to put in it.

 

There is a beautiful forested area which you can just see the outside of in the pictures above, and a walking path that runs through it. We wanted to walk through this fall wonderland, but not with two heavy bags of apples. We thought we'd bring our loot back to the car and take the path later on, but we never ended up returning to it. Next time!

And what kid doesn't love a tractor ride? The tractor took us to and from the apple picking area. It wasn't really that far, and we could have walked, but that's not quite as fun! 

Next we picked out a pumpkin to take home. There wasn't a big selection, but there were enough that we could find a good, medium-sized pumpkin (that Noah and the kids will later scoop out). There were a few stationary tractors that kids can sit on and pretend, (and have their picture taken) but Noah declined on this occasion.

He was very interested in going to the little farm, however. He called it "Old MacDonald's Farm". I guess every farm is Old MacDonald's farm to him. Mr. MacDonald is one busy farmer!

There was also a little hay maze which Noah and Dan navigated themselves out of a little too easily. (Maybe they just got lucky!) There were pony rides as well, but like the tractors, Noah simply wasn't in the mood for it on this day.

He was, however, in the mood to try the enormous playground which had about 5 or 6 very large slides. There was no way he wanted to go by himself though, so I got to enjoy a ride too!

Our day was definitely worth the admission price of $10 (kids 3 and under are free, so we didn't even pay for Noah). I would do it again next year in a heartbeat!

Fall Craft for Kids: Tree and Leaf Wall Decoration

Materials:

• 5 white sheets of Bristol Board
• pencil
• paintbrushes
• brown, red, yellow and orange paint
• scissors
• leaf shapes (cut-outs) that are roughly 4-5 inches in height (You can trace real leaves or use printables from the internet) 
• 2 large (12 x 18 inch) sheets of green construction paper
• 6 large sheets of blue construction paper
• clear, wide packing tape
• Velcro

Instructions:

• On one sheet of Bristol Board, draw a tree with pencil that fills up the whole paper. (I looked at a very simple drawing of a tree, and tried to reproduce it - nothing fancy, just 7 thick branches)
• Cut the tree out.
• Give the kids brown paint only, and have them paint as much of the tree as possible. Place it out of reach from the kids to let it dry.
• Rip a sheet of Bristol Board in half, and let the kids paint using only red. Set paintings aside to let dry. (It doesn't matter if they fill the whole paper or not.) Repeat with yellow paint and orange paint, using different pieces of Bristol Board. If they still wish to paint after this, give them all 3 colours at once. Set the various paintings out to dry.

• Use a cut-out of a leaf, or a real leaf (it should be about 3 and 1/2 to 4 inches tall), to trace leaf shapes onto the yellow, orange and red paintings.
• Cut out the leaf shapes. Place Velcro on the backs of all the leaves.

• Find the wall space where you would like to put the tree up.
• Using the clear packing tape, stick two pieces of green construction paper horizontally (and side by side) to the wall. Do the same with two pieces of blue construction paper, placing them directly above the green paper. Repeat two times, using all 6 pieces of blue construction paper.
• Using the clear packing tape, stick the tree on top of this background. Tape each and every branch to the background. Once you have done this, look over every part of the tree and background, taping every bit of exposed paper edges. (Otherwise, the children most likely WILL find the little bit of edge you haven't taped down, and rip the wall display down!)
• Stick Velcro (opposite side of what you used for leaves) onto branches of the tree, and onto the green construction paper (ground). You could also stick pieces of Velcro to the blue construction paper, so that it looks like leaves are falling from the tree.

• Lastly, show the kids how to stick the leaves to the Velcro on the wall display. They can stick them on, or take them off whenever they please! (You could also use it to help teach colours by asking them to stick on or take off only the yellow leaves, etc.)

Mud Puddles

We have been meeting Lucas and Maya at the Annette Street Public Library drop-in program some Friday mornings. I don't think we would be able to visit this program if it weren't for their mother, Marlaine. She helps all 5 big kids with their food and drink at snack time (run by the library) while I feed baby Oscar. It looks like we might be taking a break from this routine for a while though, as my kids seem to have had enough of the library program for a while. I think we will change our community program outing to Indian Road Public School Early Literacy Centre for at least a month or so, just for a change of scenery.

The kids are all having a blast playing with Noah's new birthday presents. We are really working on taking turns, instead of grabbing toys from each other. It is obviously especially hard with brand new toys; they are just so excited to try them out!

On his actual birthday (September 21st), Noah got to choose which playground we went to. He chose the Choo Choo Playground (Vine Parkette). It's quite a ways from us, but luckily I can still squish 4 in the wagon. (This will most definitely not be possible when they are all wearing snowsuits and heavy boots!) Each kid brought a balloon, and we had quite the party wagon travelling through the neighbourhood! We met Lucas and Maya at the playground, and had a picnic there, which made it extra fun!

Noah has been pretty good about sharing his birthday toys with his friends. He has so much stuff now - I am just so glad he has friends to share them with on a daily basis. We have so many toys, we could basically open up our own drop-in centre! Hmmm....High Park Drop-In Centre...if the daycare kids didn't need to nap or go outdoors, it would work perfectly!

One of the toys Noah received from his big sister Emily, and boyfriend Dave, was a projector and storybook combo. He got one Winnie the Pooh book and two Dora the Explorer books to use with it. It is a great activity for dark, rainy days. One day last week, while Noah was still napping, the other kids and I watched and listened to the Pooh Bear story in the computer room. Both of the above pictures were taken in the dark room: one using the flash on my camera, one without. We have since done this activity in Noah's room, with the older boys all taking turns pushing the button which cues the next page.

We usually meet with Lucas and Maya, and their mother Marlaine, for a play date two times a week. Marlaine has bravely introduced the "big-kid swings" to her children, and we have followed her lead. Here Noah is, swinging with his beloved Maya. Noah's love of Maya is the most adorable case of unrequited love I have ever seen!

Oscar is really starting to enjoy the swings, as long as I don't stray too far!

It was a little bit damp at the playground on this day, since it had rained the night before. We all ventured down to the field (at Lithuania Park), which was mostly dry. I believe it was Lucas who discovered the mud puddles in one tiny area of the field. It was all over from there! Marlaine helped to remove shoes and socks, and to roll up their pant legs. (Luckily, it was a pretty warm day outside!)

What a joy it was to see the kids having so much fun! They stomped in puddles and used sticks to poke in the puddles. They got disgustingly dirty. Maya tried to sit in a puddle, before her mom informed her that the line was drawn there. Maya, trying to clarify her intentions, told Marlaine she would like to swim in the puddle. The answer, of course, was even more definitely "no"!

Little Oscar is taking everything in. He is always very eager to join the older kids in their wild activities. One day, and it won't be long, Oscar, this too will be yours!