November Activities

Learning in more meaningful to children when they can freely explore the world around them. Take advantage of these everyday learning opportunities that celebrate the autumn season!

Sorting Gourds
Words to Use: Gourd Color Textures (hard, smooth, rough) Size and Shape
Materials:

    -Assortment of gourds in a basket (at least one gourd per child)
    -Large grid and name tags for graphing (optional)
What to do:
    1. In the morning, show and talk about gourds that people use as decorations in their homes in the fall.
    2. Look at the gourds and ask the children which ways gourds are similar and ways they are different (consider size, color, texture).
    3. Let each child choose one gourd from the basket.
    4. Ask each child to tell something about her gourd.
    5. Ask the children to line up into groups according to the different characteristics of their gourds (size, color, texture, etc.)
    6. Count the number of children in each line. Which group is the largest? Which group is the smallest?
Want to do more?
  • Science: Ask the children to predict what will be inside each gourd, then cut them open to find out.
  • Are there seeds? What are the seeds for? What do the seeds look like? How many seeds are there?
  • What else is inside the gourd? To further extend the activity, let the children plant the seeds.
Hands & Feet Turkey
 Surprise someone this Thanksgiving with a turkey made from your own hands and feet!
Materials:
    -Green, yellow and orange construction paper
    -Red, blue and brown construction paper
    -White glue
    -Pencil
    -Scissors
What to do:
    1. On brown construction paper, have the children trace both of their feet and cut them out.
    2. Glue the feet together at the heel, so that the feet fan out at the toes. This will be the body of the turkey.
    3. Cut out eyes, a beak, and a wattle.
    4. Glue the features to the head of the turkey (the heels).
    5. Trace and cut out 3 hands on orange construction paper, and one hand from each of the other colors.
    6. Glue one orange hand on each side of the turkey for wings. Fan out the other five hands and glue them behind the turkey to form the tail.
    Write the date on the back of the turkey so that the children can see how much their hands and feet have grown by next Thanksgiving.
Wind Sock
Materials:
    -orange, red or yellow construction paper
    -Stapler
    -Stickers, markers, cut-out shapes
    -Glue
    -Yarn
    -Ribbon or crepe paper streamers
What to do:
    1. Decorate the construction paper using the stickers, markers and cut-out shapes.
    2. Roll paper into a cylinder and staple.
    3. Attach yarn to the top of the cylinder to hang up the windsock.
    4. Attach the ribbon or streamers at the bottom of the cylinder to catch the wind.
    5. Hang the windsock up to display.

Johnny Appleseed Toast
 Materials:

    ½ apple, peeled and sliced
    1 piece of bread
    butter
    sugar and cinnamon
    cookie sheet and foil
What to do:
    1. Spread butter on slice of bread
    2. Put apple slice on bread
    3. Sprinkle with ½ teaspoon sugar and cinnamon
    4. Place bread on foil and cook for 20 minutes at 350 degrees

Thank you to Lisa Albert from the EPTSS Division for this month's activity!

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