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This was a great rainy day activity a few weeks ago on a dreary Saturday afternoon. And although we did it as a lead up to Halloween, it would also be a great way to use any pumpkins that were not carved on Halloween. Another great part of this activity is that it can be enjoyed by a variety of ages. We painted the pumpkins with our cousins, so the age range on this activity day were one 3

Still looking for some quick and easy Halloween projects? This Jack O'lantern Suncatcher is not too messy and is quick to put together. Little Brother and I enjoyed making it recently and we love the Halloween color it adds to our window! Materials:  Clear contact paper - two squares about the same size Permanent Marker Orange tissue paper scraps Green tissue paper scraps Black Construction

On this chilly and rainy weekend, it's hard to remember back a week to the gorgeous fall days we've been having up until now. But, really, we've been pretty lucky this fall season. We've had so many incredible weather days. It was on one of these beautiful days that the boys and I took a quick walk up a local trail after school. As we hiked we used this printable scavenger hunt to collect

It's that time of year when there's all sorts of fun fall materials around that are perfect for a variety of different projects. We love finding new ways to use different materials. So we were excited to be given a handful of these "Tennessee Dancing Gourds" grown in my school gardens. The boys love how the gourds can spin like a top, they really get some great motion when they get going.

September flew by - the return to school, the beginning of soccer season and gymnastics classes, and weekends full of birthday parties and family gatherings meant that we barely had time to be home. You may have noticed that we were pretty quiet on the blog during the month of September. Although we did have a little time to play, create, and learn our focus mostly pulled us in other directions.

It was definitely time to make up a new batch of playdough, and with the new season arriving I was inspired to create a play experience that reminded us of fall. One of my favorite parts of autumn is all the great scents that come along with the season. In the past we've used some of those same great scents to create Pumpkin Spice Playdough and Fall Spice Playdough. But this time I wanted to

The boys are getting more interested in small world play, and I'm excited to think of all of the possible scenarios we can set up. Although we've experimented with small world play a little before (including setting up a beach small world and a Lorax small world) it's not something we do often. For this small world set-up I had Little Brother in mind. He's such an animal lover, I knew he'd be

Thanksgiving is just a few days away, yet there is still plenty of time to make these tabletop cork turkeys. We love using corks in projects, like printing with them to make cork spiders or crafting cute cork bats. These little tabletop turkeys were just as quick to put together and just too cute! We're planning to put a whole flock on the table this coming Thursday. Materials:  Corks Small

There's something about November that is so drab and brown, but yet also can be really pretty. Recently Little Brother and I had the chance to get out for a walk just the two of us. Because the weather was beautiful and sunny the dried plants, leaves, and trees really captured our eyes. We love finding ways to explore nature connections, especially when we take a walk.  This time we

Last year we were given a very large bag of corks, and it's been fun to think of different ways to use them. In honor of Halloween, and because we've enjoyed other spider projects this fall, we decided to try cork print spiders. This also proved to be another great, after school project for Big Brother one weekday.  Materials:  Corks (two different sizes works best)  Black ink pad Black

This has been one of the best foliage years I can remember, colors just popped all around us. So while the trees were showing their beautiful colors, we were inspired to create our own fall leaves at home. To create colorful and shiny fall leaves, we used an unusual painting material I've enjoyed using with students before: corn syrup.  Corn syrup mixed with food coloring creates a

We love finding ways to use holiday candy in learning games and activities. In the past we've used candy hearts and jelly beans to practice different math skills. So of course it was time to do something with fall candy! As Little Brother is getting a little older, he's been getting really interested in counting and numbers, so I put together this Pumpkin Patch counting activity using candy

I love when we find great new books at the library! "Bad Apple" by Edward Hemingway is one of our new family favorites. This sweet tale of friendship tells about an apple "Mac" who wakes up one day with a worm "Will." The two become fast friends, but other apples can't accept the friendship and Mac begins to doubt it. Eventually Mac decides he'd rather be a "bad apple" with his friend than a sad

There's something about these cooler days that instantly make me want the tastes and smells of fall food: cinnamon, nutmeg, all sorts of delicious spices . . . sometimes I don't even have to eat them to fulfill the craving, just smelling them is enough.  Little Brother and I put together this delicious smelling playdough the other day and both of us couldn't stop smelling it!  Although I

One of my favorite sights of fall includes beautiful fall mums. I love the variety of colors and I would buy one of each color for the house if I could! It seemed like a fun idea to try and recreate mums with the kiddos in a craft project: we were inspired to try creating Handprint Mum Paintings. I decided this would be a great project to do with Little Brother. I do have to admit that

Now that Big Brother is in full day kindergarten most of our activities are ones we can do after school or on the weekend. I was inspired by this Fall Leaf Watercolor Resist Art from Fun at Home with Kids to create a different fall art idea: Spider Web Glue-Relief Painting. We spread the art process over two after school days, this worked well for the type of glue we were using. It also

You may have noticed it's been a quiet few weeks here. Adjusting to our new schedules and a minor illness have definitely left us a little thrown off the last few weeks. But despite our quiet front here online, we are still finding a few moments to craft and create. One great aspect of our new schedules is that Little Brother and I have a few hours a week that's just the two of us. This is a

With fall on the horizon it's time to start thinking about what fall activities and projects we might be looking forward to. We love painting projects, and especially enjoy finding new things and ways to paint. In order to be inspired we've collected over 35 different ideas for fall painting activities from some amazing bloggers! $500 PayPal Cash Giveaway!  We've also teamed up with a group

It's hard to believe that autumn is around the corner, but you can sense it in the air.  School starts next week and I've already spotted a few colorful leaves on the ground! So it's not hard to believe we're getting in the mood for a few fall crafts. The crab apple tree in our yard is very abundant in our yard this year, and although we never do much with these apples, this year we're