Fun Activities for Families, Kids and Au Pairs

Fun Activities

Fun Activities: Fall

Apple Sauce | Dried Apple Rings | Leaf Prints | Leaf Art | Pumpkin Carving

Autumn is a season of change. It's a great time to go out and help children explore what is different in the world around them.

Fall is apple season. Apples come in many varieties, colors, shapes, and sizes. Some are wonderful to munch on, others are best when cooked.

Apple Sauce

Apple Sauce is very simple to make.

Remove the core and quarter the apples. If you leave the peel on during cooking, it will give the applesauce a pink color.
When the apples are very soft, remove any peel that is left, have the children help mash the pulp or put it through a sieve.
Add sugar if needed.

Try making Dried Apple Rings

Peel, core and slive as many apples as you like into 1/8 inch rings (Macintosh or Golden Delicious apples work best).
Have the children dip each ring into a mixture of lemon juice and water to help the apples keep thir color.
Pull a piece of sting through the center of each ring and hang in a dry, warm place.
They take 1-2 weeks to dry and become chewy.

Leaf Prints

Make Leaf Prints by painting one side of a leaf with tempera paint and then pressing it down gently onto paper to form the leaf pattern.

Make designs for fun, or use large sheets of paper (tissue paper, brown paper or even newspaper) and save the painted paper to use as gift-wrap.

Leaf Art

Place some leaves between pieces of wax paper and iron. This will keep them from crumbling and give the leaves a glossy sheen. You can then glue them onto paper - try adding bits of bark and seeds too. Hang them in the window or use them as placemats.

Pumpkin Carving

Start the Halloween season off by going pumpkin picking - check the newspaper for farms where you can go into the fields and pick your own pumpkin! You can limit the size by telling children they have to carry their own.

Carve the pumpkin just a few days before Halloween if you want it to be nice on Halloween, as pumpkins rot quickly. Work with the children to plan the design on paper and then draw it onto the pumpkin before you begin cutting. Cut off a lid to clean out the inside of the pumpkin and design holes large enough to let light shine out when you're done. With a special safe knife designed for pumpkin carving, the children can help carve the pumpkin. Check with your family to see if they have one of the special knives - they sell them in supermarkets if you need one. Always cut away from yourself using slow steady cuts. Scoop out the seeds and stringy flesh (this is a messy but fun job!). See the seasonal calendar for October for recipes using the seeds and the pumpkin you have cut away.