FALL FUN Activity List

Happy Fall!  When I told Arin last Friday that it was finally Fall, she was super giddy.  She loves the season changes.  As soon as I realized it was Fall, I started craving all the comfort foods of the season.  The only problem with this is that we are still experiencing hot, hot, hot weather.  It does not feel like Fall, at all.  This past week, I took the girls to the zoo and the weather was about 95 degrees that day.  Not exactly the type of cool weather that you typically associate with Fall.

But, we are still excited for the season change, so we will create Fall in our home.  Next week is Arin's last week of school before we take an extended break (probably 4-6 weeks).  We won't be spending our days with hours of structured activities like normal, but we will still be making time for some fun activities.  Tonight, I put together a list of activities that we'll do.  I wrote the list on leaf shaped papers, which the girls will be able to pick from each day.  Some activities they will be able to do by themselves (really great for right after the baby is born) and some will be things that we work on together (baking and such).

Our List
Acorn & Candles
Acorn & Twig Tic-Tac-Toe
Acorn Cap Color Match
Acorn Counting (Ella)
Acorn Mosaics
Acorn Necklace
Acorn Treats
Apple Banana Muffins
Apple Colors File Folder Game (Ella)
Apple Pie
Apple Pie Playdough
Apple Prints
Applesauce Bread
Autumnn Tree Painting
Bagel Birdfeeders
Birdseed Pinecones
Candied Pecans
Cheerio Birdfeeders
Corn Maze
Cranberry Cake
Crockpot Applesauce
Fall Button Tree
Fall Colored Playdough
Fall Fun Learning Pack
Fall Leaf Coasters
Fall Themed Puzzle
Falling Leaves Craft
Flower Arrangement
Fuzzy Animal Magnets
Grape Experiment
Juice Grapes
Leaf Rubbings
M & M Leaves
M & M Trees
Nature Scavenger Hunt
Nature Walk
Pear Pie
Pull-Apart Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Bread
Pumpkin Bread
Pumpkin Pie
Pumpkin Playdough
Pumpkin Ring Toss
Pumpkin Seeds, roasted
Salt Dough Leaf Magnets
Scarecrow Craft
Squirrrel Food Experiment
Squirrel Stash File Folder Game (Arin)
"Stained Glass" Craft
Owl Craft
Owl Cupcakes
Pomegrante (probably just eat one, unless I come up with some other idea)
Visit a Farmers' Market
Wax Paper Leaves
What I Love About You
Where's the Worm Apple Game
Window Clings

Pottery Class

Through our homeschool group, we had the opportunity to sign Arin up for two pottery classes and one mosaics class with a local art cafe.  Today, was the first pottery class.  Arin LOVED this.  It was supposed to last about an hour and fifteen minutes, but Arin managed to drag it out an hour and forty-five minutes and would have loved to stay longer.

Waiting for Class to Begin

Ella was too young for the class, so she passed the time by painting an already made piece.

The Raw Clay

Tool Used to Cut Clay

Cutting the Clay

Arin's Piece of Clay

Loving this Experience

Patting the Clay Before Rolling it

Rolling the Clay

Feeling the Smooth, Flattened Clay

Using Water and Sponges to Smooth the Clay More

Using a Wooden Skewer and Paper Template to Cut the Clay

Smoothing the Clay Again

Stamping Designs in the Clay

Ella was allowed to make designs in a scrap piece of clay.  This will not be dried.

Arin's Finished Clay

Arin's clay will take about a week to dry out, before it is fired. Once that process has taken place, she will go back and paint the plaque :)

Museum of Science and Industry

We bought annual passes to the zoo earlier this year.  Part of the promotion was that we could use our zoo passes to get in free to the aquarium and the science museum throughout the month of September.  Last week, we visited the aquarium and today we visited the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI).  This was the girls first visit to MOSI and they loved it!

We wanted to go to the butterfly exhibit, but it was only opened for one hour during the day.  We didn't realize that, so we missed it.  We did walk over to where it was and we met a lady that had found a caterpillar in the parking lot.  She showed it to the girls before releasing it in a plant, away from cars :)

Enjoying Nature

Wheelchair Race

Waiting for the Planetarium Presentation

Star Machine in the Planetarium

News Anchors

Tornado

Volunteer Fire Fighter

Inside a Wind Tunnel - wind speeds of 80mph

Flood Display

Comparing Bellies ~ 35 weeks :)

Brain Puzzle

Can You Walk a Straight Line While Intoxicated?

Harder than it looks!

Arin thought it was hilarious to wear the "drunk" glasses.

Blocks for making a pyramid...or a tower :)

The Directions...

The Display :)  The girls had a blast pretending to be spiders.

Cashier

"Here are your groceries"

Laying on a bed of nails.



Playground Fun!



Aquarium Field Trip

This week, we took the girls on a family field trip to the aquarium.  This was Ella and Andrew's first time there.  Arin and I had been when she was a baby, so it was really a new experience for her as well.  When we left the house, the sun was shining, but by the time we got to the aquarium, it was pouring down rain.  The poor weather conditions must have scared some people off, because we arrived and were able to look at all of the displays without fighting our way around people.  By the time we left, there were several people there.  Although we were only there for a couple of hours, we really enjoyed our day.  It was very relaxing to look at all the underwater creatures and to walk through the "wetlands" area.

Wet and Cold from the Rain



Octopus




Spider Crab



Jelly Fish

Not a good belly picture, but I am 34 weeks pregnant :)

Touch Tank

Just as we did for the princess field trip, we made up a themed basket to go along with this field trip as well.  In it, we added fiction and non-fiction sea life books (from the library), Aquarium brochures,

Underwater Friend mini-mosaic (Target)

Go Fish card game (Target)

Fish themed subtraction book for Arin

Fun Facts Sea Creatures Puzzle.  This puzzle is so much fun.  One side is bright and colorful.  The other side is all black and white with fun facts about the different sea animals.  The black and white side added a bit of a challenge to the fun!

Wooden Sea Creatures for coloring - we'll probably turn these into magnets.

Fish Game

Dolphin Clackers (Arin was very disappointed that there were no dolphins at the aquarium)

As always, Arin gave me a summary of her field trip experience along with a picture that she drew.