Washington DC Doesn't Know It, But It's Fall!

My book club this morning focused on Linda Glaser's story It's Fall!, a lovely story about the observations a young child makes as he's playing outside.  I think the illustrations in the book are quite impressive.  The artist, Susan Swan, used cut and hand painted paper to create the pictures.  This method seems to really make the pictures pop out of the page.  I almost felt cold while reading the story.

Almost.

As I'm typing this on the second day of Autumn, it is 97 degrees in the Washington DC area.  We didn't get the memo that it's time to put away the flip flops and turn off the A/C.  But that didn't stop my little book club from enjoying the book and doing a few activities to go along with it.

First, we talked about what seasons are.  Hadley right away described a time when it snows and we get really cold.  Another member of the group brought up the Fourth of July.  We talked about the differences in weather in these two times of year, and I told them we go through four seasons: Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall.  I told the group that I would be reading a story about Autumn because that's the season we are in, despite how blasted hot it is outside.  (Sorry.  I think that's the last time I'll say something about the weather.)

So we read the story, and because one of the things it focused on was the changing of the leaves, we made 3-D trees. 

I cut paper plates in half for the tree part, then had the kids dip a cotton ball in water, swirl it in some paint (we tried to encourage the kids to use "fall colors"), and dab it on the plate.  For the trunk, I cut two slits in toilet paper rolls, and slid the "tree" part in the slits. 

I think they turned out pretty cute.  Of course, Hadley and Harper were using them later to fan themselves due to the extreme heat, so I guess they could be used as fans as well.  (Sorry.  Maybe that will be the last comment about the weather.)

After our tree project, we went outside on a little nature walk to see if we could find some of the things that were mentioned in the book we read.  I gave each of the girls a bag, and they walked all over collecting pinecones, leaves, and a few acorns.

After we collected several items, we sat down outside and decorated some pinecones.  We painted them with glue, and dusted glitter over them.  Sort of Christmas - y, I know, but I get confused in the extreme heat.  (Sorry.  That's probably the last comment about the weather.  Except if I make another one.)

We also did some leaf rubbings with the leaves we collected.

 We finished our time together with a festive snack of cinnamon applesauce, and homemade cookies in the shape of trees and pumpkins.  These were made by a very generous mother and the kids thoroughly enjoyed them!