Fall Leaves and More

There was no school on Friday and I planned to do some type of fall craft activity.  Earlier in the week the preschoolers and I had collected some leaves – this was a little difficult since it has been so wet lately so most of the leaves are mushy.  Luckily we also had a lot of grains and leaves from our garden.

I don’t particularly like store bought glue so we used glue recipe;

 Cook and stir 1/2 cup of cornstarch, 1 1/2 cups of water, 4 tablespoons of light corn syrup, and 2 teaspoons of white vinegar over medium heat until thickened.  Remove the mixture from the heat. In another dish, mix together 1/2 cup cornstarch with 1/2 cup water.  Add this to the heated mixture. Use the resulting glue immediately or store it in the refrigerator for up to two months.

This glue is nice and thick so I find that it works well for for filling gaps when you’re trying to adhere things that don’t lay flat against the paper.  The youngest in the group thought it made great playdough/hand lotion too. This activity kept them engaged for over an hour;

Later in the day we went for a long walk (no babies with us today).  The children played a game where they tried to avoid stepping on any of the leaves;

There was a mixture of dismay and excitement when we reached areas that looked like this;

The weather was cool but not cold and it was not raining however the humidity was high and it was very damp.  When we returned we had some hot cocoa to combat the chill;

It was a nice treat on a somewhat quiet fall day.