What is your favorite part of fall? Do you like the smell of the crisp air? Or maybe the apples, fresh from the orchard? How about the cool weather? Changing leaves? I could go on and on, because I love fall! Autumn is my favorite season, and I have loved the fall stories and craft projects we have been doing in story time.

This week, the kids helped me read Footballs and Falling Leaves: A Fall Counting Book, by Rebecca Fjelland Davis. This book features fall items as they are counted from 1 to 10. I asked the children to help me count, and then we discussed each item at length. I learned that most of our story time patrons still need to get their Halloween pumpkins, at least 2 have been on a school bus before, most like apples, and I am the most enthusiastic football fan in the room. The kids really enjoyed the simplicity of this book, as well as the counting aspect.

Speaking of simplicity, we have been doing some complex crafts lately, so we went back to basics this week with some leaf coloring pages. Most of my story time patrons enjoy the delight of coloring, so I let them go wild with the crayons. The picture below was abandoned on the coloring table, so if you’re the owner…great job! I used your picture as an example.

 I also let the older kids pick what craft they wanted to do. It’s fall break in our local school system, so we had a drop in attendance this week…which just means we can do some in-depth crafts with the 4’s and 5’s. I let them choose between the puzzle piece tree I offered for Pajama Time last week, or a stuffed football, as shown here with Mickey.

The football is easy to make, just make a football shaped cutout out of brown paper. Staple them halfway around, then stuff with scrap paper. Continue stapling until it’s closed. Glue white paper to one side to make the laces. Touchdown! You just made your own awesome football!

 Next week, we’ll be talking more about autumn! I just can’t get enough!