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When the leaves start to change color, autumn is here. Fall is a beautiful time of year and a great excuse to talk to children about colors, seasons, and nature. Here is a great DIY project that covers all of these topics. Let’s get started! 

Things you’ll need

• Leaf template (optional)
• Coffee filters
• Washable markers
• Ice cube tray
• Pen
• Scissors
• Thread
• Tape
• Pin 
• Branch
• Cardboard surface to let dry

Steps

Using a pen, trace your leaf template – or some real leaves – onto your coffee filters. Tip: trace one half of the leaf, fold it in half, and cut out the leaf to save some steps and ensure your leaves are symmetrical. Make as many leaves as you like! 

Next, draw thick, colorful circles on your coffee filter leaves with washable markers. Be sure the centers of the circles remain white. 

Now it’s time to dye your leaves! For this step, fill an ice cube tray about a quarter full with water. Fold your leaves into cone shapes with the white tip at the end. 

Dip your leaves in the water and let them soak for a few minutes, until the filters absorb the water. Watch the colors travel through to the leaf edges. 

Let your beautiful autumn leaves dry on a piece of cardboard. To speed up the drying process you can use a hairdryer. 

When your leaves are dry, you can add extra texture by folding them down the middle and making folds down the leaf angled downwards.  

Prepare your branch by tying thread to hang it and attaching lengths of thread to suspend your leaves. 

Attach your leaves by piercing a hole in them with a pin and threading them through the string. Add some tape for extra security. 

Now you’re ready to hang up your mobile and watch your beautiful autumn leaves twirl! Happy fall, y’all! 

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It’s raining, it’s pouring! But that’s okay, because we want to stay inside and make this umbrella craft! Wee! This craft is perfect for a rainy day. It’s simple, but looks so good! You can dress it up as much as you like with decorations for your umbrella, or experiment with some rain clouds, but our favourite part is painting and stamping with the bubble wrap. Give it a try, and stay dry!

Things you’ll need

• pencil
• bubble wrap
• construction paper
• circular shape to trace a circle
• blue paint
• paintbrush
• 2 sheets of white paper
• glue stick
• scissors

Steps

To make the umbrella shape, first trace a circle onto a piece of colored construction paper. Draw a horizontal line across the circle, just below the widest point of the circle. Then draw the scalloped bottom edge to make the bottom of the umbrella. We divided ours into four equal sections and then drew in the connecting line to make the look of the bottom of the umbrella.

Cut out your umbrella! With another color of construction paper, draw a handle for your umbrella then cut it out.

Place the umbrella with handle on a white sheet of paper, and glue into place. Now it’s time to make the rain! To ensure that your umbrella won’t get any rain on it, take a white piece of paper, and put it on top of your umbrella.

Trace another circle onto the white piece of paper, directly over the umbrella. Draw lines down the sides of the circle, straight down the bottom of the sheet of paper.
Cut out and place back on top, making sure to cover the umbrella, and the space beneath it.

Cut a piece of bubble wrap the same size of your sheet of paper. Paint the bubbles with blue paint, then lay it onto your paper, rubbing it with your hand to stamp the paint onto your paper. Carefully peel away and remove the piece of paper covering your umbrella. You could also decorate the umbrella with stickers, or the sky with rain clouds!

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If you catch a falling snowflake on your mitten, you’ll see that it has a beautiful pattern, with six points and a lot of complex detail.

Snowflakes are actually tiny crystals made of ice. Here’s a way you can use the process of crystal formation to make your own “snowflake” at home.

You need:

• Pipe cleaners
• Wide mouthed Jar or recycled containers
• Water
• Borax
• Food colouring (optional)
• String
• Pencil
• Old Scissors to trim pipe cleaner
• Pot to boil water
• Table spoon
• Measuring cup

1. Twist together some pieces of pipe cleaners to make the shape of a snowflake. Trim to size with an old pair scissors not to damage new ones. Make sure that the snowflake is small enough to fit inside the jar, and remember that a snowflake has six points!
*Recycled plastic containers can be used as well for additional snowflakes, but glass jars allow you to see the crystallization process.

2. Fill the jar with water about an inch above what would cover your snowflake. With a measuring cup measure the water from the jar or container as you pour it into the pot used for boiling.

3. Bring the water to a boil (ask an adult to help you with this part). Once it’s boiling, start stirring in some Borax. Add 3 tablespoons of Borax to 1 measured cup of water or until it stops dissolving. The water will start to look slightly foggy once it becomes too saturated.

4. Pour the mixture of water and borax into the jar. (You can also add some food colouring if you want to make snowflakes that are a specific color.) Use a short piece of string to hang the pipe cleaner snowflake from the pencil, and lay the pencil horizontally across the top of the jar, so that the snowflake is suspended in the mixture of water and borax.

5. Now leave your snowflake undisturbed and wait overnight, or for two nights. You will notice the crystallization as the water starts to cool. When you take out the snowflake, it will be covered in little crystals! Lay the snowflakes on paper towels and let it dry for another night.

What’s happening?

Like real snowflakes, borax is a crystal – a solid that forms in a specific geometric shape, like a cube, or an octahedron. Diamonds and table salt are crystals too. When these kinds of substances gather together, their molecular properties make them group in a pattern, forming a shape.

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Listen

Want fresh summer jams for a sun-sational summer vacation? Beat the heat and splash into the sea with Finny The Shark and the latest album Fun Summer Songs! This picnic-sized album includes the songs “I Love The Ocean”, “Shelly The Snail”, “Let’s Take A Picture”, “I Have A Friend”, and “Red Light, Green Light”, all featuring the voices of your favorite Finny The Shark characters from the reef. Stream it wherever you listen to your music, and have a fin-tastic summer! 

For more fun with Finny The Shark, follow Finny on Facebook and get the Scholastic book “Finny The Shark: School Friends!”. 

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Try these ideas in the classroom or at home!

• This song is such a nice song to sing with little ones. You can sing it at the beginning of the class to start the day off with a little sunshine, or at the end of the day to end class with a shining moment. You can also sing it before going outside to enjoy the sunshine.
• Sing this song during your weather theme using to sing about a sunny day. You can pair it with other Super Simple Songs about the weather, like Rain Rain Go Away and How’s The Weather?
• For a fun hide and seek game, try hiding a picture of Mr. Golden Sun somewhere in the room and have your students search to find it. Pick one student to be the seeker and have them close their eyes. Then the other students can watch as you hide the sun, and make sure they see where you placed it. Then the seeker can open their eyes and walk around the room to try and find the sun. The other students give them hints by saying the words cold and warm. If they are going away from where the sun is, it is getting colder. They can say, colder, colder. If the seeker is moving towards the sun, it is getting warmer. They can say warmer, warmer and they move closer. Then when they are really close to finding it, the other students can say, hot! Really hot! So they know they are close to the sun.

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