Fall Story Time
Our kids love the fall. They love raking leaves, drinking warm cider and cocoa, and playing in the yard without being under attack by wasps. It’s also a magical time to go exploring in the yard and on forest walks for ‘treasures’ - you know, sticks, leaves, and rocks. Our 5-year-old has quit the collection of treasures.
There are so many great fall books out there to help get you and your kids into the season (what’s left of it!). Here are just a few of the books we’ve been enjoying. And, of course, a few simple crafts to boot.
Leif and the Fall
We bought this book last year and the kids love it. Leif is a leaf that is afraid of falling from his tree in the fall. The book follows Leif and his friend as they come up with creative ideas to keep Leif from falling from his tree. It’s a cute book and beautifully illustrated. I love Merilee Liddiard’s style and designs (she’s the illustrator of the book). If you haven’t been to her site, head on over. It's filled with crafts in her signature style. I highly recommend checking it out.
Craft: After reading the book we chatted with the kids about their ideas to keep from falling out of the tree and went on a scavenger hunt to find some supplies for our craft. We made Leifs and Laurels!
Our initial plan was to pick leaves from the yard and draw faces on them. Because dryer leaves kept crumbling (being crumbled), we switched to paper leaves. I cut out some large oak leaves and laurel leaves and grabbed crayons and markers. Our 5-year-old especially liked making the edges of the leaves brown, just like the book.
Fletcher and the Falling Leaves
This is a sweet story about a small fox who notices his tree losing its leaves and worries it might be sick. His mom assures him, “it’s just autumn”. Not quite understanding, he makes it his mission to keep the leaves on the tree, telling the other animals who have been collecting the leaves for their winter homes that the leaves belong to the tree. It’s a very sweet story and our kiddos love the last page.
Craft: Grab your glue and glitter. Have the kiddos use the glue to draw the tree and sprinkle on their icicles (glitter)! We did two versions this year - one with white glue and glitter, and one with glitter glue pens. This really is a craft for any age. The little littles can trace over a tree you draw (or just scribble all over the page), and the older littles can just go for it. Yes, you will find glitter everywhere. For a very long time. But they’ll love their icicle trees. And, just think, in a few months they can do all the messy crafts at The Little Village and all you’ll have to do is find a place at home to hang up their new artwork. No vacuuming required.
Sweep
The illustrations in this book are beautiful and filled with fall leaves, though the story is not about fall at all. The story is about a boy named Ed who ends up in a bad mood and how bad moods sweep through - affecting everyone and everything in their path. We really enjoyed the book - our kids call it “Ed’s Bad Mood”. We use it to discuss feelings and how, just like in the book, bad moods can come out of nowhere, and if we don’t look up to see the things that make us happy, our bad mood could stick. This was a great book for our daughter as she ended her three’s and was going through some serious three-nager mood swings.
The Leaf Thief
We just picked this book up at our daughter’s Book Fair. It’s about a squirrel who believes the other creatures are stealing his leaves. His bird neighbor assures him they are not being stolen and reminds him this happened last year. It’s a cute book with a cute ending. Our 2-year-old used it to put himself to sleep last night after we left the room.
What are your favorite fall books? Any suggestions?
Cheers!
R + L