LEAVES OF LEARNING

Leaf Hunt - Give each child a lunch sack and let them collect 2 or 3 leaves from the ground. Bring these back in the classroom and sort by shape, color, etc. You could also graph the leaves by shape. (Whenever you collect items outside emphasize the importance of taking things from the ground. Return the objects to where you found them after exploring with them in the classroom.)

Research – Check out a leaf identification book from the library. Can children match up their leaves with those in the book to identify which tree they came from.

Leaf Rubbings - Lay a sheet of paper on top of a leaf. Remove the paper from an old crayon and rub the side over the leaf to make a print.Hint! Use rubber cement to glue the leaf to the table. It will be easier for the children to make a rubbing, and you can just rub off the rubber cement after the activity.

Leaf Book - Let each child find a "favorite" leaf. To preserve, place the leaf in a sheet of newspaper and put a book on top overnight. Place the leaf in a zip baggie. Encourage children to dictate or write a sentence about their leaf. 
*Put several baggies together to make a book.
                            
I Wonder Why? - Brainstorm why leaves turn colors and fall off trees in the fall. Have children go home and do a little research with their parents and report results in class the following day.

Deciduous Trees (Sandra Kelley)
Tune: "Do Your Ears Hang Low?"
Do your leaves fall down?
Do they tumble to the ground?
Do you lose your leaves in the fall?
Then you are deciduous that we know
because in the fall your leaves all go!

*What's the difference between deciduous trees and evergreen trees? Take a nature walk and ask children to identify both types of trees.

Alphabet Hot Potato
Margaret from yourtherapysource.com sent this clever variation of the traditional game:

One more for you Alphabet Hot Potato - each time they hold the ball say 1-3 letters of the alphabet. The child chooses. Who ever had the ball when you get to the letter Z has to get up and ZOOM (run) around the circle. So child #1 says A,B,C and passes the ball - child #2 says D,E and passes the ball - child #3 says F,G,H and so on until you get to Z. Just remember no one can say more than three letters while they hold the ball.

Hint!  You could also do this with counting.  Every time you get to a multiple of five or ten that child has to sit down.