Autumn Trees from Paper Bags

Preschool time in October for us includes a lot of crafts. One of these is making autumn trees from lunch sacks.

 

• Trace and cut a square from a cereal box
• Trace and cut a square from green construction paper and glue onto cardboard piece, aligning them
• Cut a square from orange construction paper and then cut the corners off to create an octagon
• Using black marker, draw a face onto the octagon
• Cut a rectangle from orange or green construction paper no longer than bottom edge of the pumpkin octagon, fold in half long ways and glue one end to green board in middle front and one edge to the pumpkin to make stand up
• Twist the lower 1/3 of a brown lunch sack and glue the bottom to a corner of the green board
• Snip with scissors the top of the sack 
• Tear off pieces of autumn colored tissue paper, wad up and glue randomly to the upper 1/3 of the lunch sack 

Skills
Art: creative expression, cut, paste, 3D sculpture, mixed media, composition, color

Fine Motor: tracing, cutting with scissors, cutting a line, gluing, twisting bag, writing faces

Social: following directions, facial expressions

Math: logic/reasoning, shapes, geometry, directional placement, fractions 

We had 6 pumpkins/gourds out. 

• 2 were regular and orange (in picture), 
• 2 were orange with a lot of warts/nubbies on them, and 
• 2 were white with one nubby and one not 

All were of different sizes, but with a distinct difference between the 3 larger and 3 smaller (one of each kind). The children could group by smooth, nubby, color, size or graduate sizes. 

We measured their height, weight and circumference and charted this on the white board, along with the same measurements of the children. We used a measuring tape, yard stick, ruler, pound scale and ounce scale to measure and the children had to debate which tool would be best and jointly decide on which one was best to use. H wouldn't quite fit on the ounce scale we found out.

Skills
Fine Motor: measuring one another
Social: following directions, cooperation
Math: graphing, measuring, logic/reasoning, units of measurement, measurement vocabulary, 

Tags: October, fall, autumn, pumpkins, trees, preschool, craft, cut, paste, glue, theme, unit, art, sculpture, daycare, preschool, child, care, childcare, halloween, pumpkin, tree, leaves, paper sack, kid, kids, theme, uniit