1-2-3 Come Do Some Awesome Autumn Craftivities With Me!

To help motivate my Y5's to get down to business, stay focused and complete their morning table top lessons, I'd often offer a simple & quick craftivity that they could transition to, when they were done, or if I spied them quietly working.  The textured acorn is perfect for this.

Here's How: 

• Run off on brown construction paper & rough cut.
• Students trim and write their name on the back.
• Individually call them up to the ‘sprinkling” center, to work one-on-one with you or an adult helper.  
• Children brush glue over the top with a large foam brush.
• Children sprinkle mustard seeds, sesame seeds, poppy seeds or bird seed on the top.  Gently shake off excess, then they brush glue on the bottom. 
• Children sprinkle ground cinnamon &/or ground clove onto the bottom.  Set aside to dry.
• Your room will smell wonderful while making these.
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• Another craftivity you can do with the acorn template, is to have children write their name on the bottom; you help them trace the letters with glue and then sprinkle with coppery-orange glitter. You can also add glitter to the top of the acorn and sprinkle with another color.

Use the acorns as a border on your bulletin board that displays student work.  Your caption can be: “We’re simply nuts about...” and then fill in whatever you’re studying. Click on the link to view/download the scent-sational acorn craftivities.

Another sweet-smelling craftivity I call the pumpkin pie pomander. Simply cut a paper plate into 1/8ths.

For a quick and interesting review of fractions, do this in front of your kiddo's to demonstrate how fractions are formed, by first cutting the plate in 1/2 then in 1/4ths and finally into 1/8ths. I've included a set of fraction pies for even more reinforcement.

Punch a hole in the corner and tie a yarn or ribbon loop.  Call quiet students up to the painting center.  They paint their slice of pie with light brown paint.  While the paint is still wet, help them sprinkle on ground cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice.  Shake off excess.  When it dries students can glue the little poem to the back. I've also done this as a whole group activity. 

You can skip painting and simply have children color the edge of their "crust" with a light brown or tan marker or crayon.  Instead of using paint, students brush Elmer's glue onto the bottom portion of the pie using a Q tip. 

Remind students that they just want to make their pie sticky and not sloppy with glue puddles. Have a mixture of  cinnamon-clove powder sprinkled on 8" paper plates  (1 per table). Students carefully place the wet side down onto the powder and press.  Click on the link to view/download the Pumpkin Pie Pomander craftivity.  

Finally, since the Thankful Tree was such a popular download, I thought I'd make another option called the Thankful Wreath. 

I've included a variety of leaf templates + an acorn.  Prior to the activity, brainstorm with children about the things they are thankful for.  Write them on the board so students have help with spelling. 

There are several ways to make the wreath:  Children flip over a paper plate and glue the poem in the middle. 

They select 8 leaves that you have run off on a variety of fall-colored construction paper. Older students can cut their own leaves, but I'd pre-cut for pre-K's to expedite things. If you want them to have some cutting practice, have them trim the elm leaf.

Children write something they are thankful for on each leaf.  Before they glue, have them arrange the leaves in a circle around the poem.  When they are satisfied with the appearance, they glue the leaves to the wreath. In the picture I used two oak leaves to make a "bow" and put an acorn in the middle with a child's photo glued to it.

The other way you can make the wreath is to skip the poem and cut the center of the plate out.  As I was making samples, I liked a thinner circle so that the white didn't show through, but you still had enough "base" to glue things on, so I cut quite a bit of the ribbing off as well.  

After students have written on the leaves, they rub glue all over the wreath and then press their leaves on. 

My Y5's absolutely loved anything with glitter, so I thought that some "sparkles" would help add the "wow" factor they so enjoyed. 

Completed projects make a lovely bulletin board, or hang them back-to-back from the ceiling in the hallway.  Click on the link to view/download the Thankful Wreath patterns.

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away.  I blog and design daily, so I hope you can stop by tomorrow for the newest FREEBIES.

"Without Thy sunshine and Thy rain, we could not have the golden grain.  Without Thy love we'd not be fed.  We thank Thee for our daily bread." -Unknown.

1 2 3 Come Do Some Cornucopia Craftivities With Me

Instead of just doing a turkey or Pilgrim theme in November, add some variety with cornucopias!  Plenty of Cornucopias is a 37-page packet filled with a nice selection of ideas.

Introduce your lessons by asking if anyone knows what a cornucopia is. I spent some time searching the web for background and enjoyed learning some new trivia, which I put in a 1-page Cornucopia Tidbits page.  To reinforce the new vocabulary word, I've included a trace and write worksheet.

My Y5's especially enjoyed the lunch bag cornucopias because we sparkled them up with a bit of glitter glue. I pre-folded the bags over and demonstrated how to twist the bottom to turn it into a cornucopia. 

This is wonderful fine motor practice. As you can see by the photograph, these make a lovely bulletin board.

There are two options to choose from.  One is simply a coloring page of the fruit spilling out.  Students color, cut and glue to the inside of their bag. 

To ensure that they used lots of colors, I told my kiddo's that whatever colors they used, we would add those glitter colors. 

It was amazing how this resulted in really great coloring!  I set the glitter-station up as an adult-run center.

For the other option, run off the fruit patterns on construction paper.  Rough cut.  Students trim and glue to the inside of their cornucopia bag.  I assemble one as a "how to" sample. 

The Rip & Tear Mosaic cornucopia is also great fine motor practice.  Encourage students to rip the 1/2 inch paper strips into color piles and then rub their glue stick over a certain area and place their "tiles" down.

I show how to press the torn paper around the edges of a food, and then fill in the rest of the area. 

Remind students that they can overlap pieces and that there should be very little white showing through. 

These also make a beautiful bulletin board.  The mosaics really pop on a black background.

The "Plenty of Shapes" cornucopia, reviews 2D shapes.  Another activity you can do with this shape craft, is to brainstorm with students about what real foods come in those shapes. i.e and egg is an oval shape.

How many can they think of?  I've included a list of my own that you can share with your kiddos, after they've completed theirs.

I've also included a matching "Shape Up!" spinner game.

Children choose a partner and take turns spinning.  Whatever shape they land on, they color that shape on their recording sheet. 

Encourage students to say the names of the colors and shapes as they play the game. 

Students also write down their favorite shape and something in real life that's that shape. i.e. circle-pizza.

3 cornucopia number puzzles, review counting forwards and backwards, as well as skip counting by 10's.  They make a nice independent center or something for "early finishers" to work on.

There are several writing prompts + a November Word Search.

Finally, I think your students will enjoy the November word search.  A word search is not only fun, but reinforces new seasonal vocabulary as well as spelling. 

The Roll & Color Cornucopia game is also a fun way to reinforce numbers and colors. 

Click on the link to view/download the Cornucopia Craftivies packet.

Thanks for visiting today.  I hope you can stop by tomorrow for some wonderful Indian corn-themed activities.

My daughter's expecting a baby girl any day now, so I have much to do today and much to be thankful for.  My feet have definitely hit the floor running!  Wishing you a relaxing afternoon.

"He who thanks but with the lips thanks but in part; for the full, the true Thanksgiving, comes from the heart." -J.A. Shedd