Fall is my favorite time of the year. I love the cool crisp mornings, although we haven’t had many so far this fall, more will be here soon. This is a great time to get out the bike and take a ride. It’s also a great time to take walks. Our neighborhood has several walking trails, these provide a great place to walk and ride. This is also a great time to take the kids or grand-kids out for a walk
Going Green in the Fall
What a great opportunity to explore the change of season and impress upon them the need to be good stewards of the earth. Walk will provide an opportunity to teach them lessons that will be with them for the rest of their life, its good for all involved and its fun. Here are a few fall eco friendly activities to do with your children, or grandchildren:
1/ Adopt a Tree…
While taking a walk, have your child pick out a favourite tree and ‘adopt’ it. Do bark rubbings with crayons and paper; leaf collection and pressing in the fall; and look for flowers and fruit in the summer. Each year, take pictures of you child standing beside the tree. You can even bring along a measuring tape to track the tree’s growth. Kids can also research the tree on the Internet: where the tree is commonly found, usual life span, height, etc.
2/ Keep a Wildlife Journal…
Have your child make daily notes of all the wildlife living in your neighborhood. They can even take photos, or draw pictures, and write down the times of sighting, habitats and behavioral patterns. It is amazing how many different species are living in your own backyard!
3/ Being Good Stewards….
A good way to teach our children about taking care of our planet, and get some exercise at the same time, is to take bags with you when you go for a walk. While doing so, “clean up” along the way. You can pick up stray bottles, newspapers and discarded food containers. Make it a contest to see who can get the most items. Choose different paths on different days to clean up a wide area. Use the time to talk to your children about recycling and reducing waste. (Kids can wear rubber gloves or bring a pointed stick if they don’t want to touch any garbage.)
4/ Acorn Necklaces…
Help your child string together acorns or other seeds to create a wonderful necklace.
5/ Buffet Surprise…
Kids can help out their friends the squirrels, tell them they are making a “squirrel buffet surprise” and pile up as many acorns as they can find by a certain tree. Visit each time you walk; add more if they are gone.
6/ Fall Colors…
Encourage kids to find as many different-colored leaves as possible. See if they can make a “rainbow” of leaves by showing the graduation of color from green to yellow to orange to red to brown.
7/Spelling Leafy Names…
Another fun and secretly educational activity to do with the leaves, is to get kids to spell their names using the leaves. Bring a camera along for the leaf adventure, it’s nice to make a circle or heart of leaves and then get the kids to stand inside the shape to take their photo.
Do you have any eco friendly fall activities to share?
