Simple Fall Fun

Here's an activity that kept us busy on quite a few Autumn days last year.

First, take a walk around the neighborhood and collect some fallen leaves of different shapes and sizes (this is my favorite part).

  

Then, put them face down on your copy machine...

 

and print out a copy (Jack's favorite part, without a doubt).

 

Presto! You now have a leaf-matching game. It doesn't get any easier than this. And, believe it or not, this super-simple project held my boy's attention for quite a long time, on quite a few occasions. 

I put the leaves that we used in a small basket next to the "game card" we made, along with a magnifying glass to encourage inspection. I left it on a low shelf where Jack could take it out when he happened upon it and place his leaves on their double.

This matching game was the perfect match for Jack, developmentally speaking, last year (he was three). This year I think we'll add some more leaves, and maybe some small objects (I'm thinking acorns, pine needles, seed pods) to up the challenge and make it even more interesting.

How do you fall into Fall?

Comments

[Lori]

such a great idea! :^)

[Melissa]

awesome idea! we have done puzzle pieces before and that was lots of fun but my son would love to use the magnifying glass to match the leaves up much more.

[MamaMidwife]

How come I never thought of that myself?!! How easy!! Makes me more happy that my hubby got me one of those "copy machine" thingies for Christmas last year.

Thank you for the awesome idea.

~H

[Erin Goodman]

Brilliant! I love it!!!!

[Family Focused Fun]

This is a great idea! Thanks for sharing it!

[molly]

Great game! Especially love the magnifying glass idea. Another twist, if you don't have a copy machine, would be to pick leaves from different trees and have them match the leaves to each other.

[Erin Goodman]

Just popping back in to say how much FUN we are having with this game!!!!!

After we did leaves, my daughter (4.5) decided to try it with things from around the house like coins and small toys. Fun!!!

[Lynnie]

Oh my gosh, THANK YOU! What a fantastic idea! My younger daughter is not a big fan of puzzles but I'm going to try this because it has a completely different "feel" to it. Don't you just adore scanners?

[jill]

I've got to try this with my little one.

I'm a new subscriber. I couldn't resist investigating your blog after reading your "sunkissed" comment on SouleMama.

[Laura Major]

Love ,Love, Love this idea! So Smart of You!
I'm a new "stalker" too! :)