Since visiting the apple orchards, Will and I have been playing a counting game using this printable from Prekinders. I wrote the numbers 4-9 on each side of a wooden craft cube and the numbers 10-15 on another. Then we used red pony beads for counters and, after rolling the "di", counted the appropriate number of "apples" for our tree.
Also from Prekinders, I used these printables for a "same & different game". I just clipped out the individual sets of 4 squares and Will told me which square was different in each set and why. They're pretty easy, but I liked listening to his description of why they were different.
We checked out tons of apple/leaves/autumn books recently, which I will get to in my reading post. But here I'll just highlight a few...
This book is fantastic. Nancy Elizabeth Walker's books are super educational and fun to read. (We also borrowed "Leaves! Leaves! Leaves!" in addition to this one.) In this book, you learn:
1) exactly how to pick an apple
2) the different names and flavors/favorable uses of apples
3) how to make applesauce
4) the parts of an apple, i.e. stem, skin, flesh, core, seeds (also called pips)
5) expressions with the word "apple" in them and an apple song :)
This one is just okay, but Will loved it because of the farm animals involved.
Will colored this Fall the Leaves printable and we read the poem several times.
On Saturday morning, we headed back to the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge for another Nature Tots class on the top of "Terrific Trees". I can see a notable difference in Will's sitting and participation skills with the first month of preschool under his belt. He LOVES to give answers whether or not he's the one being asked. :) So I talked to him about taking turns and listening politely while others are talking. I know they're working on that in school too.Here Miss Laura is telling the kids about the parts of a tree:
They sang a song about leaves to the tune of Ring Around the Rosy:
Then Miss Helen told the kids about how you can tell the age of a tree.
Finally, the kids made four different leaf rubbings using plastic leaves.
While they were doing the rubbings, the teachers asked if anyone knew the state tree of Ohio. Will knows this too (because we have one in our yard and - duh - it's his favorite football team's mascot), but another kid shouted out "buckeye!" before he could say it.
The kids got to look at and touch large pieces of bark and then they did a rubbing over brown construction paper of the bark's rough exterior. This paper was then folded in half to create the cover for their leaf rubbings "book".
But, of course, Will's favorite part of going to the nature center was pushing the buttons to ride the elevator up to the lookout point. :)
His first time using binoculars.
Finally, we went down to the trailhead just far enough to push another button... and listen to the sounds of the red-winged blackbird, the great blue heron and the bullfrog. He loves this.
Back at home, we read a couple more books about trees in the fall.
They sang a song about leaves to the tune of Ring Around the Rosy:Hanging on the tree-ee,
Winter's coming whee-ee.
Autumn, autumn,
We all fall down!
Then Miss Helen told the kids about how you can tell the age of a tree.Will already knew this information from the stumps of our ash trees. :)
Finally, the kids made four different leaf rubbings using plastic leaves.Will chose sycamore, willow, white oak and hickory.
I was shocked that he didn't choose the buckeye!
While they were doing the rubbings, the teachers asked if anyone knew the state tree of Ohio. Will knows this too (because we have one in our yard and - duh - it's his favorite football team's mascot), but another kid shouted out "buckeye!" before he could say it.
The kids got to look at and touch large pieces of bark and then they did a rubbing over brown construction paper of the bark's rough exterior. This paper was then folded in half to create the cover for their leaf rubbings "book".
But, of course, Will's favorite part of going to the nature center was pushing the buttons to ride the elevator up to the lookout point. :)
His first time using binoculars.
Finally, we went down to the trailhead just far enough to push another button... and listen to the sounds of the red-winged blackbird, the great blue heron and the bullfrog. He loves this.
Back at home, we read a couple more books about trees in the fall.This one (just like it says) talked about the different signs of the autumn season around North America. It was a neat way to talk about geography and how different parts of the country look different than where we live.
We let that dry for a bit and moved onto another painting craft using one of our apples from the orchard. I cut a small apple in half vertically and Will "stamped" apple prints onto construction paper.
This is how it turned out. I want to do this activity again with the apple cut horizontally to see the "star" effect from the core like we read about in "Apples, Apples, Apples".
And here is the fall foliage outcome:
This was more a simple book about colors and the prevalence of orange in the fall.
I've wanted to do this "fall foliage" craft from Family Fun since last year. So I finally got around to setting it up for Will this past weekend. 
We let that dry for a bit and moved onto another painting craft using one of our apples from the orchard. I cut a small apple in half vertically and Will "stamped" apple prints onto construction paper.
This is how it turned out. I want to do this activity again with the apple cut horizontally to see the "star" effect from the core like we read about in "Apples, Apples, Apples".
And here is the fall foliage outcome:
We have lots more books to share and looking forward to some pumpkin/Halloween crafts too!
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