Fall

The story of Thanksgiving Day is also the story of America. You see, a long time ago, the king decided which church his people would attend in England. Some people wanted to choose for themselves and left England to find a place where they could pick their church. 

After traveling around for a while, these English families got on the Mayflower boat and sailed from England to America. They were hoping to land in Virginia, but the weather was terrible, and they had to stop sailing, so they landed in Massachusetts instead. 

Massachusetts can be cold in the winter when the pilgrims landed there. Their trip took 66 days, so they were also exhausted and hungry, besides being cold. Very, very hungry. 

Lucky for the Pilgrims, the Native Americans had already lived in America for a long time. They knew how to grow food, hunt, and fish and shared their food with the starving Pilgrims. Without their help, the settlers would have died. 

The following spring, two very special Native Americans taught the Pilgrims how to use fish to prepare their lands so they could grow crops like corn, pumpkins, beans, and peas. These Native Americans were called Abenaki and Tiasquantum and were part of the Samoset tribe. 

The Pilgrims and the Samoset tribe were friends and decided to join to protect each other from other Native American tribes who might attack them. 

That November, the Pilgrims harvested the foods the Native Americans had taught them to grow. They had so much food that they decided to celebrate their harvest and went out to hunt for deer to eat at their feast. The Native Americans heard the Pilgrims’ guns and got worried that they would break their deal and attack them, so they sent their men to find out what was happening. 

When the Native Americans learned what the Pilgrims were doing, they joined in the hunt. The Pilgrims invited them to their feast to say thank you for all that the Native Americans had taught them. All in all, 53 Pilgrims and 91 Native Americans were at the First Thanksgiving! Can you imagine having 144 people at your house for Thanksgiving? Instead of turkey, biscuits, and pie, the Pilgrims and Native Americans ate deer, corn, shellfish, and roasted meat. 

Spruce up your Thanksgiving feast...while practicing fine motor and writing skills... with this fun, printable art project. Your little turkeys will love it!

The shelves are bursting with candy corn confections this time of year. The mellocreme pumpkin is a treat made of honey and sugar, simply ripe with scientific possibilities. Grab your little goblins for this ghoulish experiment: dissolve candy pumpkins in different liquids. Stand back to watch the magic! This is an experiment of testing hypotheses. What does your little scientist think will happen in each liquid? Will the pumpkins float? Sink? Dissolve? Stay intact? What happens if you add a little heat? Let’s find out!

• Candy corn pumpkins
  
• Clear glasses
  
• Water, warm and cold
  
• Vinegar
  
• Vegetable oil
  
• Milk
  
• Microwave
  
• Timer

1. Label your clear glasses for each liquid. Fill your glasses about half full.
2. Drop in each pumpkin. Observe for any immediate reaction. Grab your timer and begin to measure your observations in five-minute increments.

3. 5 Minutes: There was lots of bubbling in the warm water and little difference to the other liquids.

4. 10 Minutes: The cold water and vinegar liquids began to turn orange as the sugar “skin” of the pumpkin began to shed, but not much change for the pumpkin in milk.

5. 15 minutes: The cold water, warm water, and vinegar pumpkins all began to shed their “skin,” providing a spooky element to the experiment!

6. 30 Minutes: At last! The theory that the pumpkins might float comes true as the pumpkin’s sugar skin lifts it to the top of the glass. This might provide giggles, as your experiment now looks a little haunted. Who invited the ghost?

8. To add a little interest, put the oil pumpkin in the microwave for 20 seconds. You’ll find it will bubble and then wholly flatten out.

9. Have an adult fish the flattened pumpkin out. You will find it is very pliable and is almost plastic-like in consistency. Your little scientists might be taken aback that this is, in fact, something we can eat!

The milk broke down the sugary pumpkin over time by dissolving it. The warm water made the reaction slightly faster, but the two water temperatures and the vinegar broke down the candy first, creating sugar “ghosts” from the outer coating. And while the oil had little effect on the pumpkin when resting in the liquid, adding the heat made the natural reaction occur. It was decided that time was the fundamental factor in this experiment: the more time the pumpkins sat in the liquids, the more chances to observe!

The chill in the air! The crunch of the leaves! The sights and sounds of autumn are here! Everything is cozy and crisp and wonderful, and…ACHOO!

As the first sneeze of the season rings through your house, it can only mean one thing: cold and flu season is upon us. Let’s prepare together by making a cost-effective, all-natural hand sanitizer to keep those nasty germs at bay.

This easy activity opens up discussions on practicing healthy habits during this germ-filled time of year. Here are a few reminders:

Wash or sanitize hands whenever possible

Germs are everywhere – there’s no way around it. But sanitizing or washing hands is the best way to prevent them from spreading. Rub in sanitizer to the palms and back of hands, and teach little ones to wash hands with soap for as long as it takes to sing “Happy Birthday” twice.

Clean areas children touch frequently.

Wipe down doorknobs, toys, railings, electronic tablets, remote controls, etc., with disinfectant. You obviously can’t chase after your children with a Clorox wipe every moment, but staying on top of cleaning surfaces makes a huge difference in germ transfers.

Scrub down that bathroom

A hygienic bathroom during cold and flu seasons is a must. Top-to-bottom care is essential in this busy hub in your home. The toilet handle, the sink, and the floor should enjoy frequent cleanings. And don’t forget to wash hand towels…and then rewash them.

Teach the beloved “vampire” to sneeze and cough

This one comes with some practice, but teaching kids to sneeze or cough in the elbow crook is a huge step in preventing the spreading of germs. If you stick with it, you will notice that the “vampire” move quickly becomes a knee-jerk reaction.

Lastly, call your little ones in sick.

If your child has a temperature or isn’t acting like him or herself, keep them home. No one knows your child better than you, so it’s best to err on caution if something seems off.

• 8 ounces Aloe Vera gel
• One tablespoon witch hazel
• ¼ teaspoon tea tree oil
• ¼ teaspoon Vitamin E oil
• Essential oils, a variety of scents
• Travel-sized spray bottles 

First, decide which essential oils you’d like to use. Four scents were chosen here, and we were creative in decorating each spray bottle with labels. If it’s going to be attached to you all during cold and flu season, you might as well make it nice-looking. 

Fill a measuring cup with 8 ounces of Aloe Vera gel. Aloe Vera’s job is to serve as the base of the sanitizer and to be very gentle on the skin. 

Next, add the active ingredients. Begin with the witch hazel, adding one tablespoon. Witch hazel is a natural cleanser that protects against infection.

Alcohol can be used in its place, but witch hazel is far less drying. 

Add ¼ tablespoon of tea tree oil. When it is in 0.5-1.0% concentration form, tea tree oil is powerful in killing most bacteria and is potent when preventing infection. (The other thing that is powerful about tea tree oil is its scent. The kids might not love how strong it is, but once the essential oils are added to the hand sanitizer mixture, the odor dissipates). 

For extra moisture, add Vitamin E oil. A common complaint about store-bought sanitizers is how drying they can be, mainly applied for days (and months). Vitamin E and aloe make this homemade version easier on the kids’ hands. And it is thick! 

Lastly, add the essential oil for scent. The overwhelming favorite in this house was peppermint. Pour into your cutely made spray bottles. Stash them away in the kids’ backpacks, lunch boxes, cup holders of their car seats, or anywhere in between! Best of luck this cold and flu season! 

Are you excited about the fall? Cooler weather, changing colors, and leaves and seeds on the ground make for a great time to get outside and explore nature. Bring a nature inside and set up a discovery table. Today I’m sharing five tools for your fall discovery table. These items will help your little scientists make observations and use real science tools in the process.

Questions to ask:

• What do you notice about the different leaves? (colors, shape, size) 
  
• What time of year do trees like sycamore and maple lose all of their leaves? (fall/autumn) 
  
• Pine cones and pine needles come from evergreen trees. They lose their needles a little at a time; not all at once. Compare the green pine needles to the brown ones. What do you think the difference is? (time – the green needles fell more recently than the brown needles, the brown needles are older/drier) 

Observations to make: 

• What do you notice about the different kinds of bark? (color, texture, etc.) 
  
• Look at the inside of the walnut. Compare it to the outside. 
  
• How is the small pine cone similar to the large pine cone? (look at the cone scales, or seed scales) 

Measuring is a science and math skill that is important to practice. Once you’ve taught your child how to use a ruler or tape measure properly, set them off to compare the sizes of different nature items. We used the tape measure and ruler. My kids love finding the objects on the card and then measuring them. Taking the tape measure outside on your next nature walk would also be fun. Measure the distance between trees or the length of a large rock. The possibilities are endless. 

Questions to ask: 

• How many leaves will it take to balance a walnut? 
  
• Which is heavier: a pine cone or an acorn? 
  
• Which weighs less: a hickory nut or three orange leaves?