L is for Leaves Part 2

I finally, finally had time to take pictures of all of our L is for Leaf trays. They have been out for three weeks, becuase we haven't had a lot of time in the schoolroom, and also because they are really fun! You can see Part 1 of our Leaf activities here and some other Leaf activities here.

2teachingmommies.com has this great prinatble with leaves and a tree. We used our number rocks with this activitiy. We picked a rock to put on the trunk. 6 tells us to put 6 fall leaves on the tree. Kenna carefully placed each leaf while counting outloud. By the third time, she was able to do this independently, and I could monitor from afar because I could hear her counting!

Counting and clipping.  I like this activity- we numbered some clothespins, and clipped them to the right section of the fall themed wheel.

L isn't just for leaves! L is for Ladybugs!! We put our confessionsofahomeschooler sequencing ladybugs in order from small to big, and then from big to small.

Kenna decided to do some nursery rhyme action- she recited "Jack be Nimble" and then jumped over the "candlestick" aka- ladybugs!

Leaf shadow matching. We also looked up each leaf and found out what kind of tree it belongs to. I was wishing for a set of three-part cards, but I never got around to printing them. She's only two, so...maybe next fall!

Leaf counting and clipping- tricky but fun for Kenna. She liked being "wrong" and then having me tell her "Leaves, leaves, COUNT THEM AGAIN!!" 

Look closely to see that these leaves are numbered 1-20.  (they are a little set from the Dollar Tree.)

We used our Button Lacer to thread the leaves on in numerical order.

We actually got out our mat and did this activity in true Montessori style. (usually Kenna rejects the work mat)  Waffles the cat came to investigate the work in progress.

Buttoning those leaves was hard for Kenna! First time working with a button.  She did great. I intentionally cut the slits in the leaves rather large, so that she could be very successful.

Sliding the leaf down the ribbon.

All of the leaves securely buttoned!! She was really proud of herself, and the first time we did the activity, we left all of the leaves on the ribbon to show Daddy.  (Generally we clean up our work after the actvitiy is complete.)

Finding which leaf is different.  I laminated the page and gave her a dry erase marker. In the past, I have cut these sheets up into strips, but I left it whole this time to see what would happen. As I suspected, it was too overwhelming for Kenna. She couldn't "read" one line at a time, and kept pointing out leaves in separate rows that were "not the same".

And finally, some leaf size sorting. The text on the mat reads "small, medium, large." Well, we have never used the word "medium" before, so she kinda fell in love with the medium leaves. She only wanted to sort them, and line them up, and say the word medium about a million times. It was adorable.

We did some fun leaf crafts, but I have no pictures. We attempted leaf rubbing but she wasn't interested. We made a mobile with twigs and leaves, which required knot tying and she lost interest. :)  See a theme? I tried, though! I really did! Her favorite activity this month was really just raking and jumping in the leaves. Perfect!

Light Box- Autumn leaves

 Fall has taken over our piece of the world, and Kenna is in love! She loves watching leaves flutter to the ground. She stops and stares above her head as they come raining down. It is magical and wondrous that trees would suddenly release the leaves they held up for so long. 

She is collecting them by the fistful. We have them in every bag and box, pocket and purse, everywhere she can think to stuff them. She gathers them in the yard, in parking lots, and on the playground. She holds the leaves up, one by one, and declares them beautiful. She studies them, enjoying how they spin between her fingers. She drops them to watch them fall. She piles them up to see how high they can stack. Leaves are amazing in my toddler's eyes.

I found these lovely acryllic leaves and knew Kenna would love to play with them.
I drew a tree onto a piece of paper, so that she could explore with it.

 She asked me to make some lines with the leaves and then she asked me to make some letters. They were enchanting.

 We love our light box. We love Autumn leaves.
Happy Fall!