Acorn Spooning

I am knee-deep in fall activities this week, and we are having such a nice time. I love being outdoors, I love the smell of fireplaces burning, and I love the colors of the leaves. I found a cute pumpkin ice tray at the dollar store, and made a spooning activity for Kenna.

I provided a little spoon and some acorns from our nature walks. (yes, some of these have a slight purple tinge... explanation here..)

 The spoon I set out is kind of shallow (one of the Green Toys spoons from the tea set), so this was nice and challenging for Kenna.

After we finished Tot School, Kenna and I cracked an acorn to see what was inside.  We talked about squirrels, how they love acorns, etc, and she suggested we set the acorn outside for them to snack on. Sweet girl. 

Fall Nature Walk

Fall is here, and outdoors, things are getting exciting! Kenna is marveling at the leaves changing colors, and she loves watching the busy squirrels dashing around.  We've been taking a walk every afternoon to burn off energy and get some fresh air.  My little collector picks up interesting things along the way, and we have a little bucket hanging from the stroller to hold everything. When we get home, I ask her to pick a few of her favorite items (usually three) and then we put them on this very special and fancy tray. (Party City...) I have a magnifying glass and a couple of clear containers next to the nature table, and Kenna is free to explore these items whenever she would like.

Here are the awesome finds we brought home today- pinecone, giant leaf and small leaf, some acorns, a cluster of acorn tops, and a rock.
Anything that gets damaged/destroyed by her explorations are discarded because Little Man is in the 'Vacuum cleaner' stage and will consume any bits and pieces lying around.
I highly recommend taking a nature walk- listen to the sounds of nature, watch for colors and shapes, and enjoy fantastic discoveries!

Acorn Painting

 See these purple painted beauties? This is Kenna's idea of a great day! :)

What I planned- Kenna would roll acorns through paint to create some nature paintings. Great idea.

 First Daddy and Kenna went for a walk and came back with a pocketful of acorns.  Perfect.

Kenna wanted purple, and with some coaxing, I got her to mix the blue and red to practice color mixing. She wasn't pleased, because she wanted to see the actual bottle of purple paint. Ah well. We were still on track.

My awesome plan to roll acorns in paint dissolved into full-hand painting and lots of paint splattering in less time than it took to read this sentence.
 

Don't get me wrong- the acorns WERE covered in paint...

but with less rolling, and more brushing!

Oozing paint between her fingers, stamping with her hand, and smearing paint all over the place. It was becoming a lot messier than I had planned...

But soo much learning and exploring was going on, I let her keep at it. Once your toddler is covered in purple paint, there is no turning back.

At the end of the session, we did have a few acorn tracks across our paper, along with lots of purple handprints! Masterful! :)

First time Featured!

Kenna's Felt Forest was featured in an Etsy Treasury!! You can see the treasury here.

Treasuries are created by other Etsy sellers, and can include any items they find unique, beautiful or inspiring. In this case, the "Curator" went with an Eggplant theme, and chose my adorable felt eggplant for the treasury!! I am so excited. I've had my items featured before, but this is my first time as Kenna's Felt Forest!

I "paid it forward" by creating a treasury of my own, and featured one of the "curator's" listed items. I call my treasury Acorns on the Ground. You can view it here. It was inspired by the acorn adventure Kenna and I had last week.