Autumn!
Lots of seasonal goodies in this guide. No pumpkin spice though. Feature or bug, you decide.
“All the months are crude experiments out of which the perfect September is made.” —Virginia Woolf
“I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.” —from Anne of Green Gables, by L.M. Montgomery
“Fear not November’s challenge bold—we’ve books and friends and hearths that never can grow cold: these make amends!” —Alexander Louis Fraser
We’re stepping into autumn here in Wisconsin - apples, autumn leaves, and pumpkins are all making their annual debut and I can’t get enough. Celebrate the season by making a “Fall Bingo Card” with your family, brainstorming all of your favorite things to do in this time of year - and if you need help with ideas, this guide is full of plenty of ways to embrace this abundantly beautiful season....
What you’ll find in the Autumn Guide:
12 Seasonal Books to Read Together
Snack Time: Harvest Popcorn
Invitation to Play: Nature Faces
Invitation to Play: Leaf Symmetry
Plus an Autumn scavenger hunt, poems and songs, and lots more activities to celebrate the season. Download and print the guide to get all the fall goodies!
Guides are available to all subscribers for 1 month after they come out, and then they go into the archive which is available to paid subscribers.
12 books about Fall to read with your kids.
There are about twelve thousand fall-themed picture books out there that you could choose from, but after digging through most of them, these are the twelve that my family and I loved most and that I think you and your family will love too.
Brambly Hedge Autumn Story by Jill Barklem
Hush Hush, Forest by Mary Casanova, illustrated by Nick Wroblewski
Fall Ball by Peter McCarty
Hocus Pocus It’s Fall! by Anne Sibley O’Brien, illustrated by Susan Gal
Goodbye Autumn, Hello Winter by Kenard Pak
Wild Child by Lynn Plourde, illustrated by Greg Couch
The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin by Beatrix Potter
Those Darn Squirrels! by Adam Rubin, illustrated by Daniel Salmieri
Yellow Time by Lauren Stringer
Sneeze, Big Bear, Sneeze by Maureen Wright, illustrated by Will Hillenbrand
My Autumn Book by Wong Herbert Yee
Say It! by Charlotte Zolotow, illustrated by Charlotte Voake
Gah! I just love this time of year, and I love these books! These are linked to Amazon for the sake of convenience, but I highly recommend Bookshop.org, AbeBooks, ThriftBooks, and eBay - seriously, gently used books are cheap and awesome. Or even better, head to your local public library!
Autumn videos (and a song) to enjoy with your kids.
🍁 The Little Autumn Fairy Song (performed by Strawbitty Yops, 3 minutes)
🍁 “Automne” animated short (LISAA Paris, 3 minutes)
🍁 Winnie the Pooh Celebrates the First Day of Autumn (Disney, 3 minutes)
🍁 Best of Stella Leaf Jumps (Dog Named Stella, 3 minutes)
A poem for Autumn.
“Something Told the Wild Geese”
by Rachel Field
Something told the wild geese
It was time to go.
Though the fields lay golden
Something whispered,—'Snow.'
Leaves were green and stirring,
Berries, luster-glossed,
But beneath warm feathers
Something cautioned,—'Frost.'
All the sagging orchards
Steamed with amber spice,
But each wild breast stiffened
At remembered ice.
Something told the wild geese
It was time to fly,—
Summer sun was on their wings,
Winter in their cry.That is so interesting!
Spark your grown-up wonder and curiosity with these fun links - which ones would your kids love, too?
➵ Read: Fried Maple Leaves (Bored Panda) The snack, which seems to be a specialized delicacy from the Osaka area in Japan, is made by frying Japanese maple leaves in tempura batter. The pros in the city of Minoh in North Osaka preserve the leaves for a year in salt barrels, but other recipes don’t seem to demand this lengthy step.
➵ Watch: Becorns (David M. Bird) “I build little people out of acorns and sticks, then photograph them in the wild with real animals.”
➵ Watch: Why Geese Fly in V’s (World By Charlie) Simple and engaging explanation of why geese fly in a v-shape formation.
➵ Gallery: 10 National Parks That Have the Best Fall Foliage (National Geographic) Growing up in the Bay Area, fall foliage wasn’t really a thing, but now that I’m in my forties and I live in the Midwest, it is definitely a thing.
➵ Read: The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, A Forgotten Marvel Comics Superhero (WBUR) “Squirrel Girl is gifted with the proportional strength of a squirrel, a large tail, and an army of squirrel hench-animals. But her real super power, according to Murray, lies in her unswerving optimism and ability to relate to those around her. That’s not to say she isn’t strong. As one of the most powerful characters in the Marvel universe, she’s taken down major baddies including Dr. Doom, Thanos and Galactus.”
I hope you loved the Autumn Guide! If you’re craving more ways to embrace the fall season, be sure to check out the Apples Guide, too. And for more Discovery & Play Guides, click this green button here for the full archive.
Toodle-pip, rosehip!
Love, Kathryn
🍂 🍁 🌰 🐿️ 🍁 🍂
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