Fall Fun - Exploring Scarecrows & Corn in Preschool

My preschoolers enjoyed some fall fun exploring corn and learning about scarecrows and crows recently. It was a fun week and as usual I wish I had gotten more photos to share but with 3 year olds - well, things get a bit messy and move pretty quickly and I can't always snap as many photos as I'd like.

Here's what I did manage to capture from our week:

Corn Kernel Exploration 

The children freely explored corn kernels in the science center. I provided magnifying glasses, pincers and various containers. They studied the kernels, picked them up with their hands and the pincers and poured and scooped them into the various containers.

Corn Kernel Counting

I also provided corn in our math center for the week. There was lots of opportunity for counting and pinching (great fine motor practice!). I had various containers out including muffin tins, plastic egg carton halves and tupperware type containers with lids that the children enjoyed filling with corn and shaking.

Corn Shakers

We made easy corn shakers which the kids loved. They decorated paper plates with bingo daubers, stickers, crayons, markers and crepe paper. Then we folded the plates in half, added a handful of corn kernels inside and closed them up for some musical shaking fun.

Indian Corn Exploration

I also provided the children with Indian corn to explore. Many of them were amazed at the colors. They really liked looking at the different colored kernels on each cob. They picked off some kernels, studied the corn under their magnifying glasses and painted with them. This was so much fun! See more details below.

Indian Corn Painting

Painting with corn was such a rich sensory experience and an all around fun activity for the kids. I taped paper to our longer sized tables, provided paint and Indian corn and let the kids have at it. This was some serious messy fun. They rolled the corn, painted with the husks and just really enjoyed the sensory experience of it. Our paper was nothing more than smeared paint in the end but it was probably one of the best loved activities of the week. It was all about the process, not the product.

Tissue Paper & Bubble Wrap

Corn Crafts

I let the children decide between two corn crafts that I set up. One table had tissue paper and glue and the other had paint and bubble wrap. Most of the children ended up doing both because they were pretty quick. The process is pretty evident in the photos below. The children glued the tissue paper to the corn husk template - some scrunched it up, others preferred to leave it in squares and a few did both. I let them decide how they wanted to do it so they all looked a bit different.  We dipped the bubble wrap in red, yellow and orange paint and used the bubble side for stamping to make corn kernels. 

Foam Paint Scarecrows

Our scarecrows turned out so cute. I used Colorations No-Drip Foam Paint for fun texture and the kids really enjoyed it. I believe the school orders it from Discount School Supply. To decorate the scarecrows I provided various buttons, simple hats I cut out in a variety of colors and of course some hay. Yes, we did have a mess of hay but the finished products were so cute & well worth it. My tip is to just be sure you use ample amounts of glue when gluing the hay. Also, shake them out thoroughly after giving them time to dry before displaying them - it will minimize the amount of hay falling off the scarecrows. 

Indian Corn Roll Paint Crow

This was one of my personal favorites for the week. I love how the crows turned out. I cut out a crow template on white paper and using black paint and small Indian Corn the children roll painted the corn creating a really fun effect and pattern on the template. Some of the children rolled the corn by hand and other shook the box to roll the corn in the paint. The variety really produced some neat looking results.

Fall Sticker Pattern Hats

This was a super easy patterning activity using sentence strips and fall themed stickers. I went over patterning with the children and then had them make their own AB or ABC patterns on the sentence strips. Once they were done I stapled the sentence strips to create a hat that they proudly wore home that day. 

I also set up our Fall Sensory Table during the week but I will share that in a separate post coming up soon. It's filled with lots of fun fall themed goodies for the kids to explore and it's been a huge hit with the children. I keep adding odds and ends as I find them and the class really looks forward to digging up new treasures. 

Hope you enjoyed our Scarecrow, Corn & Crow Fun in preschool!

Don't forget to check out our previously shared Preschool Fun. Next week, I'll be sharing Bats & Spiders.

Bern