Autumn Time!

Autumn – we love the colours and feel of it! Plus it gives some great opportunities for messy play trays and activities. So Kate from Little Learners Lewes & Brighton thought she would share some of her favourites with you!

1. Coloured Rice

I just love the fiery colours of Autumn in this tray and the children couldn’t wait to get stuck in! A great tray to practise those scooping and pouring techniques. Try to use metal bowls so you can stimulate the children’s sense of hearing and listen to the lovely tinkling sound of rice falling on metal.

2. Pasta Play!

Lots of lovely sensory experiences to have with cooked pasta. The younger children had fun squishing it with their hands and feet, the older ones used their fine motor skills to snip the spaghetti. We even had some spaghetti wigs!!

3. Natural Materials for Autumn Play

This is such an easy one to create at home and you can get the children out in nature collecting the items too. I put trucks and diggers with this one and the children loved collecting and transporting the contents. Endless learning opportunities here from building language, describing the feel of the pine cones and conkers (‘spiky’ ‘smooth’ prickly’) to counting the conkers as you put them in pots.

4. Cereal Play!

Cereal play is always popular and so easy to create. The children had fun scrunching the cereal and investigating the textures with all of their senses (including taste!). It was a great one to encourage imaginative play as they fed the squirrels and made bowls of breakfast for their adults. A great taste safe one for the babies too.

5. Autumn Painting

The children LOVED painting the pumpkins. It’s great to give them the opportunity to paint something 3D rather than just on flat paper. A much safer way to decorate pumpkins than the traditional carving and the children can get fully involved. We also used forks to create our own spiky hedgehogs!

6. Fall Fine Motor Skills

A great way to develop that pincer grip and hand eye co-ordination. The children loved poking the pipe cleaners through the holes to make a spiky collinder hedgehog!!

I hope this gives you some seasonal inspiration! Do let me know in the comments if you try any of these ideas or if you have any autumn themed ideas of your own!

Kate x