Science Center: Investigating Fall

This is a picture of our science center. We have pumpkins in a variety of shapes and sizes, real and fake leaves, and pine cones (someone is playing with them out of the picture) for ordering, sorting, etc. Magnifying glasses are provided for further investigation. I try to include interesting fabrics to make the center more inviting and visually appealing.

The red, orange, and yellow water bottles allow the students to play with and explore the colors we are focusing on this month. They love holding them up to the light and next to each other to see how they change.

Music: Rain Is Falling!

(Sung to the tune of "Happy Birthday")

This is a great song to include as we move into colder weather.

I have a set of class pictures that I have laminated and use for a variety of activities. During this song, place one child's picture on each blank line of the song chart. The pictured students should stand up with the teacher. As everyone sings, the teacher can hold his or her hands above the students head and move their fingers down to represent rain.

This is another great way to help non verbal students participate in large group activities.

Magic Pumpkins

Our class is too young to carve a pumpkin, so every year we adapt this activity and make it a sensory activity. We cut open the pumpkin and have the children reach in and feel the insides. This is a great opportunity for language too! Make sure to talk about the textures (slimy, wet, etc). Talk about what they find inside, count the seeds, etc.

After the pumpkin is cut open it will likely rot pretty quickly, so we usually just toss them out. However, this year we filled the pumpkin with dirt and placed it by the window. Once the pumpkin was filled we talked about what we thought was going to happen. Have students help water it every day (we used a spray bottle from the Dollar Tree, a great OT/fine motor activity).

My students loved charting the progress of the pumpkin and posting updated pictures of it on the wall next to it. This helped them to make observations and refer back to what the pumpkin looked like before.