Delightful Fall Fun- Poppins Book Nook October + A Giveaway

*This post contains affiliate links. Please see my Disclosure Page for details.

We are having lots of fun with the Poppins Book Nook blog series. This month's theme was Seasons. We decided since Fall has arrived here in Georgia to focus on that as our season. Fall is one of our favorite seasons, Spring is the other. Keep reading to learn more about the 4 great books we read, fun leaf experiment, leaf journal page and art project too. The giveaway is at the end of the post!

We think Fall is delightful, don't you? 

Books:
We read 4 great books Simply Science Seasons, Leaves Fall Down, Leaves and Autumn Leaves (we check this one out every year).

Fall Leaf Observation Journal Page:
I have been on a journal page making kick lately. I'm sure you can find similar ones all over the internet but my kids love it when I make special ones just for them. So I made this Fall Leaf Observation Journal Page. Download your copy here or click the picture below.

We decided it would be fun to see what trees were in our own neighborhood so we collected leaves from the backyard and our neighbors front yards. We read our books and learned all about leaves then we did some close up observing.

Pigment Science Experiment:
We had a blast learning about leaf colors with this science experiment. It was very simple to do and really helped explain ALL of the different chemical's that make up the various leaf pigments.

Chlorophyll - Green
Xantholphyll - Yellow
Orange -  Carotene
Reds/Purples - Anthocyanin
Brown - Taninn

Supplies:
-Leaves - we used green, yellow, red and orange
-Jars
-Rubbing alcohol
-Coffee filters
-Hot water

-Pot

What to do:
1. Tear a leaves into little pieces and put them into separate jars. We used a variety of leaf colors.
2. Cover the leaves with an inch of rubbing alcohol.
3.Using a wooden spoon to grind the leaves into the alcohol.
4. Lightly put the lids back onto the jars.
5. Place the jars into a pot with 1 inch of hot water. I put ours on the stove for a few minutes to make sure the water was nice and hot.
6. Leave the jars in the pot for 30 minutes or more. Swirl the leaves and alcohol every 5 minutes and add more hot water as necessary to keep the temperature up.
7. After the 30 minutes your kids should notice that the alcohol is tinted. Place coffee filter strips into the jars so that the tip of the filter just touches the alcohol. Bend the other end over the edge of the jar so the filter strip doesn't slip.
8. Leave the strips in place overnight. You may be able to take them out sooner but we discovered the longer they stayed in the stronger the pigment was on the filters. Remove the strips and let them dry. You should be able to see a strip of pigment on each filter.

My kids decided to take the experiment one further and wanted to see if they could paint with the pigments they had extracted. To my surprise it did work a little bit.

Art Project: 

We had a blast recreating our leaves with oil pastels and watercolor. Even I had to join in on the fun! Don't they look fabulous?

Materials:
-Oil Pastels or Crayons
-Watercolors
-Paper
-Various leaves

What to do:
1. Have kids pick a leaf and trace around it with a crayon or oil pastel onto their paper.
2. Next add the leaf veins with the crayon or oil pastel. Don't forget the stem as well.
3. Using watercolors have your kids add color onto their leaf. Encourage them to layer the colors and experiment with using different amounts of water to adjust the darkness of the watercolor.
4. Sign your beautiful work of art!

The kids also decided it would be fun to do leaf rubbings too!

More Resources:
-Autumn Leaves Mini Science Project
-Simple Schooling October Nature Study - Tree - Leaf - Seed
-Lots of leaf themed ideas
-More leaf crafts
-Signs of Autumn notebook page
-Leaf study close up

Here is a list of the wonderful bloggers participating in the Poppins Book Nook be sure to visit them for more fun school themed ideas:

Enchanted Homeschooling Mom - 3 Dinosaurs - Monsters Ed - Chestnut Grove Academy - Growing in God's Grace - Royal Little Lambs - Life with Moore Babies - Teach Beside Me - The Usual Mayhem - Mum Central - Fantastic Fun and Learning - Kathys Cluttered Mind - Toddler Approved - Growing Book by Book - Adventures in Mommydom - B-Inspired Mama - The Fairy and The Frog - Edventures with Kids - Learning & Growing the Piwi way - A Gluten Free Journey - Preschool Powol Packets - To The Moon and Back - Our Craft ~N~ Things - Fresh Farm Adventures - Are We There Yet? - 

NEW! Every month the Poppins Book Nook group will be offering readers a chance to win a brand new storybook that ties in with our theme for the month. This month one lucky winner will win a copy of Four Seasons Make A Year. The winner must reside within the United States. Just enter the Rafflecopter below to win:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Linking up with: Jay Daniel 4's Mom, Mama to 4 Blessings

Pumpkin Patch Fun

*This post contains affiliate links. Please see my Disclosure Page for details.

Don't you just love Fall? What is your favorite Fall family tradition?

One of our favorite Fall activities is visiting a pumpkin patch. Last week we took a fieldtrip to a local pumpkin patch called Uncle Shucks. To prepare for our fieldtrip I made this Pumpkin Journal Page for our homeschool group. Be sure to click the picture below to download your FREE copy!

FREE Pumpkin Journal Page.

We had a good time on our fieldtrip, however we ended up learning more about corn than pumpkins. We took a guided tour of the corn maze where we learned 10 corn facts. Then we took a hayride along the Etowah River. Next an employee read a book to the kids called, "Tops and Bottoms." The kids not only learned about entrepreneurship and hard work but they also learned the difference between root vegetables and leaf vegetables.

Afterwards the kids had a blast feeding the goats, playing on the giant tractor tire playground and finding their way through the soybean maze. We also hit the corn maze again.

Though the trip was not what we really expected the kids had fun with their friends and did learn a few thing,s so that is all that matters.

On the way out each of the kids received a mini pumpkin and coloring book. The coloring book was packed with lots of great information which we have been reading over as we continue learning about pumpkins. I also plan to utilize the 3 "Cornference Classroom" materials on the Uncle Shucks website.

We also purchased a large pumpkin which we will be baking some goodies with this coming weekend. Check out all these yummy recipes on the Handbook of Nature Study blog.

Before I continue I want to give you a few quick tips which will hopefully help you make the best out of a fieldtrip that doesn't go as planned. It is important to try to make the most out of the fieldtrip no matter what, especially if it wasn't a free one. Even if you are disappointed chances are your children still had a blast and learned something too. Let them explore, touch, and ask as many questions as possible. Though we didn't get to learn much about pumpkins that day the kids can tell you how to tell difference between corn used for animal feed and corn used for human consumption. See they learned something! Remember the learning can continue when you get home, which is exactly what we did with the pumpkins!

Keep reading for some more pumpkin learning ideas!

10 Pumpkin Facts:
1) Pumpkins are a member of the gourd family, which includes cucumbers, honeydew, cantaloupe, watermelon and zucchini.
2) Pumpkins are native to Central America and Mexico, but now grow on six continents.
3) The heaviest pumpkin weighed 1,810 lbs 8 oz and was presented at the Stillwater Harvest Fest in Minnesota in October 2010.
4) The top pumpkin production states are Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania and California. 90%-95% of the processed pumpkins are grown in Illinois. Morton, Illinois is the pumpkin capital of the world.
5) Pumpkin flowers are edible.
6) The word pumpkin originated from "pepon" – the Greek word for "large melon," somthing round and large. The French adapted the word to pompon which the British changed to pumpion. Later the American colonists changed that to the word we use today, "pumpkin."
7) Pumpkins are a fruit.
8) Pumpkins are 90% water.
9) Native Americans flattened strips of pumpkins, dried them and made mats. They also used pumpkin seeds for food and medicine. Native Americans called pumpkins, "isqoutm squash."
10) Pumpkins contain potassium and Vitamin A.

This past weekend we picked up two more smaller pumpkins at my husbands Fall company picnic. So I let the kids make jack-o-lanterns out of those and do some hands on learning and exploring. They loved pulling out the pumpkin insides. As they cleaned out the pumpkins I had them examine the different textures, seeds, stem, skin, etc. The Handbook of Nature Study blog also has some great ideas for exploring pumpkins.

We watched this great video on YouTube....


Be sure to also snag these great pumpkin unit study ideas (most are FREE):
-Pumpkin patch writing prompts
-Pumpkin mini helper
-Life cycle of a pumpkin (mini-book) - almost free currently 15 cents
-Farmer Mike Grows A Giant Pumpkin story-time - YouTube
-Pumpkin math identify #5 and pumpkin counting - A+ Interactive Math
-In this Teacher Tube video we learned all about the life cycle of a pumpkin
-Fun pumpkin art project

Gwyn made a horse on her pumpkin and Rowyn made a silly face. The kids also painted the tiny pumpkins that we picked up at the pumpkin patch with acrylic paints. Don't they all look so cute?

Click here to read more "Fall Into Nature" posts from Schoolhouse Review Crew!

Be sure to browse through all of our other Top 10 Posts!



Linking up with: Top Ten Tuesday

FreeBEE Friday - Halloween and Fall Resources

Jen, from Gricefully Homeschooling, and I team up, every Friday, to bring you a list of freebees...on both of our blogs.

PLUS...with the added bonus of this being a weekly link up...where you can showcase your freebies, things you've found online, and also, things you've received in the mail, totally FREE in the last week...or so. 

FreeBEEs:

If you have homeschool FreeBEEs to share
please link up at the bottom of this post!
You can copy the button from my right side bar.

FreeBEEs:
Its been another busy week and I forgot it was the end of the week until Jen sent me a text. So this post is going to be another short post. Since Halloween is next week I am going to share a few fun Halloween/Fall activities, apps and eBooks. We do get dressed up and go trick or treating on Halloween. If you don't though I completely understand and am sure you are still having lots of Fall Fun!

Image(s): FreeDigitalPhotos.net

H is for Halloween and Harvest Fun
-Printable Jack-O-Lantern craft
-Witches' Brew Android app game FREE right now
-Pumpkin dip recipe
-Currclick FREE or nearly FREE resources for Fall and Halloween: Franken-Blubber (science, literacy and craftivity), Take Me Home (pencil toppers, bookmarks and cards), Spooktacular Letters, Christian Fall Decorations for Young Children, Fall's Colorful Leaves (recorded class), Halloween Coloring Book

-Free eBook Book of Halloween
-Unique Fall centerpiece perfect for book lovers
-Have fun carving a pumpkin without the mess with this cool virtual carving game by BHG - you can also print your stencil when you are done
-Also from BHG find your perfect pumpkin stencil by taking a quick quiz

This year the kids decided to go as Myth Girl and Grant Man from episode 86 of MythBusters.

-Do it yourself - 39 last minute costumes ideas - We always make our own costumes. It is so much fun and best of all since we use stuff we already have on hand our costumes are virtually FREE. I think the most I have spent on costumes is $10 and that was for both kids.
-Halloween Rhyme Worksheet

-This Saturday Lowes is having their FREE Build and Grow Clinic - kids get to make a fun wooden monster project
-One of our most favorite resources is this pumpkin observation worksheet from Two Teaching Mommies
-Pumpkin Life Cycle worksheet

-Fun Fall leaf craft
-QR code Fall scavenger hunt w/giveaway (3 days left to enter)
-Lots of Autumn/Fall printables

I hope you find these resources useful. If you ever have any questions feel free to leave me a comment or email me. Also be sure to follow my FB page where I post FreeBEEs daily.

Link up: FreeBEE Fridays with Kathy's Cluttered Mind and Gricefully Homeschooling

Remember when it comes to FREE resources the internet and a good search engine are your best friend.

*Disclaimer - Many of the links found on my side bars and in my blog posts are affiliate links. Please note that prices indicated in the post are subject to change. As a result, I might get paid money and I will most likely spend the money on homeschool supplies.

Linking up with 3 Boys and a Dog, Ben and Me,