When I was planning this activity, I was already writing the blog post in my head and the first sentence was
You only need two things to make these easy suncatchers - plastic dividers and leaf-shaped cookie cutters! Except then I realized the cookie cutters I used
last year were ones that I borrowed from my sister.
Undeterred, I made some leaf-shaped cardboard pieces instead.
You only need two things to make these easy suncatchers - plastic dividers and leaf-shaped cardboard! I even took a picture:
Except I realized you need something to trace the shapes with. So, a new picture:
Oh, and you also need a scissors, a paper punch, and some fishing line. I gave up on the picture taking. You know what that stuff looks like anyway, right?
And though I'm sure you've already figured out how to make these things, here are the directions anyway (since I already had them written out in my head and all):
Trace your leaf shapes onto the plastic dividers and cut them out.
Use a hole punch and fishing line to hang them in your window. I don't think my photography skills and/or dirty windows do them justice.
A fun rhyming book to read with this activitiy is
Fall Mixed Up
. Pumpkins turn red and apples turn orange. Hats cover hands and gloves cover ears. Wolves say, "Meow" and black cats say "Whoo." It's a mixed up fall! So depending on the kind of fall we're having, our leaves might actually be falling
up rather than down.
Linking to
The Children's Bookshelf
Made by Little Hands
Tuesday Tots
Sun Scholars
, a story about three little mermaids who have a tea party with different sea creatures and get lots of counting practice.
It has some really cute interactive features like crabs that pinch and a turtle that dances.
,
a cute Halloween story told in the style of "The Twelve Days of Christmas". Believe it or not (which I hardly do), the kids like it because I sing it. You can also search the illustrations for the 12 trick-or-treaters, 11 spiders spinning, etc., so it's also good counting practice. Plus there's some bonus things to find throughout the book on the last page. This is pretty tame for Halloween so it's good for preschoolers who like just a little scare factor.
, which I would say is more appropriate for older readers. I also got this one from the library and unfortunately, I didn't preview it before I read it to my kids (shame on me). Of course they fell in love and ask for it all the time. They have been spontaneously bursting into the song, at least what they remember of it, so I have a two and four year old singing, "FIVE SING-ING SKUUUULLLLS!" at the top of their lungs, which is 
.
. Ehlert includes a short rhyming poem about a wide variety of striped and spotted animals (I counted 50) with an explanation of animal appearances at the end. Filled with her trademark collages, this book is as fun to look at as it is to read.
