The wind is blowing and the leaves are falling. Fall is in the air and the children are getting excited for the holiday season!! The weather is beautiful this time of year. Take the time to go on an adventure with the children. So zip up those coats and get outside for some awesome fun. This week our Family Night Activity will advantage of the great fall weather. And then inside for a very special treat.
The Fondue Experience
- Package of caramels
- 1 tablespoon of butter
- 1 Teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2/3 cup half and half
- Microwave safe bowl
- Apples
- Marshmallows
- Bananas
- Oranges
- Pound cake
- Fondue forks
Mix together the caramel, half and half and butter into your microwave safe bowl. Microwave on high for 2 to 2 ½ minutes. Check the mixture every 30 seconds and stir until all the caramel is melted. Once melted, add the vanilla extract and stir. Pour the mixture into a fondue pot and turn on the burner to keep it warm. If you do not have a fondue pot you can use the microwave safe bowl and some forks to dip the food into the caramel dip. Next cut up the food into bite size pieces and you are ready to serve. You can let the children pick what food to dip (you may get some strange requests but go with the flow). Have each child pick one colored fondue fork that they will use the whole time and dip away. Enjoy this delicious treat! Let the kids help you clean up by assigning each child one task.
Fall Creatures
Materials needed
- Variety of leafs and outdoor stuff
- Any color construction paper
- Glue
- Markers
Bundle up the family and head outside. Have the children gather up some leafs that have fallen on the ground. If they would like, they can also gather small sticks, acorns and whatever else they may find (within reason). Come back inside and hand out a piece of construction paper to each child. Explain to the children that they will be creating their own fall creatures using the materials that they gathered. You might need to show them an idea to get their creativeness flowing. For example: choose one leaf and glue it onto the paper, look at the leaf and see what comes to your mind….can you turn the leaf into a funny person, bird, animal, etc. Use the markers to add the legs, arms, antlers, etc.
Suggested Conversation Starters (these are just ideas and can be altered depending on the ages or developmental stages of your kids)
1. Today is Columbus Day, talk about why we have this holiday, see what they know and tell them some new things about the day
Suggested Movie Titles
These movies are just suggestions. If you would like additional information about the story or the content, you can visit www.kids-in-mind.com
Pooh’s Heffalump Halloween Movie
It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
Mickey’s House of Villains
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Suggested Bed Time Stories/Reading
How Do Apples Grow? By Betsy Maestro
Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf by Lois Ehlert
The Little Scarecrow Boy by Margaret Wise Brown
It’s Fall by Linda Glaser
How We Learned the Earth is Round by Patricia Lauber
The Ships of Christopher Columbus by Xavier Pastor