Take an Urban Hike

Age: any

Materials: notebook, camera, or simply observant eyes

Skills Learned: large motor, appreciation/awareness of surroundings, observation

This activity is so broad that you could do almost anything with it! It can be as planned or as spontaneous as you make it. We were recently without a car for a bit and spent some time wandering around our city on foot. I was amazed at all of the things that we learned and discovered.

Some ideas:
Do a scavenger hunt, with different things to check off (street signs, statues, buildings, people, etc.)
Look for unusual things and take pictures or write them down in a notebook. We recently noted leaf prints on the sidewalk, footprints made from paint, different colored buses, and decorative architecture on buildings.
Make a map and teach following directions. For older preschoolers, you can give them directions as have them lead the way (go two blocks and then turn right, etc.).

Fall Art Activity, Leaf Collage

Age: 3+

Skills: art appreciation, literature appreciation, knowledge of fall, fine motor

Materials: Leaf Man, by Lois Elhert; fall foliage, white glue (not glue stick), construction paper

Background: Leaf Man is a fun picture book with illustrations made entirely of leaf collages. Leaf Man gets blown by the wind and encounters many creatures, who are artfully composed of leaves.

1. Read Leaf Man and look carefully at the illustrations. Note all of the things that were created by leaf collages-- chickens, fish, an orchard, etc.
2. Take a nature walk and collect your own foliage.
3. Create your own pictures by gluing the foliage to the construction paper.

Go, Go, Car!

"Mom," C asked me today, "Can we play that go, go, car game?"
"I don't know how to play that game, how do you play it?"
"You know, that hopscotch game!"
"Oh, escargot!"

Great Train Book!

If you have a train lover, then I would recommend that you go to your local library and find this book. It has been a hit at my house! This colorful picture book, with it's lively illustrations and catchy rhyme, keeps my fifteen-month old captivated through the entire book. (My four year old likes it too, but he would be captivated by the instruction manual on a carboard box) He has asked to read it every time that he saw it today (which made for a few interesting diaper changes!), and he doesn't often sit still for a book.
"Sun's up, morning's here, up and at him engineer!"
Chugga Chugga Choo Choo, by Kevin Lewis and illustrated by David Kirk

Escargot is Not Just for Eating: A Hopscotch Game

Age: 3-8 years

Materials: sidewalk chalk and space to draw

Skills Learned: large motor: jumping, balance, and coordination, number or letter recognition, following rules

Setup: Draw a circle in the center of your space, large enough to rest both feet in. Then, draw a spiral line wrapping around it. You can vary the length of your spiral according to your child's age and skill level. Divide the spiral line into squares and number (or letter) them. The outside square is the first number, and the circle in the middle is the last number.

Game Play: Each player takes turns hopping on one foot from one square to the next. You may only put both feet down in the inside circle, where you turn around and go back to start. If you make it through the escargot spiral without mistakes (What you count as a mistake should vary according to your child's skill level. With my four year old, a mistake is stepping in someone else's box. An older child could try not to step on the lines, etc.) then you get to put your initial in a square of your choosing. You are now the only player who can step in that square, everyone else has to jump over it. The game is finished when all the squares have been initialed.

Other Info: My four year old loves this. We are almost out of chalk (and large areas to write on) because he wants to play it so often. He is not very coordinated, so this is a great activity to help with that. Also, if your child is still learning numbers or letters, connecting a physical activity with the learning will really help them. This is the way the French play hopscotch. Escargot is French for snail. I got the game from a book called Hopscotch, by Elizabeth Dana Jaffe.