School is in, and so is the harvest! Weigh-in on these exciting activities to add some hands-on fun to your harvest theme. A thematic unit is provided to help you schedule your fall activities for preschool and kindergarten.

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"I see pumpkins. I see pumpkins. Oh don't you? Oh don't you?

Growing in the garden, growing in the garden.

Let's pick two. Let's pick two."

Sing these catchy lyrics to the tune of the "I Hear Thunder" jingle! I think they work perfectly for the arrival of the fall harvest.

Whether you see pumpkins, apples or hay stacks, harvest activities provide lots of opportunity for exploring hands-on.

• Kids can touch bristly leaves and stalks, and cut open fresh tomatoes to see the seeds inside. 
  
  
• Talk about the importance of the harvest with the help of  Harvest Preschool Activities: A Social Studies Lesson from The Educators Spin On It.
  
  

Harvest preschool activities

A visit to a local farm or farmer's market is a great way to start your fall harvest adventure. See first hand how crops are grown and harvested.  This will introduce an understanding of food sources to early learners. 

If a field trip is not an option in your area, try planting a few seeds or starter plants in deck pots. Plan your curriculum to include planting in spring or summer, observing the growth of the plants, and harvesting in late summer or early fall.

Harvest activities can include picking veggies, washing veggies, and sampling veggies!

Planting

Many vegetables such as green beans and tomatoes grow well in deck planters. Container gardens are easy to plant and care for.

Cherry tomatoes are ripening on a tomato plant. Look closely to pick out the red and green tomatoes. Kids can count the ripe tomatoes as they pick them.

Children’s names can be etched into a pumpkin or zucchini early in the season. The letters grow with the gourd!

Math activities

Promote early math skills with counting and sorting, measuring and weighing.

• Observe the texture, color, size, and shape of a variety of fruits and vegetables.

• Measure by length with a tape measure or ruler.

• Compare weights of different types of produce.
  
  
• Count and sort with this Harvesting in the Carrot Patch fine motor activity made by Powerful Mothering.
  
  
• Examine the properties of a watermelon with a Watermelon math activity.

Sensory activities

1. Wrap a few green tomatoes in newspaper or brown paper. Place them in a convenient location where kids can easily unwrap and check them daily. Observe them until they ripen to a bright red, then wash and enjoy in a salad, or on their own at snack time.

2. Wash fresh fruits and vegetables and place on cotton towels to dry. 

3. Explore apples. Engage all your senses as you shake, smell, wash, peel, slice and taste an apple.

4. Create sensory bins.

• Bring the harvest into your home or classroom a variety of hands-on sensory activities including a Harvest Sensory Bin from Little Bins for Little Hands.
  
  
• Count and sort foam pumpkins in the sensory bin with these simple math activities.

Fall Harvest Thematic Unit 

(using our ABC Method = Activity + Book + Craft)

Activity

1. Field trip

Pick fruit and vegetables grown at a local farm or in a container garden, or on display at a farmer's market.

2. Music and Movement (tune: Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush)

This is the way we dig the rows (make digging motions as if with a garden hoe).

This is the way we plant the seeds (walk up and down the "rows" sprinkling seeds).

This is the way the rain will fall (wiggle fingers like raindrops falling from the sky).

This is the way the sun will shine (raise arms, join hands to make a big circle overhead).

This is the way the garden grows (crouch low, slowly rise up until standing on tiptoe with arms reaching up to the sky).

3. Small Group 

• Chop foods to prepare homemade soup for snack or lunch. Can you spot the carrots and celery in the soup?
  
  
• Provide simple science as you explore seeds in foods. 
  
  
• Introduce word cards and word puzzles with these ideas in the Harvest Theme for Preschool and Kindergarten at The Preschool Toolbox Blog.
  
  

4. Circle

• Takeaway Game : Place several vegetables on a tray; remove one item ; can you guess which item is missing?

• Blindfold Game: Guess which fruit or vegetable you are holding, using your sense of smell and touch for clues.

B = Book

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C = Craft

Cut off the tops of red and green peppers for Veggie stamps painting.

Provide fine motor practice Lacing apples.

Roll a pompom seed through a Pumpkin patch maze.

Set out lots of orange paint for Burlap pumpkin painting 

Carve a pumpkin for a Lighted pumpkin activity.

I saw pumpkins. I saw pumpkins. So did you! So did you!

There's so much to sing about when it comes to harvest time. Celebrate the crops and the bounty of the land with fun activities kids will love. 

When possible, extend your harvest theme with a visit to a local farm or garden, or try planting your own seeds. Kids will love the experience of digging in the earth, picking vegetables, and munching on fresh produce.

 Follow our Seasonal:Fall Pinterest board