Fall is the perfect time for some family fun, and the lovely weather just begs to be enjoyed.  There are apples to be picked, leaves to be gathered and jumped in, and pumpkins to carve.  No matter how you celebrate fall with your family, you can easily make every adventure a time for learning.  Nature has plenty of lessons to teach, and your child is sure to enjoy these fall learning opportunities.

• Apples are ready to be harvested in the early fall, and apple picking is an activity that many families enjoy.  To increase the educational value of apple picking, talk to your child about how the apples start as a tiny seed and then grow in an apple tree, eventually bearing fruit.  Discuss photosynthesis, germination, and apple tree reproduction.  Once you get home with your delicious apples, cut one open and show your child the seeds.  You can dry the seeds out for a few days, and then place in a zip-top baggie with a damp paper towel.  If you place the bag near a sunny window, your child can experience seed germination first hand.
• When it is time to choose a pumpkin and carve it into a jack-o-lantern, you can use the seeds for counting and math practice.  After you finish with that, clean the seeds, season them, and roast them in the oven for a nice lesson on evaporation and volatility.  You can also consider the decoration and carving of pumpkins as an excellent art lesson, and allow your children to use their imaginations.
• When raking leaves or walking in a fall forest, talk to your child about the changing colors, and explain why and how the leaves change.  Analyze a leaf with your child, and show them the veins, stem, and nodes.  Help them identify the types of leaves that you find, and locate the tree that they fell from.

Learning opportunities abound in the fall, and there are plenty of ways to teach your child the lessons and wonder of nature.

–Sara Matherne