Autumn is a great time for looking at how nature is changing the foliage around us. As a result of the long hot spells we experienced in the spring combined with the damper months of summer, this season is expected to be even better than usual with a spectacular display of golds, oranges and reds. Children love this time of the year, crunching through a pile of dried leaves, foraging for leaves, conkers and other treasures teaches them about the natural world around them and inspires their creativity. By working together as a team it gently helps bring them together and reforge friendships after so long apart.

Make a collage or sculpture

Within your students ‘bubble’ get them to hunt for natural foliage such a twigs, logs, leaves and berries to create a collage or sculpture. This could be an imaginary animal or perhaps and abstract piece of art. Get them to plan the design and whether it is going to be flat, three dimensional and viewed from all sides.

• mud
• chicken wire
• paper
• glue
• leaves
• twigs
• feathers
• string or wool
• grasses
• flowers
• pebbles
• moss
• seeds
• pine cones
• seed pods
• sheep’s wool that’s been caught on a fence post
• Alternatively they all have to bring 5 things into use within their bubble and the teacher can bring in some objects too in case any child forgets.

The winning bubble is the one with the most creative idea.

Make a bug hotel at your school or in your garden

Children are fascinated by creepy crawlies and this can keep them entertained for hours. If you have an old cupboard, wooden pallets or chicken coup you could use this as a frame and fill it with logs and other structures that creepy crawlies love. Alternatively you can create a framework from a pile of logs, flower pots preferably terracotta, twigs.

What you need:

• Collection of logs
• Old terracotta pots
• twigs
• leaves
• logs
• bricks
• pine cones

Make an Abacus

All children love collecting conkers and hording them, so here is a useful way of making use of them. • Collect conkers

• Get an adult to drill a hole through them.
• Use those green long thin gardening sticks or wooden skewers to thread the conkers on.
• Use a large cereal box and cut out the front section leaving a frame.
• Then glue the sticks with the conkers on inside the box so there is just enough room in between each row for the conkers to move up and down.

A work of art

Collect leaves, bark, stones etc and get your children to take rubbings of the different textures using coloured crayons and textures of paper. Then create a large collage, mount it in a frame and it will look great on the wall. Great way of teaching them to look at colours and textures and work as a team.

Make a hat or cats ears

Cut out from a template shapes for a pointed hat, crown or pair of ears, or use recycled cartons, for example loo rolls. Get your children to cut out and make their chosen headgear. They can paint and decorate it. When finished tie some elastic across the front piece so that it is secured when wearing.

Face painting

Each child has their face painted to coordinate with their hat on the last day before the half term holiday begins. Then they can proudly go home wearing their new headgear and faces!

Fireworks

Mix up the different primary colours of paint and put sponges into the paint then onto the paper and using a hammer hit the sponge to make a big mess. The end result will look like fireworks. Great fun and the children will learn how the different primary colours create a whole rainbow of colour as they mix together

Funny people

• Collect empty loo rolls or used stiff coloured paper and roll them into cones.
• If using loo rolls paint them in different colours.
• Use stick on shapes, paint and pipe cleaners to make faces, arms and hair Make a necklace
• Collect a mixture of conkers all sizes
• Grade the conkers from very small to large.
• make a hole in each conker
• Thread them on a piece of string the smallest at the back to the largest at the front

Ghost bunting

Decorate your classroom or hang at the windows.

• Collect some lovely large leaves, long large oval ones are best.
• Take a piece of white paper and place the leaf on the paper.
• Draw around it and cut it out.
• Then you will have the shape of a ghost.
• Either make two slits for eyes and mouth or draw on two slits for the eyes and an oval for the mouth.
• Thread string or thin white cord.

We’d love to see your creations so please share them with us on our Facebook or Twitter pages.

Have you seen our Online Autumn Guide yet? Check it out now!