[Autumn Activities] Nature Play and Craft Ideas for Fall to Incorporate into Childcare!

Roasted Sweet Potato Making

“Baking sweet potatoes with fallen leaves” Whoa! It’s really burning…

Roasted sweet potatoes made with fallen leaves—something kids today don’t get to experience very often! In the past, we used to gather dry leaves, burn them, and place foil-wrapped sweet potatoes in the embers to make yaki-imo.

It was one of the autumn activities children looked forward to.

These days, fewer kids do it because there aren’t many suitable places, and delicious roasted sweet potatoes are easy to buy.

But if you get the chance, definitely give it a try! Even collecting the leaves doesn’t feel like a chore when you think about those fluffy, piping-hot sweet potatoes!

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Autumn Hand Play Medley

[Nursery/Kindergarten] Autumn Hand-Play Medley – All 5 Songs

There are lots of songs that feature autumn foods and creatures! If you add hand motions to those songs as you sing, they’ll be even more fun—no doubt about it! The songs that appear in this hand-play medley are “Yaki-guri” (Roasted Chestnuts), “Dango Kuttsuita” (The Dumplings Stuck Together), “Tonbo no Megane” (Dragonfly’s Glasses), “Konkon Kitsune” (Tap-Tap Fox), and “Donguri to Korisu” (Acorns and a Little Squirrel).

While singing, you make shapes with your hands, move in ways that match the lyrics, clap, and enjoy singing together.

Songs with a storyline become even more enjoyable when you add hand movements, because you can feel the narrative more vividly than by singing alone!

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Rice harvesting experience

[Daycare] First rice harvest! It’s a bumper crop!

I’ve heard that many nursery schools and kindergartens include rice planting and harvesting as part of their school events.

If you have relatives who are farmers, you may have already experienced planting or harvesting rice.

So how about adding an event-like element to make a rice-harvesting experience more fun? For example, you could place envelopes containing cards that say things like “candy” or “rice cracker” among the rice plants, and whoever finds one gets to enjoy that snack afterward.

It would make harvesting even more enjoyable! And through the experience, it would be great if children could also learn how challenging rice production is and how important food is.

paper cup ghost

Paper Cup Ghost Craft: Does it puff up when you blow? (Nursery/Kindergarten)

We’re going to make a ghost toy that’s perfect for autumn when Halloween is coming! First, use an awl to make a hole in a paper cup and insert a straw at an angle.

Next, prepare a plastic bag in your favorite color and, with the sealed end at the top, draw a ghost face on it.

Then firmly attach the opening of the plastic bag to the straw so there are no gaps.

Finally, pull the straw out a bit and tuck the plastic bag into the paper cup—now you’re ready.

When you blow through the straw, the ghost will puff out and pop up!

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Fallen leaves mask

Transform into a lion with a fallen-leaf mask?!

The “fallen-leaf mask” is a game you often see in autumn that uses the fallen leaves all around.

How to play: poke holes for the eyes and mouth in a leaf—that’s it.

Since you tear the holes by hand, each mask ends up with a different expression.

If you can find a big leaf, you can tear it to match the position of your own eyes and mouth, and it could make a mask you can use for Halloween.

It’s simple but a lot of fun, so give it a try! If you wear your finished mask and explore the park, you might enjoy it in a slightly different way than usual.

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