Get kids excited in November! A collection of play and craft ideas using autumn’s natural treasures
As autumn deepens, many teachers at daycare centers and kindergartens are surely looking to incorporate fun activities into their November plans.
This season offers plenty of ways to enjoy not only indoor play but also activities that get children moving.
As children’s smiles and cheerful voices fill these engaging activities, the feelings of parents and teachers resonate with them, creating wonderful memories.
In this article, we introduce recommended November childcare activities, including bonding games, rhythm-based play, and crafts that make use of nature!
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Get Kids Excited in November! A Collection of Play and Craft Ideas Using Autumn Nature (41–50)
Acorn play
Here are three games using the acorns that fall all over the roads in autumn! First is “Acorn Bowling,” where you use acorns as the ball and the pins.
It’s actually harder to stand up the acorn pins than it is to roll the acorn ball.
The second game is “Acorn Standing,” which uses the same technique of standing acorns like pins.
It’s surprisingly tricky to get them to stand, so you can easily get hooked! Lastly, there’s “Acorn Spinning Tops,” where you spin acorns like tops.
If you spin them well, the acorn might even end up standing upright!
Get kids excited in November! A collection of play and craft ideas (51–60) using autumn nature in childcare
hedgehog
A hedgehog with prickly spines is perfect for an autumn craft! First, use construction paper to make the hedgehog’s body and the general shape of the spiky ridge.
For the spiky ridge, feel free to add any patterns you like.
For example, wrap yarn around so it hooks onto the spikes, or randomly glue on finely cut pieces of yarn or origami paper.
For the eyes and nose, add them separately with crayons or stick on round stickers.
Try different methods to suit the children’s ages and let them give it a go.
Acorn picking
In places where there are oak trees, acorns fall in such numbers in autumn that they cover the ground.
Children are great at finding acorns because they’re closer to the ground.
The weather is pleasant in autumn and it’s easy to play outside, so how about going for a walk and picking up some acorns while you’re at it? Acorns are edible, and there are fun toys you can make with them, too!
Field Bingo
If you can head out to a park or a nearby square, this “Field Bingo” is highly recommended.
It’s a recreation activity that makes full use of children’s five senses! Create bingo cards with items kids are likely to find, such as something prickly, something fluffy, autumn nuts, spiderwebs, and big autumn leaves.
Having several different versions of the card can make it even more exciting.
Then just give them the cards and let them freely explore the park.
The first person to get bingo wins, but in the end, they’ll want to find every square on the card.
Be sure to try it on a fine, crisp autumn day!
Hand Play “Baked Sweet Potato: Rock, Scissors, Paper”
Speaking of autumn, it’s the season of hearty appetites, right? Roasted sweet potatoes, loved by both kids and adults, are one of the tastiest autumn treats.
Here’s a game called “Yakiimo Gu-Chi-Pa,” where you sing a roasted sweet potato song while doing a hand game and then play rock-paper-scissors.
You show “Gu” (fist) to mimic the rumbling sound of an empty stomach, “Chi” (scissors) with an ‘ouch, hot!’ gesture to show holding a hot sweet potato, and “Pa” (open hand) to show that you’ve eaten it all and it’s gone—singing as you go, and finishing with everyone doing rock-paper-scissors.
It’s also fun to speed it up to make it more challenging!
Pine cone mascot
Let us introduce some mysterious creatures made from pinecones, with their cute round shapes and beady eyes.
Wrap twine around a pinecone and paint the whole thing black, and you’ve got a pitch-black ghost! Stick on colorful pom-poms and add eye stickers, and this time you’ve made a colorful ghost.
Attach a hanging string and dangle them on the wall.
Pinecones are easy to handle and great for crafts, so when you go for a walk or play outside, it might be fun for everyone to gather materials together by collecting pinecones first.
Roasted Sweet Potato Making
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!