Courtesy photo: Driving my truck in the cool weather
Connecting Science and Math to Life, Learning, and Play
By Judy Reinhartz
On our ongoing learning journey, “The important thing is to never stop questioning” (Albert Einstein). I never tire of his insights about caregivers providing the right conditions for learning. He underscores the importance of igniting curiosity.
Leaning into fall science and math awakens joy, inspires open-ended play, and encourages creative expression. I challenge caregivers to see how many fall activities you can do and related books you can read with your children to establish the conditions for learning as part of the season of change.
Whether feeling the blowing wind on our faces, observing color changes in our picturesque landscape, admiring bright flowers starting to wither, or witnessing trees shedding their leaves, all make lasting impressions on us. The sun is less intense, animals scurry for food to store in homes where they will hibernate, darkness comes earlier as the earth tilts on its axis away from the sun, and the growing season ends and harvesting begins. All these changes tingle our senses and make fall memorable.
Playing outdoors now means wearing warmer clothes, so in Lynn Ploude’s book, Bella finds out that her coat is too small, but she loves being outside. So, what to do? Her grandmother comes to her rescue and makes her a new coat. Read Bella’s Fall Coat to find out what she did with her old one.
Fall would not be fall without jumping onto piles of leaves. It is a rite of passage across generations as is listening to the crackling sounds of crushing leaves, grabbing handfuls of leaves and throwing them into the air, and watching them flutter to the ground. Leaf piles are springboards into safe scavenger hunts with buried treasures to find. Leaf Jumpers by Carole Gerber, with its colorful artwork and poetic text for the youngest leaf jumpers, will keep the leaf conversations going.
Having children make collages and bracelets with leaves using masking tape, gathering pinecones and arranging them in patterns, moving fingers through the squishy flesh of pumpkins and gourds, and counting the slippery seeds to be planted next year or to be roasted, and using the flesh to bake pumpkin pies are all ideal backdrops for engaging tactile sensory play. All support fine motor skills and language development while introducing new words (“mushy,” “slimy,” and “wet”). Build birdhouses with hollowed-out gourds and bird feeders with toilet paper rolls, peanut butter, seed, and string. Both offer bird watching opportunities.
Courtesy photo: Shapes and numbers activity with young children.
Continue fall magic with leaf rubbings. All you need are unwrapped crayons, paper, and leaves arranged under the paper. Use the side of the crayons to rub over the top of the paper. Uncover the masterpieces and ask, What do you see? Are you surprised? Next time, have pastels and chalk available. Create animal friends using leaves adding eyes, noses, and mouths (handmadecharlotte.com/60551/). Preserve the leaf animals by pressing them in heavy books and iron them between wax paper. Children tell stories about their animals—where they live and what they eat.
Pairing these activities with a story about a boy who searches for a Lucky Leaf by Kevin O’Malley sparks imaginative ideas for leaf art. Lois Ehlert’s delightful book Leaf Man celebrates nature’s changing colors with leaves taking on different personalities and shapes. Or read The Leaf Thief by Alice Hemming about a squirrel who loves counting the red, yellow, and orange leaves on his tree, but one day one is missing. After questioning his animal friends, he discovers the culprit was the wind.
And you thought I forgot about Halloween, a time when children dress up, go trick-or-treating, and carve pumpkins. In James and Kimberly Dean’s book Pete the Cat Falling for Autumn, Pete discovers corn mazes, hayrides, and apple picking and realizes there’s so much to be thankful for. Take advantage of “mining the math” to find the measurements of pumpkins using a piece of yarn and a scale, make groups of TEN with the seeds, create a pumpkin patch with paper pumpkins for imaginary and sensory play, and set up a pretend store with play money where items can be purchased with children taking turns playing the customers or owner.
Halloween is not complete without investigating what children have collected in their trick-or-treat bags. It is an opportunity to introduce graphing and foundational math skills (patterns, shapes, estimation, fractions). Graphs/pictographs present information and numbers visually. Try a floor graph/pictograph by taping off a section with columns (up-down/vertical direction, Y  axis) and rows (left-right/horizonal direction, X axis) and ask questions so children can and chime by estimating the number in each direction based on the goodies (Kit Kats, Starbursts, etc.) they have. With an interactive graph/pictograph, children can “walk” and place their goodies on it, promoting math thinking and problem solving.
Family gatherings and helping others are trademarks of fall. In The Scarecrow by Beth Ferry, the title character strikes up an unexpected friendship with a crow. With its inspiring art and poetic verse, it is a welcome addition to autumn storytelling.
An ideal pairing with fall activities is Because of an Acorn by Lola M. and Adam Schaefer, using only 60 words in 27 pages. They tell the life story of a single acorn that grows up to be an oak tree in a forest ecosystem. The rhythmic language and enchanting illustrations explain complex science concepts that children of all ages can understand.
Courtesy photo: Adding to the weather window.
Or read Maple by Lori Nichols about a nature-loving little girl. A maple tree is planted when she is born, and they grow up together. She finds out early that the tree is not her best playmate. Maple welcomes Autumn and new siblings with open arms. Do you remember playing with maple seeds, sticking them on your nose, and flying them as helicopters? And don’t miss Steve Metzger’ book We’re Going on a Leaf Hunt. Using repetitive sound effects, children can also sing along with friends looking for leaves at bit.ly/4osEoM7.
We end our fall science and math odyssey with weather. Every day children experience weather when they step outside. Is it sunny or cloudy? Is it raining? Do I need an umbrella? For children, weather leads to exploring and discovering. Create a “weather window” that serves as a place for weather words while still seeing the outdoors; have cards, markers, and tape available so when children say, “weather words,” write them down on the cards and tape them to the window. Make weather caterpillars with paper plates to record daily weather with drawings and written descriptions on them. Generate rainbows using a prism, look up and follow cloud movements, shapes, and types (cirrus, stratus, etc.), and read cloud poems and sing songs (bit.ly/3Uj9hF9).
Read Patricia Polacco’s Thunder Cake, an endearing story of how her babushka (grandmother) helped her overcome her fear of thunder. Caroline Formby’s fun book Wild Weather Soup tells Winifred Weathervane’s story of making weather soup in her cloud kitchen, but there is a twist when she goes on vacation. Read what happens.
Fall sets the stage for fun and engaging investigations. With colder days and evenings not turning back and coats coming out of closets, my goal was to present a special fall of experiences for you and your children to enjoy together.
Courtesy Photo: Up close Look at the Late of Summer
Judy Reinhartz is a professor emeritus at the University of Texas at El Paso, lead for MathAmigos and director of its literacy and math coaching program (mathamigos.org), and board member of the Santa Fe Alliance for Science and coordinator of its Adopt-A-School program. Get in touch at jreinhartz@utep.edu.