I know much of the Northeastern United States is currently buried under snow and even some power outages, so I feel almost bad for saying that fall is finally here in all its glory in the Southeastern US.
I love fall; I always have. Crunchy leaves of many splendored colors, smoke rising from chimneys, crisp air and sunshine, squirrels and chipmunks scurrying about, fall foods such as apple, squash, greens and pumpkins! Oh yes, my favorite time of year! I am gathering up Thanksgiving recipes and getting ready to start on some holiday crafting as well.
So, in that vein, I wish to bring some fun poetry, verses and movement about squirrels to our homeschooling this week, especially for my sweet little toddler who has finally figured out that not every four legged animal is a doggie like his giant Leonberger!
Here are some squirrel ideas for this week if you would like to play along with me:
- Make a moving picture. I made one from a wet on wet watercolor painting, where the wheel behind turns and little things pop up in the hollow of the tree and in different spots of the paper. This would be lovely for a small child to manipulate and play with whilst listening to a verse about a squirrel.
- How about squirrel finger puppets, to really bring the gesture of the squirrel? Suzanne Down has instructions in her handy book, “Around The World With Finger Puppets” http://junipertreepuppets.com/books/ Squirrel Nutkin, the classic Mother Goose rhyme, could be lovely here….and there are a few other verses about squirrels in Suzanne’s book.
- As far as movement to verses about squirrels, I thought of the verses from “Autumn Wynstones” such as the Waldorf kindergarten classic of “Whisky frisky hoppity hop”. Variations of this verse abound, here is one such version: http://www.slatersoftware.com/Whisky%20Frisky.pdf
- This would be a fun time to just sit outside quietly and observe the squirrel; you could also make treats for the squirrels and leave them out!
Many blessings for a wonderful week,
Carrie
The Parenting Passageway 
My children absolutely love the song ” On a Frosty Morning” on Lorraine Nelson Wolf’s second CD–It is their all time favorite. It starts with : Patter go the nuts on a frosty morning, falling from the tree to the ground below. Here’s Mr. Squirrel going hop, hop, hop, picking them up as fast they drop. . . Anyways, it is a darling song to go with anything to do with squirrels.
Monique,
I have that CD, and we love that song as well! Thank you for mentioning it!
Blessings,
Carrie
Hi, is it you that write our little nature nest? I’m looking for stories and activities to do on fractions and on that site it looks so interesting. I was wandering if you can help me?
Jessie
Jessiel@videotron.ca
Jessie,
No, that is a different blog by a different person. That blog is private now and is not accessible.
Many blessings,
Carrie
I have just signed up to receive the posts but I cannot work out how to get a password and so then be able to post replies on the blog, please can someone point me in the right direction? thank you so much x
Melodie,
Are you talking about on this blog? I am not sure, perhaps my husband can chime in here…
Many blessings,
Carrie
hello carrie yes, on your blog, thank you for replying, when i sent this question to you i did as a guest, i couldn ‘t see how to log in and set up a password…….i am probably missing something very simple. i have been reading your blog for a about a year now, it is such a wonderful help to me through many struggles, thank you so much.
Carrie – we are doing squirrels this week too! I decided to concentrate on them for our token “head” animal for the man and animal block we are currently doing for G4. This poem is called “Busy” by Phyllis Halloran. “Busy, busy, busy, busy, / Busy little squirrel / running, running, jumping, / In a dizzy whirl. / Stopping now and then to eat / A tasty little acorn treat / Busy, busy, busy, busy, / Busy little squirrel.” (sounds like a toddler, huh?, lol)”
We have so much fun with squirrels! We live in a city, and squirrels are one wild creature we can always count on seeing year round. We made a little squirrel dray for our wooden squirrel on our nature table– we just took a paper cup and covered it with real leaves, straw, etc.
Also, I don’t know if you saw this, but it made me giggle.
http://kleas.typepad.com/kleas/2011/10/and-so-it-goes.html
Happy fall, Carrie!
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