FALLing Leaves

I have been waiting and waiting to do an autumn post, and now that I finally have a moment to write it, the appropriate time has almost past. However, I shall do it anyway! Fall is normally not my favorite time of year. Having grown up in Michigan, the coming of September meant a quick dive from the glorious heat of summer to the cold and wet misery of winter. Thanks to the long and temperate South Carolina autumn, though, I have a new found love for it!

The one part of fall that I have always loved is the beauty of the changing leaves and the satisfaction of stomping on as many as possible to hear the CRUNCH. And leaves provide such an easy way to incorporate nature with occupational therapy!

You can go outdoors and:
- look for leaves of just one color, shape, size
- use a field guide to help discern which leaves you've found
- rake a big pile of leaves and jump into it
- try to walk on the grass without stepping on any leaves or ONLY stepping on leaves
- try and shake down all the leaves from a small tree.

You can bring a bunch of leaves inside and:
- count how many points are on a leaf
- complete some leaf rubbings or beat a leaf (see the "indoor activities" section for more instructions)
- make patterns based on color or shape
- use a leaf for tracing onto paper
- make leaf people by adding faces with permanent markers
- make a leaf garland
- crumble up leaves and use the pieces to glue a design onto plain paper
- Sort the leaves by color, size, or shape.

Do you have any other ideas? I'd love to hear them!