All about Autumn - crunchy leaves, Easter eggs & cooler days

March in South Africa is when we start to welcome in the (slightly) cooler mornings that lead to Autumn. It’s also when the Cosmos is in full flower, and my own children know that that means the Easter Bunny will be here soon! We’ve got some lovely trees that change colour right by our school, and so I took the kids out eagerly start collecting crunchy leaves to play with. I also pulled out the craft goodies (along with ALL the beans that the kiddies love to collect from the Food Forest) and I let the kids go wild gluing and decorating their gorgeous leaf collection. I also collected some of the blooms in my garden for a frozen egg activity that my own 3 kiddies loved doing when they were smaller.

I also wanted to make a nice Autumnal ‘gallery’ type wall of all their crafts over the weeks so we set out to decorate some big sheets of newsprint paper. During one of our snack times I read everyone a sweet little book on the changing seasons so I could elicit some of the important vocabulary (and also to bring attention to the colours that usually accompany this season). We did some marble painting (this was my first time trying out this activity and I used a large flattish box with the paper sort of folded to fit…but I’ve since found some great plastic trays that work far better…click here for a full explanation in another post).

Another REALLY fun activity is shadow play with an overhead projector. I love seeing how this draws in different children, and if you set it up for a nice chunk of time and leave it (safetly) to be played with and explored by the kids, you will be rewarded with wonderful creative stories as they play with different objects and textures to see what sort of shadow they produce on the walls. In the Reggio Emilia approach (which is what my school is modeled on), light and shadow play is a powerful tool for exploration and learning. There are so many deeper connections and moments of learning that take place in the seemingly simple tasks that happen during ‘free’ play, and this is why I love the Reggio approach so much. Here is some more insight into all that is actually going on in the child’s mind when they are engaging with light and shadows:

Playing with light and shadows is considered a powerful learning experience that nurtures creativity, exploration, and critical thinking. Here are the key benefits:

1. Stimulates Curiosity and Inquiry: Light and shadow play encourages children to ask questions, make predictions, and explore cause-and-effect relationships—central to the Reggio emphasis on inquiry-based learning.

2. Supports Sensory and Cognitive Development: Engaging with light and shadow enhances visual perception, spatial awareness, and an understanding of abstract concepts such as transparency, reflection, and transformation.

3. Encourages Creative Expression: Children use light and shadow as expressive mediums, often integrating storytelling, dramatic play, or visual arts. This aligns with the Reggio principle of “the hundred languages of children,” which values diverse forms of expression.

4. Promotes Collaborative Learning: Activities with overhead projectors, torches, or natural light often invite group interaction, fostering communication, cooperation, and shared problem-solving.

5. Connects to Nature and Environment: Reggio Emilia values the learning environment as the “third teacher.” Playing with natural light helps children become more attuned to their surroundings and seasonal changes.

6. Integrates Multiple Domains of Learning: Light and shadow experiences touch on science (physics of light), math (shapes, sizes, symmetry), literacy (storytelling through shadow puppets), and art (shadow tracing or installation work) Prodigy Early Learning

For the Frozen Flower Egg activity, all you need are some (mostly intact) eggs shells and little flowers, petals and leaves. Simply fill up the egg shells with your pretty floral things and then fill them up with water and place in the freezer overnight. I gave each child an egg box and 6 eggs to fill. I loved watching some of them really engage with this activity and get really creative with what and how they placed their petals and leaves inside the eggs, and other who really just wanted to get it over and done with and go and run around outside.

Once removed from the freezer, simply let the children go wild in smashing, peeling & breaking their creations. We had some really hot mornings, so this was the perfect activity to cool off in the garden.

And keeping with the egg theme (my family eats a lot of eggs!) the next egg-cellent activity is one that is always a hit…especially with the boys. Egg smashing! I wanted to dye the shells and use them for a Easter themed craft, but first, I needed them smashed up. I like to (try!) keep the shells contained in a tray of some kind, that can withstand some good smacks. I have little plastic and wooden hammers, but what actually works the best is a potato smasher/the food utensil you use to mash up veggies. I only have one of these so the kids also get a good chance to practice their sharing. The whole activity is a great sensory one, and even the most reluctant of little hands usually gets stuck in.

Once you have your smashed up egg shells, it’s time to have fun with adding colour to them. This is a nice way to practice colours too (click here for more rainbow themed ideas for teaching colours). I used glass jars to add food colouring and water and then left the colours to soak in over night. Then I drained the water out (the kids used this coloured water to play with afterwards) and then put the coloured shells onto paper towel to dry out and ‘set’ the colours.

As Easter was right around the corner, I created some bunny and Easter eggs shapes our of glue on cardboard, and then let the kids decorate their chosen design with the eggs shells. They turned out far better than I expected and made very sweet classroom decor in the week leading up to the Easter holidays.

I had also prepped a stash of water beads (nightmare things they go EVERYWHERE but they kids always have so much fun playing and squishing them) and some plastic eggs I found at the Crazy Store.

The Easter Bunny also appeared one morning and the kids loved looking for the eggs he stashed around the school.

Overall, it was a wonderful couple of weeks filled with lots of sensory play, adventures in the garden and lots of creative colourful fun.

Click below to see more teaching inspired lessons from The Red Shed:

How to make Rainbow Spaghetti - A sensory activity for toddlers {that is safe for babies too!}

This was a really fun activity for Everly, and I’ve got lots of tips to share with to make sure this lasts longer than one play session (as was the case with us because I actually just winged the whole thing didn’t look at how to store and preserve the pasta). So, first things first, this is a food based project (i.e. you’re cooking pasta) and so don’t expect it to last for more than a couple of days. I assumed it would last just like our box of Rainbow Rice (which is still going strong 6 months later…but this is because the rice wasn’t cooked, silly me). So, as long as you know that going in, then you’re all set!

I used a whole packet of pasta (a bit of a rare commodity these days with us being on Lockdown here in South Africa) but perhaps you have a little stash and can spare one. We don’t really eat pasta (not because we don’t like it....I LOVE PASTA) but because we follow a loosely low carb way of eating so I made sure to buy a pack of spaghetti before Lockdown so I could do this activity with Everly. You could actually use any pasta, but spaghetti made really fun coloured worms.

Then you need oil of some kind…and then food colouring.

There are two ways of going about this. You can do what I did (which was awfully time consuming) and boil separate batches of water for each colour you want to make. I thought this would make the colours more vibrant, but I’ve been told the other method does indeed work just as well.

Bring water to boil with a good dollop of oil (use more than you think you’ll need to keep the pasta nice and slimey) and then add your pasta and food colouring. Or cook your pasta first and then use separate plastics bags to make separate colours. Allow to cool and then place in a container of sorts. I used a big plastic box.

Some tips:

• Rinse the pasta in vinegar after cooking to help preserve it for a few days (although I’m not sure if you should rinse it before putting the food colouring in…as I haven’t tried this step yet).

• Dry it out a bit in the sun after playing, to help preserve it for a few more days.

Just bare in mind how squishy the pasta can get. I left Everly for a few minutes and came back to pasta pieces squashed into the mat by our front door…this wasn’t fun to clean up at all. So best to set up a nice big area to play on that you can clean up afterwards. Or better yet, set it up outside where the dogs can help ‘clean’ up the mess once you’re all done.

Happy playing friends!

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Here are more fun activities to do with your little ones:

How to make your own Rainbow Rice - An easy & fun sensory Activity for Toddlers

If you’ve even just spent 1 minute on Pinterest and searched for toddler activities, sensory bins are just about the first things that pop up. Basically, a sensory bin is a container of sorts that you put different things into that stimulate your little ones senses. One that has always intrigued me, and one that I have been wanting to do myself for AGES is a Rainbow Rice sensory bin. I finally got around to doing this, and it’s one of Everly’s favourite things to play with. And the best part, she doesn’t need me to help with anything and so it encourages independent play (click here for a blog post on 5 more activities that encourage independent play).

I had to do a quick google as to why exactly sensory play is so important, and I’m sharing some info I found on the CreativePlayUk site:

1. Sensory play builds nerve connections within the developing brain’s neural pathways, which trigger a child’s inclination for and ability in competing more complex learning tasks

2. Sensory play supports language development, cognitive growth, motor skills, problem solving skills, and social interaction

3. Sensory play aids in developing and enhancing memory functioning

4. Sensory play is great for calming an anxious or frustrated child

5. Sensory play helps children learn vitally important sensory attributes (hot, cold, sticky, dry, etc)

This sensory bin will trigger your toddlers sense of touch (the rice), smell (if you choose to use essential oils), sight (the bright colours) & sound (the rice makes the most wonderful sound when poured) making this a wonderful activity for just about any toddler.

Now, a word of caution if you’re going to attempt making this WITH your toddler. There IS going to be mess (probably A LOT!), and there will probably also be tears. Take a deep breath, relax a little, and rather enjoy the process. And, in saying that, no judgement if you stop half way, put your toddler to bed for their nap, and use the quiet time to finish making the rice in peace and quiet!

Most of the instructions I found online talked about using Vinegar and food colouring, but I had these acrylic paints lying around and decided to give them a bash and they worked out soooo well. I also only used 1 plastic ziplock bag for all the colours, and I just washed it in-between uses so try and now mix the colours too much.

What you need:

• Rice (I bought the cheapest, biggest bag of rice I could find…buy as much rice as you’d like to fill your container)

• Airtight Plastic container (i.e. something with a lid). Looking back I wish I had bought a container that;s sides weren’t as high, because Everly can’t actually sit on the floor and reach inside it, she has to stand or sit on her knees…not a huge train-smash but it does mean she makes more mess…but this is probably just me and my OCD tendencies when it comes to cleaning up). In saying all of this, she actually likes to sit INSIDE the container too…so I’m glad I bought one as big as I did. But it does mean you need a lot of rice to make it worth the effort.

• Ziplock bag(s)

• Acrylic Paints (or food colouring, but I think gel food colouring would work the best if you go the food colouring route)

• Essential Oil (optional…but does give the rice a nice smell, especially as my paint smell was rather strong…make sure you choose something you actually like the smell of. I just used what I had in my cupboard and I am now 100% sick of smelling this blend… I would have preferred a lemon grass or lavender).

• A willing helper (OPTIONAL!!! haha)

There is no exact measurements for this…I started with a measuring cup, but it was too big for my little bag and ended up just making a mess. So in the end I just poured the rice directly from it’s bag into the ziplock bag. I needed an extra pair of hands for this though, and luckily had our Nanny nearby for this step.

Pour about 2-3 cups of rice into your ziplock bag, squirt in some paint (add white to your colours to change the shade a bit), add a few drops of essential oil if you’re using any and seal the bag.

Then squish the bag and the paint together until it’s all mixed in well.

Instead of using an oven to dry out the rice, I just put the different colours onto baking trays and left them outside for a couple of hours. I think the acrylic paint was the key to making sure the rice dried out really well without having to use an oven.

Then, get your toddler involved (if they haven’t already been a part of the process) to empty the trays into your container. I would suggest moving to the grass were cleanup won’t be as much of a worry. Although, I now put a big blanket under the box so that I can put all the rice back once she’s finished playing, otherwise there would be an awful lot of coloured rice all over my garden. And I’m pretty sure the paint would wash off the rice leaving pools of red and yellow all over the show. Not sure my grass would like that very much ;)

And then leave them to play and mix!

I change things up every now and again by adding plastic measuring cups and spoons (toddlers LOVE pouring activities), and then swop these out for plastic animals and other toys that she has fun burying and looking for. There really are so many different things you can do with the rice, and even I have spent my fair share of time pouring rice into and out of a cup…it’s soooo relaxing!

So there you go. And easy and fun way to keep your little one entertained. Please do let me know if you make this yourself, and post some photos (tag me in them over on Instagram!) I’d love to see your little one’s enjoying their own rainbow rice.