Littles Learning Link Up: October 31, 2017- Fall Paper Leaf Mobiles

 Each month you will find:

• A seasonal round-up (usually toward the beginning of the month)
• Posts where I share what I have been up to with my early elementary children (including occasional highlight posts where I share how we used ideas that have been linked up here on Littles Learning Link Up).

Each week, I will host a link up, where you can share either what you have been up to recently, or old posts that may go with the theme.  Feel free to link up more than one post.

Each week I will continue to feature a couple of posts from those that have been linked up. 

I hope you will continue to share your wonderful posts, and I hope you will find something new to try with your child(ren).

It would be great for everyone to stop by and visit the other linked-up posts as well. Check them out, leave some comments, pin those that interest you. Let's make this a real party and socialize with each other.

What have we been up to?

We are all excited that co-op has started back up. The children are enjoying their new classes and mommy is enjoying coming up with crafts for the preschool class. A few weeks ago I shared the Two-Sided Paper Plate Apples we made. Last week shared the Keepsake Hand and Fingerprint Autumn Trees we made to go with the book My Leaf Book by Monica Wellington. Today I will be sharing the Paper Leaf Mobiles we made that same day. Last week we made Paper Plate Scarecrows, and I will be sharing that as a part of next week's Scarecrow Fun Round Up. 

In our homeschool we have continued our study of Ancient Egypt and have also been learning of other ancient civilizations that developed as people groups spread out after the Flood of Noah's day, and after the time of the Tower of Babel. We have been reading about Abraham, Sarah and Isaac during our Bible reading time. Our science lessons on pyramids have ended and we have gone back to our lessons on light. The children were particularly interested in the activity where we gave a balloon an electrical charge by rubbing it on our hair and then using it to briefly light up a light bulb. We are doing a pretty good job keeping on schedule with our lesson plans this year, except for the art and music. 

Let's take a look at that review schedule real quick:

Three weeks ago I posted my reviews for CTCMath and Brinkman Adventures Season 4. I only have two more reviews for the Crew this year. This week I will be sharing my review of The Magic Stories, published by the same people who developed The Reading Game which I reviewed a few years ago. Next week I will share my final Crew review of the year, the one for The Pencil Grip's Thin Stix Creativity Pack. I can't believe our Crew year is already coming to a close for 2017. Speaking of which, if you are a homeschooler who also actively blogs, the Crew recently opened up applications for the 2018 Crew year. Stop by the Homeschool Review Crew blog to check it out.

Moving on to this week's craft:

In the preschool co-op class we made Fall Paper Leaf Mobiles to go with the book My Leaf Book by Monica Wellington. We made these the same day we made the Keepsake Hand and Fingerprint Autumn Trees. Because the book focuses on both the trees and the leaves, I thought it would be fun to pick four of the different kinds of leaves talked about in the book and make a project out of them.

Of course, I already mentioned I read "My Leaf Book" by Monica Wellington to the children. This is a book I reviewed a couple of years ago and just loved.

This craft was again simple and appropriate for the 3-4 year olds in the group as well as the one year old. It was also a craft they could all make at the same time, instead of two at a time as I did with the trees.

Here is what you will need:

Leaf templates. I searched Google for 4 different types of leaves (Birch, Gingko, Maple, and Oak), copied them into my word processing program and included all four on one page. Then I printed them out onto card stock.

Additionally we used yarn and sticks I found outside on the ground.

I used this opportunity for the children to use the Thin Stix Creativity Pack that I am reviewing. Yes, crayons or markers or another form of art media could be used, but I found that the Thin Stix were perfect. They give a bright, bold result and can be spread on quickly. And unlike other types of paint, these tempera paint sticks dry in just 90 seconds.

The children "painted" the leaves with the Thin Stix.

Then I cut them out.

I tied yarn to the sticks, four shorter strands to attach to the leaves, and one long piece that was attached to both ends to use as a hanger. I just taped the leaves to the yarn.

Some things I would like to share with you:

More Fall Leaf Crafts:

Those autumn leaves have been falling down all around. If you are looking for some ideas that focus on fall leaves, I invite you to check out my Fall Leaves All Around Round Up:

Pumpkins are popping up all around. Though we don't celebrate Halloween, I do love pumpkins. A couple of years ago I posted my Pumpkin Fun Round Up.

As much as I hate thinking about this, Thanksgiving is just around the corner (scary isn't it?). Here is my Thanksgiving Round Up chock-full of Thanksgiving craft, snack, and learning activity ideas.

Now onto:

Littles Learning Link Up Features

On my last Littles Learning Link Up post, there were 11 wonderful posts linked up. I will be picking one randomly selected post to share, plus the top clicked-on posts.  

Please, don't forget to stop by other posts that are linked up. See what catches your eye, stop by, pin the post to a relevant board, and perhaps leave a comment to let the author of the blog know you have been by for a visit. I know I appreciate others commenting and letting me know they have read my posts, so I am sure others do too.

This week's randomly selected post is:

Lisa from Syncopated Mama shared Mossby's Magic Carpet Handbook by Ilona Bray.

And here are this week's top clicked on posts.

Mommies Reviews shared 8 Easy DIY Thanksgiving Kids Crafts.

Kelli from 3 Boys and a Dog shared Pig Activities for Toddlers.

Join the Party!

I would love to have you join in this week! What sort of activities do you do with your young children? Do you have some favorite activities you would like to share? I invite you to link up below. I will be pinning posts on one of my relevant boards, and I would love to feature some of the activities each week from what is linked up.

Please know I may share a picture from your post and link back to it, along with sharing how we used your idea in our school time. By linking up you are giving me permission to use a picture from your post. I will ALWAYS give credit and link back. Additionally, if you choose to try out any of the ideas with your child, please make sure you give credit where credit is due.

Linky will be open through Monday night, to give me time to check out all the posts and get the Features organized. Please take the time to visit some of the other wonderful posts linked up.

No button currently, and there won't be one until I can figure it out seeing as Photobucket has changed things. Feel free to still share the picture in place of the button. Just link it to my Littles Learning Link Up permalink please.

An InLinkz Link-up