We have enjoyed such wonderful Autumn walks over the past week, and there is nothing like holding my little ones hand, kicking leaves and hearing the calm echoes in my mind of the those beautiful words “A mouse took a stroll through the deep dark wood…”
When I was planning the Autumn and Harvest unit I knew that The Gruffalo would be very much incorporated and enjoyed. So when I found some great resources on Twinkl, I knew I had the foundations of a lovely collection of activities both at home and outdoors.
Squirrel and I have enjoyed reading our book, and took it on our mini break to Cornwall with us to read together with my sister and mum, curled up in our caravan during the blustery evenings.
We also took this fantastic matching game away with us, and have been going at it over and over in different methods. I will often set it up for him, so he can match them himself with a little encouragement from me.
We used the cards like little flashcards to practice words including ‘nut’, ‘wood logs’, ‘rock’ and ‘tree’ as well as all the animals. We also played bingo with them in the caravan with mum and my sister, really making use of the two mats, and getting Squirrel used to taking turns, group participation and card allocation and selfless play.
He really got into colouring!
We used our dyed rice with these super laminated printed character cut outs and other autumnal treasures for our sensory small world play!
We made, ate and played with our yumsome and slippery green Scrambled Snake (homemade broccoli and cheese soup with spaghetti!)
We are also blessed to have one of the Forestry Commission Gruffalo Trails very close to us up at Haldon Forest, and we wrapped up warm with a friend and her gorgeous sons to find us some characters and investigate beautiful woodland life.
As well as our great walk on the Gruffalo trail, we spent some time watching documentaries on foxes and owls, and visited the owls up at World Of Country Life.
We have had the opportunity to see them in flight several times as well as meet them and their hawk friends up close, but this time we had a good time waving and hooting from outside their cages. Squirrel just adores them!
Squirrel loved this guy best, and spent a long while hooting with him.
This guy stole my heart!
Try as i might, apparently Squirrel isn’t yet vocally ready to verbalise ‘Owl Ice Cream’!
The very first soft toy that my sweet husband bought our Squirrel after he was born, bringing him to the hospital to keep him company while he nursed and dozed, was a Gruffalo, and he still loves it. We cuddle together and watched the television production with his little Gruffalo and the squirrels, and let it sweep over us in all its gentleness.
This post is part of Unit 2. Autumn & Harvest.
Acorns & Crayons 