#TWKatHome Activities
October: Discover Fall
Welcome to TWKatHome, our fun, free online content that helps kids and families explore food and build positive, healthy eating habits. Each month, we will provide activities and ideas for ways to engage children as they learn about food and where it comes from.
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Taste Wise Kids at Home and in the Classroom!
Welcome to our Taste Wise Kids Discover Fall. We welcome educators at home and in the classroom to discover the tastes and harvest of the Fall with us. You will find downloadable activities to print, links to explore virtually, and ideas to start a conversation. Have fun learning about and tasting the flavors of the Fall season. Download our Fall coloring page here! Print it out and use it to guide your learning.
Pumpkins in the Classroom
Learning about pumpkins is fun! One pumpkin can be a lesson in Science, Math, and History!
Many children link pumpkins to October. Bring a pumpkin in the classroom to engage your learners to think about pumpkins in new ways.
- Read The Life Cycle of a Pumpkin and invite students to create a Pumpkin Did You Know Activity
- Pumpkins and Adjectives- Challenge your class to use 100 adjectives to describe a pumpkin.
- Investigate pumpkins growth and decay with Scholastic. Consider having a pumpkin in your classroom as a visual display for this process. Pumpkins can be placed in a plastic container for students to watch the process.
- Visit a local pumpkin farm!
Apples
The harvest of apples in the Fall is another great way to celebrate fresh produce.
Children may be interesetd to learn that apples were not always sweet! Apples were used to make ciders for many years. Farmers found new ways to grow sweeter varities and now they are a favorite healthy and sweet snack to many people! Bring some appples into your classroom for some sweet and fun learning.
- Do Apples Have the Same Number of Seeds?
- Apples, Apples, Apples lesson with Scholastic
- How does an apple grow?
- Virtual Apple Farm Field Trip
Teaching Sustainable Seeds:
Challenge children to think about why seed dispersal.
Seeds travel in many ways and can be saved for future harvests. Both concepts can be engagning to children as they can take on the role of a "seed detective." Challenge students to think where seeds come from, how can they be saved, and how can we help our planet in the process of saving seeds?
- What What is Sustainability
- Teach Have Seeds will Travel from Project Learning Tree
- Read about Seed Harvesting for Kids
- Seed Saving for Kids
Writing Prompts:
- Write a list of ten words to describe Fall foods. Choose 3 words to create your perfect Fall menu.
- If you were an urban farmer, what would be your biggest challenges to gardening?
- Imagine you are a pumpkin seed, where would you want to be planted and why?
- Imagine you are invited to the White House to speak about the importance of healthy food options in school. What would you say in your speech?
- Some people say that the Fall is the best season for flavors in food. Do you agree or disagree?
Book Recommendations
Here are a few book suggestions for young learners.
- Because of an Acorn by Lola and Adam Schaefer introduces readers to the many layers of an ecosystem.
- In the Leaves Huy Voen Lee is about a boy who takes his family on a trip to a farm in the Autumn.
- Hiking Day by Anne Rockwell celebrates the fun and learning that are experienced on a Fall hike.
- Goodbye Summer Hello Autumn by Kenard Park describes the changing of seasons in a colorful and inviting way.
Fall Gardening
Many people think of gardening as a Summer project. There is a lot to learn about gardening in the Fall!
In the Fall, many plants love the crisp cool air. Some options for plants are: brocolli, kale, carrots, garlic, and radishes.
- Design a garden for your classroom!
- Start a classroom garden or start with one pot of a top voted on plant by your students/children.
- Research best tips for gardening in the Fall.
Learn and Discover at Home!
Use our Discover Fall Inspiration Board to help you with ideas. Print it and you can display it and check things off as you go. Download it and discover ways to engage your taste buds and your mind by clicking on each picture or word. Each image is linked to a recipe and each word is linked to an acvitity or craft. Click here to download your copy!
Share your adventures with us!
Share what you learned or created from any of our activities on our social media! We’d also love to hear your ideas for what other content you’d like to see from TWKatHome. Share with us on Facebook (@TasteWiseKids) or Instagram (@tastewise_kids) and use the hashtags #TWKatHome and #myTWKsalad, or email info@tastewisekids.org.
