Year 1
October Theme: Fall Harvest
This document and all Creatively Shine Curriculum is protected and owned by Little Sunshine’s
Playhouse & Preschool, Inc. and cannot not be printed or used for any other purpose than its intended
use.
Required Project: Create a maze using primarily corn stalks and hay bales. Make sure to include items
created or influenced by the children inside or surrounding the project. The maze should be constructed
on the playground. Be creative with the construction of the maze to include fun windows, dead ends,
and a fun exit room (example: teepee). The space should be fun and manageable to accommodate all
ages within the program. Toward the end of the month host a fall harvest party for families to enjoy the
maze (costumes optional).
Overview: This month we will focus on how the fall seasonal changes affect nature; for example animals
preparing for winter, colors of leaves, weather changes, fall foods and nuts, etc. Each child should be
given sensory opportunities involving autumn. Imaginative and theatrical play should be facilitated
throughout this unit. Also, farming, harvesting, and animals on the farm will be of focus. Provide
experiences to interact with farm animals, to taste autumn harvest foods, and to compare and contrast
vegetables, seeds, and animal behaviors.
The below is meant to provide teachers with a backbone to their classroom lesson plans. All suggested
items to be added to the classrooms and suggested ideas are at the teacher’s discretion. This allows
teachers the freedom to modify this list to best fit their age group by adding or deleting activities and
also by allowing for the children to direct activities within the theme.
*Any activities with an * in front are specifically for infants and/or toddlers; however, most activities
can be adapted to accommodate these age groups as well
Unit 1 – Seasonal Changes (September 30 – October 11)
Suggested Items to Add to Classroom:
 Natural items (acorns, leaves, sticks)
 Plastic bugs
 Pumpkins and apples
 Gourds, squash
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Corn stalks
Hay bales
Indian corn
Real bug display board
Suggested Ideas for Focus on the Whole Child:
Social/Emotional
 Invite parents to a caramel apple making party
 Go on a pretend bear hunt (make a fun interactive song)
 Group Bulb planting project
 Bake pumpkin seeds
 Acorn gathering race
Physical (fine/gross motor)
 Dissect a leaf
 Leaf rub with Crayons
 Corn gluing on Black paper, use all parts of the corn cob including husk
 Use the star inside the apple for painting
 Make a costume out of felt (pumpkin, corn stalk, scare crows etc)
 Make a bug display board (art/creative project)
 *Pull straw from hay bales or small bundles – make sure the hay is loosely packed to avoid
splinters
 *Grain or seed clear shaker bottle – allow the children to experiment with it by shaking and
rolling it
Cognitive
 Wax paper leaves
 Hay Bale Stacking (Counting)
 Apple Tasting Graph comparing who likes different types of apples
 Sink or Float project with apples, their seeds, corn, pumpkins
 Apple stacking classroom competition (who can make the highest stack)
 Seed counting (how many inside an apple and pumpkin)
 *Nature feely bag – fill a brown bag with 2 or 3 different nature items and let the children try to
pull out the one you ask them for by touch alone. For younger children, simply let them pull the
items out and you can verbally identify them for the class.
Communication/ Language
 Group nature walk to collect leaves, break into small groups and facilitate communication of the
activity.
 Leaf story board/ Flannel Board
 Puppets show focusing on autumn changes/ general adaptations to change in life
 Talk about sizes and colors of different seeds
 Read a wide variety of fall stories and open discussion afterwards.
 Bring a book to life within the classroom. Assign student actors.
 Learn theme words in sign or second language
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Workbook Curriculum
 Workbook curriculum should be carried out daily in each classroom with (children over the age
of 12 months) for 10-20 minutes, depending on age. At this time we are not mandating what
brand or type of workbook. Workbooks should teach general cognitive principals for the child’s
age (colors, shapes, tracing, recognition, memorization, numbers, and alphabet). The activity
should be in paper form and available for parents to review at least weekly. This addition to our
curriculum is a supplement needed to meet the expectations of families and further prepare
children for Kindergarten. Workbook curriculum is not considered a creative art experience; it is
merely a supplement to encourage cognitive growth.
Unit 2 – On the Farm (October 14 – November 1)
Suggested Items to Add to Classroom
 Indian corn
 Variety of apples and harvest vegetables
 Wagon
 Farm/Barn scene with play animals
 Seeds
 Barn spider webs
Suggested Ideas for Focus on the Whole Child:
Social/Emotional
 In small groups make farm animal tails for each child to wear
 Hide corn cobs inside the maze and let children hunt
 Make apple cider and drink at snack time or tea party type atmosphere
 Fall Harvest Event with families
 Hay ride on wagon during party with costumes
 Farm day visit (bring in safe animals to visit children)
Physical (fine and gross motor)
 Crush apples into apple sauce
 Scare crow art project
 Use pieces of vegetables to paint with
 Paint on Vegetables
 Hay bale hunt
 Decorate the wagon
 *Drive/push tractors over bubble-wrap “farm” ground
Cognitive
 Animal identification “which animals eat apples?”
 Vegetable identification
 Count the field mice/ size identification
 Identify how many legs different animals have
 Identify colors of fall vegetables
 Make fall color flashcards
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Communication/ Language
 Wearing the farm animal tails from above, create farm animal habitats encouraging children to
make believe and be their animal. (Focus on animal sounds and communication)
 Field Mice song/books
 Graph how many seeds are in different vegetables
 Sing songs on hay ride
 Learn farm words in sign or second language
Workbook Curriculum
 Workbook curriculum should be carried out daily in each classroom with (children over the age
of 12 months) for 10-20 minutes, depending on age. At this time we are not mandating what
brand or type of workbook. Workbooks should teach general cognitive principals for the child’s
age (colors, shapes, tracing, recognition, memorization, numbers, and alphabet). The activity
should be in paper form and available for parents to review at least weekly. This addition to our
curriculum is a supplement needed to meet the expectations of families and further prepare
children for Kindergarten. Workbook curriculum is not considered a creative art experience; it is
merely a supplement to encourage cognitive growth.
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