Back to School Activities

• Make a scarecrow with your class or have a scarecrow contest
  
  
• Create snazzy garden journals/logs
  
  
• Have a farmer speak to your class
  
  
• Get your kids to bring in vegetables that were grown locally for a taste-testing
  
  
• Write to seed companies for their catalogs (especially Johnny's, as it is a good growing guide and has great pics)
  
  
• Create "poundings" - take squares of unbleached muslin (cheap, 88¢/yard Wal-Mart), put leaves/flowers face up on cloth, cover with a piece of wax paper, and pound with a hammer. This pounding smushes the color of leaf/flower into the cloth. Children can create own designs or challenge them to create an animal! Recommend that you do one beforehand!
  
  
• Go on a scavenger hunt - Collect only things that can be handled safely.
  — a feather
  — 3 different kinds of seeds
  — something round
  — something beautiful
  — something that makes a noise
  — something that reminds you of yourself
  — something soft
  — something that does not belong outside
  Gather all the finds and display them on a piece of cardboard. Label each one and share it with the group.
  
  
• Plant identification hike (even if you just ID trees on your campus - use My Mother Talks to Trees by Doris Gove for helpful hints)

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