Acorns! toddler play experience

Acorns, acorns everywhere!

We had a great time playing and learning about acorns this week!

Acorns were the perfect focus for this week for several reasons. Here in the Midwest, Fall is upon us already this year, but the weather has remained just beautiful.

And, I just happen to know an area with huge old oak trees. Jackpot. And they just happened to be falling in earnest this week (thanks for the inside scoop, Kristin!)


Like I said, perfect. So here's what we did!



First, it kind of seems silly to mention it, but we just talked about acorns a lot. We did a lot of talking. That doesn't really sound like much, but it kept him interested. The more words he knows and can connect with a subject, the more engaged he seems to be.


Speaking of words...

Books

These are (some of) the books we read together this week! (These are affiliate links to Amazon)

The Oak Inside the Acorn - super cute story about an acorn that becomes just what God has designed it to be. Very touching (I cried), but pretty long. Evert didn't stay interested for long.

From Acorn to Oak Tree - real pictures, focuses on how acorns become trees.

I Love You More - while not totally about acorns, it does have a part where it talks about a squirrel looking for acorns.

Because of an Acorn - uses cause-and-effect to show the impact a small acorn can make. Evert liked talking about the different animals. Short, sweet, and to the point.

Going On An Acorn Hunt

We headed out on a lovely day to go on an acorn hunt!

Evert was less into it than I'd hoped. Even after I got a dump truck involved, he picked up maybe seven acorns. Mama did most of the actual harvesting.

Evert did a lot of running around.  He also told me he was "walking up mountain" as he scaled a very very minor hill. So funny.

Busy Bin

All my acorn collecting had a purpose - for the busy bin! A busy bin full of acorns!

Evert had a great time scooping and pouring, exploring the different textures, and pulling the caps on and off the acorns. You can read more about the acorn busy bin here -- Busy Bin : Acorns

Acorn Matching

I made these little number cards. The idea was to place actual acorns on each acorn that was drawn on the card, then count them together.

Evert wasn't terribly interested in this activity. We did it together a couple of times, but he really preferred just playing with the acorns in the bin.

Music and Media

We don't do much screen time at our house, but I definitely need a couple minutes here and there to, you know, start supper or put baby Koben down for a nap. I decided to use those minutes to reinforce our learning about (you guessed it) acorns!

I put together a little Acorns playlist on Youtube with a couple videos - some cartoon, a video of someone reading a book about acorns, and a time lapse video of an acorn sprouting into a tree.

We watched the playlist together the first time Evert got to see it, and we talked about what he was seeing. The time lapse video was probably his favorite. ("Happening! Openin it! YOLK tree!!" The anticipation kept him on the edge of his tiny seat.)

Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Game

We borrowed this game- The Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel - from a friend of mine, and boy. Big hit.

We haven't really done much in the way of formal games, yet, so this was our first "real" game. At only two years old, we didn't bother with the spinner at all. We focused on taking turns and matching the colored acorns to the right spots. He also tried really hard to use the squirrel tongs as intended, but it was just a bit too tricky for him.

We played it several times, and then Evert also had fun pretending to feed the acorns to the squirrel.




All in all, we spent quite a bit of time learning and playing with acorns. This was a great way to start off our Fall!

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