Ms. Amy's Blog @Child Central Station

The fall colors are really starting to show in our area- a signal that winter is soon approaching.  It also means that it is time again to take some time to share a little bit about the Upper Peninsula for while we are exchanging postcards with participants in the 2013 Fall Postcard Exchange hosted by Teach Preschool .  The boys thought this was a great tree, there have some very busy woodpeckers! This past weekend, I had the opportunity to spend some time hiking at Van Riper State Park near the Pesheekee River.   The scenic views were breathtaking, the camera barely does any justice.  The Upper Peninsula of Michigan is covered in trees, both evergreens and deciduous. We also have a number of rivers, streams, and lakes.      We have many opportunities to hike trails and enjoy time in nature.   Our fall colors have only just begun. When the colors peak there will be bright reds, purple...

It's Fall here in Michigan, and the pumpkins are ripe!  Fall pumpkins are perfect practice place for pounding. The children have been using hammers and  golf tees to dress up some of our pumpkins. It takes a lot of practice to master pounding.... When we are first learning how to hold the hammer and the tees or nails,  sometimes we use a clothespin to help us hold them in place.  This is helpful when we are still working on our hand-eye coordination  in order to keep our fingers safe. Part of the joy of working with mixed ages is to watch the  young children as they learn from observing the older children.  This little guy picked up very quickly exactly what to do! Although he didn't actually pound any tees in today,  He was very quick to mimic the actions with the toy hammer and tees! Perhaps tomorrow we will add some paint.... Perhaps we will opt to carve the pumpkins...... Perhap...

"Tell me, what is it that you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" - Mary Oliver We had a great time at the Hayes Corn Maze today. It has been a busy weekend. Yesterday, I spent the day at the UPAEYC fall conference , and last night Dane's cousins slept over. Today we spent the gorgeous fall day at the corn maze. They had a great big pile of hay for climbing and sliding. There were animals to feed. We saw the HUGE cow's tongue as it reached for a cone of feed. (unfortunately, the cow was way too quick for the camera, so you get to see the pictures of the goats.) There was a maze made from hay bales. And ofcourse, there was a maze in the corn field. There were toy tractors to drive, and lots of tires around the track to jump and balance on. There was a web of ropes to work your way through. (I think we might have to put one of these in the backyard for awhile.) We rode in a wagon pulled by a tractor. In the "outback" we used slingshots ...

Wordless Wednesday..... Okay, I can't resist... a few words. Fall just isn't fall without a giant leaf pile. Our yard simply does not collect enough leaves to make this possible. Fortunately, we live near a great city park. We have learned to bring our own rake to collect a giant pile. It is very possible to collect a pile without a rake. (We have done it many times by grabbing handfuls and kicking the leaves, but a rake makes it much easier). This has become one of our fall traditions, and who can resist a giant pile of leaves for jumping!

This post was shared at: Our friends are starting to get very excited about Halloween! We decided that it was time to start taking down our summer decor, and opted to make a few spooky totem poles to help decorate our rock garden for fall. The original idea for the totem pole came from Family Fun Magazine . You can see our original totem pole in this post. Our spooky totems were a lot of fun to make. Some of our friends opted to paint their coffee cans. (I sprayed them in various "fall"/"halloween" colors as a base to get them ready for decorating). After we finished with the paint, some of our friends added pieces of foam and googly eyes to their creatures. Our cans turned out fantastic! Check out the cool totems we have out front! Here is the one on the right: The one in the middle is pictured at the top of this post. The one on the left has room for 3 more cans, and will be finished tomorrow when some more of our friends have an opportunity to join in the fun...