Fall Playdate

Fall is officially here! That means falling leaves, cooler weather and the return of our regular playgroup. While our playgroup did continue to meet throughout the summer, we only met once a month. Also, we gathered at parks or splash pads, so we planned no special activities for our kiddos. We sure had a wonderful time playing outdoors, but we've been excited to re-start our themed, more "organized" playtime, too. 

For our first playdate of October, we chose a fall theme. Jenna organized our snacks-- adorable peanut butter cracker sandwiches decorated as spiders.

She also brought along some fruit cups and allowed the kiddos to draw on little jack-o-lantern faces, if they wanted. The snack was a hit-- Cody and Jaden especially ate a ton!

The playgroup kids: Micah, Abbie, Kenzie, Jaden, Cody, Landon
(not pictured) Ryder, Hannah, Wes

 Our playgroup has a bit of a different feel this year, as a few of the older siblings are now attending kindergarten or preschool. The oldest kid is only 3 1/2, so all the kids are a bit more similar in ability and interest level. Also, we were happy to have our new friend Samie (and her kids Kenzie and Wes) join our group. Our little friends Micah and Landon joined us, too, even though their working moms could not attend. All in all, the four of us moms successfully corralled 9 kiddos (4 three-year-olds, 3 two-year-olds, and 2 infants).

After snacktime, we headed outdoors for a few activities. The weather was gorgeous that day! First, we gathered a bunch of leaves, sticks, and grass for some nature rubbings. Because the sidewalk was very rough, most of the pics ended up just showing off the sidewalk's texture. The process seemed to  still be enjoyable for the kids, though.

Here are our attempts to get a group shot of the kids holding up their leaf rubbings.

Jaden, Kenzie, Landon, Cody

Jaden, Kenzie, Landon, Cody
Abbie, Micah

Our next activity was a type of hide-and-seek game. We started with an empty tree picture...

...and then told the kids to search the yard for 12 hidden paper leaves. No need to tell them this direction twice!

The idea was to bring the leaves back to the paper tree and match the number on the leaf with the number on the tree. Other than Jaden and Cody, the kids were able to do this quite successfully! Cody definitely got the "find a leaf" direction and continued to bring REAL leaves back. :)

Ryder needed no help matching up his leaf!

Jaden was fairly excited to find the leaves hidden around the yard.

Once the leaves were all found, the fall tree was complete! The kids right away asked to play again, and probably would've played several additional times, too, if we would've had time.

 Next, we went indoors for a little owl-pumpkin craft that Ruth had planned. Ruth showed us her sample (just to Micah's left) and let the kids glue on their own owl features. 

Cody and Jaden's owls were a bit abstract. :)

Ruth had written, "Whoooo does Jesus love?" on the back of each owl pumpkin. What a wonderful fall reminder of our Savior's love!

Jenna eventually managed to get a funny group shot of the kids. She asked them all to make the baby laugh when she was holding little Wes. It worked-- the kiddos all put on their best goofy faces (except for Jaden, who was truly picking his nose, I'm pretty sure)! :)

We had a great time and are already looking forward to our next play group!