Fall 2010 books and ideas

With Halloween hoopla in full swing, it's still important to talk about the beautiful fall season and read about it, minus the spooky themes and other paraphernalia.

I've written about Halloween-free fall ideas before (you can see last year's post about this). But here are some new books I came across this year:

BOOKS

1. Why do Leaves Change Color? by Betsy Maestro (ages 7 to 10). Part of the Let's-Read-And-Find-Out Science series.

2. Peepers by Eve Bunting. A different take on the fall season. It's a story about "Peepers", people who come to New England to see the fall colors, and how two young boys discover the beauty of this time of year, even as they mock the tourists.

3. By the Light of the Harvest Moon by Harriet Ziefert. A cute story about pumpkins that come to life to celebrate the harvest.

4. Pumpkins by Mary Lyn Ray. A very nice story about how a man plots a unique way to preserve a field threatened with development by using pumpkins.

5. We all Fall for Apples by Emmi S. Herman A good selection for early readers with apples as the fall theme.

ACTIVITY

Using the book How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin by Margaret McNamara as a guide, my husband had the kids guess how many seeds would be in the pumpkin we picked up from a fall fair earlier this month. A topical math lesson.

This can also be turned into a biology/science unit, by studying the parts of the pumpkin, opening up its seeds, etc.

ISLAMIC POINT

One thing that did not occur to me last year as a discussion point was the beauty of the cycle of life. In specific, the fact that Allah chooses the season right before the cold winter to make countless fruits and vegetables ready for picking. This makes it easy for animals who stay north in the winter to survive through hibernation, since they are able to collect all the seeds, nuts, berries, etc. they need.