Acorn Craft

Cereal Acorn Craft

I bought these oats to make a hearty breakfast for my son before preschool, somehow they ended up as a craft before I ever made him breakfast!  I love exploring textures and using unusual materials for art. We don’t have a lot of oak trees around here but I know lawns all over are filling up with them as the colder days of fall are upon us. This cereal acorn craft is easy but takes a long time to dry, so find a sunny windowsill to sit it on for a day before shaking off the extra.

1. Gather your materials. You will need some heavy paper ( we used a brown grocery bag), glue, oats, chocolate cereal, brown marker, and scissors.
2. Start by drawing an acorn on the paper bag.
3. Have your child color this if they want.  Even though we are covering it with glue I like doing this step so that if they only add a little of the cereal it’s still decorated.
4. Add your glue. You will need a ton so now is a great time to let your little one loose with the glue.  If you end up with huge puddles just spread them around.
5. Add the oats to your cereal acorn craft. We just poured, and my floor survived amazingly.
6. Add the chocolate cereal.
7. Eat a few….
8. Gently shake off the excess. Tip – if you use a flexible plastic placemat, you can gently shake a little off. Then, fold and pour into a bowl, garbage, or wherever! 
9. Let dry… for a long long time…. about 12 hours.
10. Cut out when dry and display your cereal acorn craft.

Books

A Friend for all Seasons by Julia Hubery is a gem! The book explains the change of seasons in a fun and easy to understand way for young children. Readers follow along with Robbie Raccoon as he notices the changes that are happening around his home, a big oak tree.  My favorite part of this book was when Robbie and a few woodland friends notice that the tree’s leaves are falling. They assume he is crying, so they give him a hug. I loved that! Robbie’s mama raccoon explains the changes. Before they go to sleep for a long time during winter’s dark days, they plant 5 acorns. This was a fun part of the book because I had my son predict what would happen.

I liked that it gives parents an opportunity to extend this into a science lesson about seeds, and an oak tree’s life cycle. Sure enough, when Spring comes there are tiny baby oaks waiting for Robbie when he awakens. I loved this book and would recommend it happily!

When Autumn Falls by Kelli Nidey is a stunning book, the illustrations which are painted paper collages, by Susan Swan are so richly colored you will want more after turning the last page. The text is clever as well. Readers will discover that fall is well named not just because of falling leaves, but also pumpkins falling from the vines, temperatures falling, seeds falling from their leaves and even football players falling! The text is the perfect length for toddlers but not too short for preschoolers too.  Cute book for this time of year.

Apple Cider Making Days by Ann Purnell kinda surprised me, I don’t know what I was expecting but I loved this book. My son was sold on the tractor in it but I really liked how simply the author explained the whole process of making apple cider.  From picking the apples on Grandpa’s farm to sorting out the good ones to sell and the bad ones to press, to selling it, it covers the details without being too much for a young child to process.  I loved that the whole family, aunts, uncles, cousins and more helped. Seeing a family work side by side is heartwarming. My son loved the tractor but also the conveyor belt that took the apples to press!

The illustrations by Joanne Friar set the happy autumn tone for the book. I particularly liked the small details like the pumpkins and squash for sale at the farm.

No bad reviews today- all three books are worth a look!