Simple & Surprising

Colleen’s children selecting the best pumpkin for use in fall crafts.

A Moment with Colleen Padilla of ClassyMommy.com

Name: Colleen Padilla
Age of Kids: 4 and 22 months
My Favorite Fall Activity: Trail runs in the woods to enjoy the foliage!
Blog: ClassyMommy.com

Fall is my favorite season and has been for as long as I can remember. I love watching the changing of seasons as the weather gets cooler and the leaves change from summer green to the gorgeous earthy tones of red, orange, yellow, and brown. Before the weather turns to winter, we love to take advantage of family outings to go apple picking, take a hayride, or visit the pumpkin patch. Not only are these relaxing ways to spend a day together, they also make for great pictures of the kids!

“...I love to turn our adventures into little nature expeditions that let us bring the outdoors in.”

The crisp weather and shorter days makes our time outdoors and our nature adventures even more precious. Even the warmest November days aren’t usually fit for playing outdoors for long periods, so I love to turn our adventures into little nature expeditions that let us bring the outdoors in.

I encourage my kiddos to collect leaves, twigs, and pinecones so we can make festive crafts later on with our treasures. As a little girl, I remember working so hard to collect leaves with my mom to create the perfect homemade “Fall Leaf” placemats out of wax paper. It’s exciting to share my memories with my 4-year-old and for us to make new memories together as we let our imagination and creativity go to work.

Here are a few of my favorites:

• Twig Trees — Place the twigs into a ball of clay for stability and display purposes. Glue small pieces of fall-colored tissue paper or construction paper to the twigs to create the illusion of leaves.
• Pumpkin Painting — Yes, paint is messy. But nothing excites my kids like the chance to tackle the paintbrush! Take a medium sized pumpkin and let the kids go to town with paint all over it. Sprinkle glitter all over the pumpkin immediately after painting (before the paint dries so the glitter will stick). Let dry on a newspaper. The kids will be impressed with their sparkling creation.
• Pinecone People — Provide wiggly eyes, construction paper and glue. Let your child’s imagination run wild as he or she creates a pinecone person or animal. Beware — mom as a pinecone is not very flattering!
• Leaf Placemats — Collect an assortment of fall leaves in all different shapes and colors. Place between 2 pieces of cut waxed paper. Cover your placement with a towel and iron to seal the leaves in the placemat. The tykes will love dining off of their labors at mealtime.
• Leaf Collages — Glue the leaves to a piece of construction paper to create a collage. Your child can also draw arms, legs and heads to turn their leaves into people or animals. These collages make for great Thanksgiving cards as well.

A fun way to spend some mom and child time is to create festive fall soap. I’ve never tried this craft, but it looks cool! Here’s how:

• Draw or stamp a picture on tissue paper and glue the tissue paper to a bar of soap.
• Melt paraffin wax in its heating unit or in a pan over low heat until it’s melted.
• Preheat oven to 250°.
• Place the bars of soap on tin foil on top of a cookie sheet.
• Once the wax is melted, quickly paint the wax in a thick layer over the image on the soap (the wax may be so thick and bumpy that you can’t see the image, but it will dry clear).
• Place the cookie sheet into the oven. When the wax is smooth and glossy, remove the cookie sheet from the oven. You should now have a thin layer of wax covering the image on the top of the soap.
• Once the soap is cool, it’s ready to use.

After a busy day of arts and crafts, cleanup doesn’t need to be daunting. Remember to disinfect commonly touched surfaces, especially since kids can touch up to 300 surfaces in just 30 minutes.

Here’s an easy way to help keep germs at bay: mix 3/4 cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach with 1 gallon (16 cups) water and wipe your counters with the solution. Let stand for 5 minutes and then rinse and air dry.

Come back soon for another tip and another chance to win!