Six Things to do with Kids and Acorns
It’s autumn, and in my part of the country that means the acorns are falling! We aren’t lucky enough to have oak trees in our own yard…but my parents are oak tree RICH! Part of the fun of all of these acorn ideas is the gathering! The kids and I spent several weekends going on acorn hunts and raking giant piles of acorns. Everyone but Baby B enjoyed this - he was extremely displeased that we wouldn’t let him eat them.
Here’s my list of Six Fun Things You Can Do with Acorns:
Read about them! We include several read alouds about acorns in our fall collection. We read about the life cycle of an oak tree in “Because of an Acorn” by Adam Schaefer and Lola M. Schaefer. This book is beautiful in its description of how one tiny acorn can result in an entire, magnificent forest, one cause and effect at a time. It’s also excellent for teaching that very concept: cause and effect! “From Acorn to Oak Tree” by Emma Carlson Berke is an excellent, strictly nonfiction book with actual photographs. It’s easy to forget to read nonfiction sometimes because these books don’t always feel like the most enjoyable read alouds…but we can’t forget that our kids don’t know what we do! They LOVE to see the real photos and learn the basic fact of how acorns grow into trees. “Treemendous: Diary of a Not Yet Mighty Oak” by Bridget Heos is written as a series of diary entries. It’s basic scientific information but with humor! There are many lessons to be learned from acorns. Even if you don’t live in “acorn country,” including them in your fall reading is a must, plus if you do, it provides a jumping-off point for all of the following activities.
2. Acorn cap memory: We gathered 24 acorn caps that were relatively uniform, which involved some excellent visual discrimination skills and a great discussion of how they were alike and different. We were also able to compare many acorns by size in order to decide which ones were similar enough in size for this game. So before we’d even begun we were able to practice some important skills! My teacher heart rejoiced. After we had our 24 acorn caps we got out the nail polish. Mr. Middle was excited because he’s never allowed to use the nail polish on his own, so it had the appeal of feeling like a forbidden material. We put our acorn caps in pairs (another great math concept!) and then used one color of nail polish per pair to paint the insides of the caps.
I really did let the toddlers (even 2.5-year-old Mr. Middle) paint these by themselves, although I did hold onto the bottle of open polish with my own more trustworthy hand. It felt like a privilege for them, so they were extra careful. We did end up having to put two coats on several of the lighter colors, but they all turned out so well! This was a great opportunity to explore the concept of shades of color…lighter and darker blues were used, lighter and darker greens, etc.
After the polish dried, we were ready to play!
We set them all on the table color-side-down and took turns making pairs! The toddlers and preschool age kiddos played this game every day for a week. Big Girl (age recently seven) also enjoyed it! These were super easy and quick to make, and they can be saved for next year!
3. Sensory table: We managed to rake up a massive pile of acorns in my parents’ front yard pretty quickly (they’ve got some serious oak trees) and immediately, my mind went to our sensory table. After removing several paper grocery bags full of acorns from my parents’ house, I dumped them right into the empty sensory table. I added a couple of small dump trucks and shovels and scoops and that was that!
I’ve had it available outside for a week now, and it is visited every day by most of the kids who spend time in my yard. I say it that way because in addition to my own three children, I have my little school friends who spend their weekdays with us, and their siblings, and some neighbor kids who visit pretty much daily…suffice to say, our yard is an extremely social place for the 8-and-under crowd (and their parents!).The result is that I am always highly motivated to provide new materials and keep it an exciting place.
If you read my last blog, I am a big believer in having a village with whom to do life. Another tip is to keep the village coming to you by making your yard fun and welcoming, as I do!
4. Marble painting in a box: If you’ve never tried marble painting, you should - it’s fun! It was equally fun to do with acorns. This is process art in its truest form: there is no specified end result, and the fun and learning are truly in the process. Find a box that is slightly larger than a sheet of construction paper. I highly recommend taping the edges of your construction paper to the bottom of the box - it keeps your acorns from sneaking underneath your paper, and prevents the kidlets from yelling that their acorns are hiding. After your paper is taped to the bottom of your box, let your kids spoon/dump/squirt some paint onto the paper. I used yellow paper this time and orange and brown paint. I was aiming for fall colors. You can use whatever, though! Better yet, let your kids pick.
After you’ve got your paper taped and some paint on the paper, let your kids drop a few acorns into the box. You can experiment with repeating this project a couple of times with different numbers of acorns. We counted as we added them, because why not squeeze that math practice in there?
Then there’s the learning process of shaking and tilting the box to get the acorns to roll through the paint and make tracks on the paper. Be sure to narrate the process and talk about how the box must be tilted or moved in order to get the acorns to move!
The finished product!
5. Acorn Math: There are so many ways you can use acorns as manipulatives for math! This one is more for PreK/Kindergarten/First Grade, and less for toddlers, although even toddlers can get in on some of this. Here are a few of the things we do with acorns that reinforce math concepts:
Tens Frame: roll a die, put that many acorns on the tens frame. Clear, repeat. As their skills develop, use two tens frames and two dice. This is super simple but also super helpful for developing number sense.
One-to-one counting: Counting with one-to-one correspondence is simply the ability to count a group of objects accurately. Acorns are great for practicing this! Put a small pile of acorns in front of your child and ask how many there are. Use 2-10, depending on the age and skill level of your toddler. For younger children, they may need them in a line. Remind them to touch each acorn as they count,and touch with them if they need some support.. (And when you are counting them in a line, always go from left to right. This reinforces reading skills!) The next step in this progression of skills is to ask them to give you a specific number. (Give me two acorns! Give me five acorns!)
Acorn Addition and Subtraction: use acorns as the manipulatives to represent addition and subtraction problems.
Acorn Patterns: you can pattern them using different sized acorns or using acorns and caps…the possibilities are endless!
Acorn soup: Choose a warm day for this one. Every kid I’ve ever met loves making pretend soup. I break out a bunch of bowls, spoons, ladles, etc and give them the hose or a couple pitchers of water. In the summer they add herbs and flowers but in the fall acorns are super fun to experiment with in their soup! (Obviously this is not edible - just for play.) There are no rules for nature soup - the sky’s the limit! Be prepared for mud and for engaged, focused kiddos - that’s what usually happens here. Bonus - this functions as a brief sink and float experiment, as well!
I adore acorn play. It’s such a great way to stay connected to nature and immerse yourself in the season. “Loose parts play” (this is a real thing) is valuable for so many reasons.The broadest of these is that children are able to explore freely and creatively, which has so many cognitive benefits. Acorns are the perfect loose parts material!
I’d love to know if you try any of these ideas and I’d be extra excited if you have other acorn ideas to share with the group. Comment below or on my socials with your acorn experiences!