Welcome to Autumn! Such a pretty season. These books depict Autumn in the most lovely way. Share them with your beautiful kids and enjoy the craft activities that I suggest. Hey, why not get outside and jump in the leaves too!! Enjoy!

 

In a beautiful portrayal of autumn come along for a wander through the forest and town. As this young girl walks through the beginning of Autumn she is met with the most magnificent change in colours and angelic birds heading through the sky. She greets the new season with every gust of wind and changing flower. Take the journey with her to farewell Summer, and welcome Autumn.

Take your child outside for a walk and ask them what they see. Collect leaves and flowers and talk about how they look. Ask them to search for the same things they saw in the book and encourage their excitement if they can identify some similarities!

 

Lauren Stringer writes beautifully of the time where the environment is a shade of yellow and the animals are preparing for winter.
The trees drop their leaves and cover the ground in a sea of crunchy red and browns. The crows sing joyfully from the bare branches, while squirrels stay busy preparing their nests for winter.

This book paints such a pretty picture of what Autumn means to the creatures of Earth. It ignites thinking in our little ones about the world we live in.

After reading this book talk to your child or students about the things humans do during Autumn. How do we enjoy this season and what might we do to prepare for the upcoming chill of Winter?

 

Lois Ehlert uses real leaves to illustrate this beauty of a book. Here is a playful story that celebrates the natural world and sparks the imagination of children. Leaf Man blows wherever the wind takes him. Watch how he floats from place to place. I love how this story shows children what Autumn is about in a whimsical, magical way. The leaves fall and float away, and L.E represents this beautifully as we watch Leaf Man float away too!

The best part about this book is the follow on activity you can do afterwards…no prizes for what I am going to suggest. Yes, a leaf man of your own! Get outside and collect beautiful leaves of different shapes, colours and textures. Break out the glue and paper and get sticking! Make leaf families, leaf pets and leaf creatures of all sorts! A whole afternoon of fun right there! You’re welcome!

 

Lois Ehlert is at it again with the story of a little maple tree and how it comes to be. The tree ends up being planted in a young girls yard, and she loves the tree and it’s leaves. L.E uses watercolor collage and pieces of actual seeds, fabric, wire, and roots in this story to demonstrate the beauty of the Autumn season and the magic of how the tree grew from a seed. There is even a glossary to explain some of the terms used in the book and other interesting facts about plants and trees. It’s a must share with your little ones and you will be exploring the lovely pictures over and over again!

Take the kiddos outside to collect goodies from the garden and use them to make an Autumn collage!

 

Tap the Magic Tree asks the reader to get involved by tapping, shaking and jiggling the book to make the tree change with the seasons. It’s a beautifully interactive story that makes reading and learning fun for the little ones.

It begins with a bare brown tree. But on each page when you either tap, clap, wiggle and even blow a kiss, the tree changes and moves through all four seasons. The collage-and-watercolor art is simple and effective like Lois Ehlert and Eric Carle’s work and the interactive concept will delight fans of Press Here (I’ll review that one soon). This book is sure to win over the little ones for every season.

The little ones can illustrate, collage or design their very own magic tree. Perhaps they can even try their hand and writing their very own interactive story.

 

Lucky Leaf by Kevin O’Malley is a rippa story!! As a teacher, I see how so many children are stuck indoors these days, wasting away on video games and iPads. This boy is kicked outside, forced off his games, and searches for a lucky leaf! He waits and waits for the last leaf from a tree to fall, even after the other kids have given up. The story is fun and the kids are sure to enjoy it. The illustrations are cute and comical, and its representation of Autumn is light hearted.

Can you relate to having a child obsessed with electronics? Take time to step outside with them and play in the leaves. Trust me, the kids love the outdoors, they just need to be encouraged to get there.

 

Leaves by David Ezra Stein is such a cute story about a young bear who doesn’t understand what is happening when he sees leaves falling from the trees. He even tries to put them back on, but it doesn’t work. Autumn can be confusing like that! He decides to do what bears do, he lays down for a nap and hibernates all through Winter until Spring. When he wakes he is amazed and relieved to see the trees and flowers blossoming.

It’s such a beautiful story for young children exploring the features of Autumn and how the seasons transition to Spring. It also opens up discussions about animals who hibernate throughout the Winter.

A cute activity for this could be writing a letter to the bear explaining what is happening to those leaves. How could you simply and kindly explain to the poor bear that the leaves falling is a natural part of Autumn. Accompany your letter with a beautiful picture about Autumn.

 

This is probably my favourite book of all of my Autumn recommendations. I would cuddle up with my little ones and enjoy the simple language but gorgeously effective pictures of this story. The pictures are full of texture and look so natural and organic.

Heidi Pross Gray describes the little characteristics of Autumn that make it such a special time of year. Your child will love the simple text and lovely descriptions they’ll wish it was Autumn all year around.

Ask your child to make a poster advertising Autumn. How can you persuade another reader to love Autumn? What beautiful words and pictures can you use? See what your little guy or girl comes up with!

 

I hope you have found a few gems in this list! Let me know which is your fave!!

Happy Reading!

A x