The Autumn Leaf Rainbow
Children search the yard for leaves of each color and run to place them in the matching stripe, building an autumn rainbow on the ground together. It builds running, attention to color, and making a temporary group artwork.
How to play
- The teacher lays four curved stripes on the ground with ropes and places a sample leaf in each: green, yellow, orange, and brown (2 min).
- Walk to find a yellow leaf and bring it to its stripe; then one of each color (3 min).
- Run to find the color the teacher calls and come back to place it (3 min).
- In pairs holding hands, find two leaves of the same color and place them side by side (3 min).
- Climb up to the "cloud" (a corner of the yard) to look at our rainbow and say which color has the most leaves (1 min).
- Tiptoe around the outside of the rainbow and say goodbye by blowing hard (2 min).
Rules
- I pick leaves up off the ground, never off plants.
- Each leaf goes in its stripe.
- I don't step on the rainbow.
- If I can't find a color, I ask for help.
Variations
Easier
For 3-year-olds, just two very different colors (yellow and brown), with leaves set out nearby by the teacher.
Standard
For 4-year-olds, all four colors and searching the yard.
Harder
For 5-year-olds, sort by size too: big leaves at the bottom of each stripe and small ones at the top.
Adaptations
- Limited mobility: give the child a basket of mixed leaves to sort onto the rainbow from the wheelchair.
- Color blindness or visual impairment: tell the stripes apart by leaf shape too (round, long, hand-shaped) and by rope texture.
- Autism: put the child in charge of a single stripe.
Learning goals
- Tell apart the colors of natural objects.
- Move around searching for and carrying objects.
- Create a temporary artwork together.
Equipment for a class of 25
- dry leaves
- ropes: 4
Teacher tip
If the yard has few leaves or just one color, collect a mixed bag ahead of time and scatter it. Let the stripes be messy: it's their rainbow.
PatioLab has "The Autumn Leaf Rainbow" and 8714 more activities ready to drag into your lesson and run from your phone in the gym.
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