Look outside your window. What do you see?  At this time of year, the landscape is bursting with color and sensory experiences that are educational and exciting for everyone. Think about these experiences from a toddler's perspective. What can a young child learn from being outside in nature during this transitional season?  

For toddlers, every moment in their day is an opportunity for language development. Providing them with vocabulary and descriptions for what they experience helps to build both their expressive and receptive language. A beautiful fall day can provide so many opportunities for learning new words and phrases in regards to color, texture, action words and more!

Fall is a wonderful time for sensory exploration, and we are lucky to have a beautiful campus with abundant space for these activities.Creating a pile of leaves and jumping in or rolling a large pumpkin through the grass provides wonderful input for the senses. These sensory experiences can also provide wonderful opportunities for collaboration and social interaction. Using teamwork to create that pile of leaves helps build social skills like turn-taking, patience and respect for the ideas of others. 

Exposure to nature is important for human development. Interacting with the earth and nature helps us develop a sense of respect for the world around us. The more that we interact with our surroundings, we realize that our actions effect what is around us. Allowing children to notice birds flying through the air or a caterpillar munching on a leaf will give them a hands-on experience that can make them advocates for our planet.

Take the time to get outside on these beautiful autumn days. Look around and see what you can find during all of the seasons. Think of what language could develop from picking flowers in the spring or the sensory input that happens when building snowman. Get out and experience nature!