Autumn is my very favorite time of year! The leaves. The crispness in the air. So, naturally, we planned a roadschooling adventure during my favorite season! Here is how we are creating roadschooling lessons about autumn, complete with free printables, a video, and more.
We’ve lived outside of true seasons for nine years now. Between the ever present spring/summer in California, to the exaggerated summer months in the south, I miss having my four seasons!
When we looked into traveling to the mountains, I knew we had to go in autumn! The trees will be amazing in all of their glorious foliage. It didn’t take long until I was searching for ways to turn this trip into some roadschooling lessons about autumn. The opportunity to learn about trees, why they change colors, and what kind of trees lose their leaves, was too good to pass up.
Free printables for lessons about autumn
My first stop was to look at what the National Parks Service has to offer. The Smokey Mountains National Park website has free leaf printables, with the leaf type labeled, for kids to color. This is the perfect past time for longer car rides! It also has some information on the science behind why leaves change colors, why leaves fall, and a fall foliage prediction map to see when the leaves will be changing colors all across the country.
Having these sheets will also inspire my kids to find these leaves out in nature. I’m thinking some leaf rubbing will also be in our future!
Then I traveled over to Kids in Parks. This website offers some fun adventures for to kids go on, track their trails, and even earn prizes. Since we’re in North Carolina, I looked up the Blue Ridge Mountains since I know this mountain area will get some beautiful colors. Sure enough, there are some great printables on there all about the different types of trees and leaves that are perfect to explore in our lessons about autumn!
There are a lot of different brochures to check out and print, and a lot of opportunities for us to hit the trails here in our state. I look forward to using these many more times in the future to get my kids outdoors in nature to explore!
Video lessons about autumn
When I started looking for videos to share with my kids, I came across this one all about taking a nature hike and learning about trees in the autumn.
The little tree guide she uses is the coolest! You can find it here. This also got me thinking about other books we love to add to our lessons about autumn.
Books for lessons about autumn
I Can Name 50 Trees Today is a cute book that has even more trees and teaches you what the bark and leaves look like. And the Cat in the Hat is always a good time, so this one is sure to please.
Little Tree is about a tree who is afraid to lose his leaves. But after watching the other trees lose their leaves and growing big and tall, and with the help from his animal buddies, he knows that he can finally let go.
Fall Mixed Up is a silly and fun book to bring out some giggles. Squirrels are flying south. Geese are hibernating. It’s a great book to get talking about all things fall and what really is supposed to happen! Annnnd, it’s free on Kindle Unlimited. Score!
Leaf Man is sure to spark your child’s creativity and encourage them to make their own leaf man out of leaves they find.
Roadschooling lessons about autumn
Roadschooling always gives us amazing opportunities to get our kids outside and learn about the world around them. Getting some lessons about autumn is not only giving them an opportunity to learn about a season that they don’t get much of at home, but is giving me my autumn fix, so this is a win-win!
What are some ways you’re learning about this amazing season we’re in? Let me know in my online homeschool group or in the comments below!
If you’d like to find more roadschooling resources and adventure stories, click the image below.
