Mike Smith:
As fall fruit and foliage peak, help your children learn what makes it happen! You can find botany information in biology books or online. Anna Botsford Comstock’s Handbook of Nature Study is an interesting guide to studying nature firsthand through observation.

This fall, explore with your students why leaves change color. The main factors are temperature, moisture, and length of day. If you live in an area with fall foliage, make a list of factors that might have contributed to the brilliant or lackluster display you see this autumn.

There are simple chromatography experiments that your students could do as a science project with either green leaves or leaves that have changed colors. Check online for instructions.

Remember pressing leaves? Let your students preserve the splendor of autumn by pressing leaves with a warm iron in wax paper. Collect leaves from as many different trees as you can, and use them later in the year to identify trees by leaf characteristics.

If you live in an area without fall foliage, you can still focus on botany! Take advantage of the harvest season to learn about how fruits mature. Choose a locally-grown fruit and illustrate a chart of its development process.

Have fun with fall science experiments, and tune in to our next program for ideas on incorporating fall into your other subjects! And until then, I’m Mike Smith.