Fall Leaves: Learning to follow directions in a specific sequence

boy playing in a pile of fall leaves

Hands-on crafts activities offer great practice for following directions and sequencing (completing tasks in a specific order with a goal in mind).  Here’s a seasonal activity with modifications for different skill levels to enjoy with your child.Here’s what you need:PaperGlueLeaves that have fallen to the groundScissorsPen, pencil, crayons, or markersHere are the tasks involved in creating a leaf collage:1. Collect some leaves that have fallen to the ground.2. Cut or crumble the leaves.3. If desired, draw a picture leaving space to add the leaves later. Keeping the page blank is also an option.4. Put glue on one side of the leaves.5. Glue the leaves to the paper to create a collage.6. Talk about each step taken to make the collage.Parents or caregivers can use this craft to work on following directions and sequencing: For older kids, tell them the directions out loud or give them written directions.  For younger ones, you may want to take pictures of yourself doing each step as well as break the steps down so they only get one or two directions at a time.  Think about what would help your child do this activity easily, and then make it just a little bit harder.  For example, if your child could easily handle one step at a time, give two steps at a time.  Or, if you think your child would find it easy to follow the picture directions, then try giving the directions out loud without pictures.  Once your child masters the activity at a certain level, try it again another day, but make it a bit more challenging.