• Harvest season means discovering and fun activities for children.harvest image by Bionic Media from Fotolia.com
  
  Harvest time brings a host of fall colors, foods for discovering and tasting, seasonal games to play, and crafts to create. Bring the harvest season into the classroom or party setting with harvest activities for kids of all ages. Young children and older elementary-age kids can celebrate the season with a variety of activities.
  
  

Ring Around the Pumpkin

• Give each child two plastic or aluminum cans, about the size of a three-pound coffee container. Have them make the cans look like pumpkins by painting the cans, wrapping orange construction paper around them or tearing tissue paper into strips and gluing them all over. Have older kids cut orange plastic grocery bags into strips three inches wide and your desired length. The kids can braid the plastic strips together to make a braid long enough to form into a circle and fit over the can. Younger children can twist chenille crafting stems together to form a circle that will fit over the cans.
  
  

Harvest Popcorn Treat

• Add fall colors of decorating sugars to popcorn for a harvest treat.popcorn image by Photoeyes from Fotolia.com
  
  Turn plain popcorn into a sweet fall-color treat. Either microwave some popcorn during the activity or have some popped corn ready. Kids can spoon popcorn into their own bowls and sprinkle on fall-color cake-decorating sugars. For a take-home activity, have the kids scoop popcorn into a small paper bag, then sprinkle the sugars into the bag.
  
  

Harvest Action Song

• Sing a harvest song to the tune of "The Farmer in the Dell." Make up verses such as "The scarecrow on the farm, the scarecrow on the farm, hope he scares the crows away, the scarecrow on the farm"; "Let's make a pumpkin pie"; "Harvest time is here"; and other harvest-related verses. Lead the children in doing actions to go with the song verses.
  
  

Corn Candy Jars

• Make harvest corn candy jars from baby food containers.candy corn image by Julianna Olah from Fotolia.com
  
  Give each child a glass baby-food jar or a plastic rectangular baby-food container. Have the children trace small corn-husk patterns onto green or yellow construction paper, then cut out four husk shapes. Glue the bottom of the husks around the bottom portion of the container. Have the kids bend the husks outward so that the contents of the candy jar show, if desired. Fill the small containers with candy corn. Real corn-husk pieces can be used in place of paper.
  
  

Picking a Prize

• Colorful lollipops make a harvest field game for children.lollipop image by Nicemonkey from Fotolia.com
  
  Decorate a 1-foot square or large piece of Styrofoam or flower-arranging foam to look like a field ready for harvest. Provide harvest colors of lollipops to "plant" in the foam field. Mark the ends of the lollipop sticks with different colors of dots. The dot colors will correspond with different prizes the children will receive. Poke the lollipops into the foam base in rows to look like a colorful field ready for harvest. The children will choose at least one lollipop to keep, as well as receiving a prize according to the color of the dot on the end of the stick.