From guidelines to restrictions, it seems changes are still happening weekly when it comes navigating the pandemic… but we don’t want this to limit all the ways families can still make the most of this Fall. Whether you visit a working farm and pumpkin patch, or to a wizardly educational world, Family Entourage shares fun options, recipes and even creative ways to paint your pumpkin!
Tanaka Farms Pumpkin Patch
Have you picked a pumpkin right out of the patch? It’s one of the reasons Tanaka Farms is a must for families in the Fall. From visiting the barnyard animals to riding the tractor wagon and even picking fresh vegetables, there is so much fun to be had.
We brought our families, grandparents and siblings to Tanaka and the first stop was the wagon ride. It runs continuously around the 30-acre farm, which makes it a fun way to see crops growing and pumpkins launched from the cannon! The Barnyard Educational Exhibit has a mini cow, mini donkey, mini horse, sheep, goats, chicken and a pig!
Our kids love that they can pick vegetables right from the ground too! They are so curious and it’s a great way to not only learn about how food is grown and harvested but literally it’s a hands-on education… that turns out to be quite tasty and nutritious too! We explores carrots, radish, green onions and cilantro.
Of course we couldn’t leave without our pumpkins! We told the kids they could take home any one that they could carry out on their own. It’s so fun to see all the different characteristics.
Something’s Brewing! Osmo Math Wizard Series
From spooky scares to witches and wizards, something is brewing this season and you don’t want to miss it! Osmo give kids an educational twist to candied and costumed holiday.
In the Math Wizard series games from Osmo , the players use math to help create potions for dragons and help the townspeople. Math Wizard is a self-paced, curriculum-inspired series that combines hands-on learning with digital adventure, helping children build math confidence and understanding. Osmo works closely with educators to develop the games to make sure they are aligned with traditional curriculum so that children can take what they play on the Osmo game and apply it to the classroom and life. There are settings within the game for parents to set based on their student’s ability.
Each of the Math Wizard games covers a variety of math skills including: addition/subtraction up to 120, place value, how to use non-standard units of measure, how to use a ruler to measure, balancing and building equations, solving for an unknown value, repeated addition as a foundation for multiplication, number decomposition and more. The best part is that the games all use different pieces as part of solving the problem, so it is definitely hands-on learning!
As parents, we were finding that our son was getting bored with the math worksheets we were giving him. Initially, I thought that it was because he didn’t understand the material. But it was exactly the opposite, he wasn’t being challenged. We started incorporating the Math Wizard games as part of our math curriculum. It was an incentive to complete the assigned worksheet, but also was a reinforcer to practice different types of math problems. My son begs to play the game daily. He wants to solve the puzzles and he is also able to make the connection between what he is learning as part of his classroom studies with the game. He is now excelling at math.
For those that aren’t familiar, Osmo is an app-based system that works with your iPad or Fire Table. From coding to learning math and how to draw your favorite Disney characters, we love that it has a wide-range of games for all ages. Rather than sit in front of the TV, we love that it is a positive screen time option, where they are learning STEAM-based skills and having fun.
DIY Pumpkin Painting & Crafts
Sure carving a pumpkin can be fun and the slimy seeds through your fingers is a definite experience but we love to be a tad more creative when it comes to decorating! Painting our pumpkins has been a family favorite which is why we love Faber-Castell. The global company has been around for more than a quarter of a century and is a trusted name in arts and crafts.
The Young Artist Essentials Gift Set is a great place to start especially if your little ones are ready to graduate from solely using crayons. Branching out into pencils, watercolors, graphite and oils is exciting for curious creatives. For the pumpkins, we turned to the Young Artist Learn to Paint Set and the Young Artist Texture Painting Set. These are perfect for mixing colors, handling the brushes and delivering a masterpiece. We couldn’t help but attempt to turn our pumpkins into some of our favorites from Star Wars to Spider-Man!
We love exploring with different textures so the Do Art 3D Sand Painting caught out attention. And another great set they have to complete any costume is their Face Paint Studio. Safe for the skin and easy for beginners, the set comes with self-adhesive stencils, face decals and illustrated instructions to make face paintings that you will be proud to wear. Bring the designs to life with paint that is shimmery, vibrant, non-staining, easy to wash off, quick drying, great for layering and bendable!
For parents, we love that Faber-Castell provides inspiration and tutorials on their site. Check out their DIY Halloween Table Decorations. For these ideas you’ll want to pick up Metallic Markers and Watercolor Markers, both of which we snagged so stay tuned for our creations on social.
Fall Recipes with Yasukochi Farms
We love all things pumpkin. From pumpkin pie to pumpkin muffins and even ice cream, we love making pumpkin treats for our family. Each October and November we look forward to our boxes from Yasukochi Family Farms in Oceanside. They deliver boxes of fresh fruits and vegetables to your doorstep every week. Each box contains 11-15 different produce items that have been curated for you and in October and November you can add sugar pumpkins or a pie pumpkin to your delivery. Contrary to popular belief, the big pumpkins you get for carving don’t taste as good in pie and other pumpkin treats than the sugar pumpkin. You can also add on other great items like eggs, honey, flowers, olive oil and seasonal fruit like strawberries.
Fall is also a great time for soups and chilis and we love adding the fresh produce we receive from our boxes. Something fun we like doing when we receive the boxes is finding the one vegetable we are unfamiliar with, looking it up, and then looking for ways it can be prepared. And in the category of recipes, if you need inspiration or new dishes to throw into your current rotation, Yasukochi has a whole page of dedicated to recipes. Plus check out their Farmer’s Market schedule to swing by the one closest to you to load up on more produce!
