Preschoolers can help their parents get ready for Halloween by creating pumpkin lollipops. These lollipops can be given away to trick-or-treaters on Halloween night. Cut orange tissue paper into small squares (2 inches by 2 inches). Instruct your children to wrap the tissue paper around a tiny lollipop. Have the children tie a green pipe cleaner around the base to hold the tissue paper in place. Preschoolers can curl the edges of the green pipe cleaner by wrapping it around a pencil. A face can be drawn on the pumpkin lollipops with a black marker. Repeat for as many visitors as you think you will have on Halloween.
Preschoolers can construct a bird feeder for the hungry birds that visit their homes without cutting and nailing any wood. Give each child in your home a pine cone and have him press peanut butter inside of the pine cone. Have him twirl the pine cone so peanut butter gets all the way around the pinecone. Do this over top of a sheet of newspaper. Now instruct the children to pour bird seeds over the peanut butter. The birdseed will stick to the peanut butter. Help the children hang the bird feeders from a tree limb.
Take your preschoolers on a hunt for leaves after school. A county park would be a great place to go if you do not have any woods behind your home. Identify the leaves and collect one of each kind. Bring the leaves home and have your child place them inside a heavy book in between two sheets of newspaper. Set the books aside and come back in a few days to retrieve them. Now that the leaves are dried out, preschoolers can preserve them by setting each leaf in between two sheets of wax paper. Iron over the wax paper for 10 to 15 seconds on medium heat. The leaves are now preserved.
Have your preschoolers create their own ocean. Give each child a glass jar and have them fill it half way with tap water. Instruct them to squeeze in five drops of blue food coloring and stir. This creates blue ocean water. Have the children fill their glass jars another quarter of the way up with vegetable oil. Finish by setting a small plastic duck, crab or dolphin on top of the water. Explain to the preschoolers that water and oil don't mix. Have the children shake the glass jars from left to right to create waves in their ocean. Watch the toy animal ride the waves.