Want Ideas for Fall Learning in Your Preschool? Check Out This Lesson Plan!

    a young girl dressed for cold weather holds a pumpkin and grins at the camera

    This blog was originally published on Oct. 17, 2022, and updated Sept. 22, 2023 with new information.

    Fall is a wonderful time to be outside, but can be a big challenge for early childhood educators to find fall-themed activities for preschool that incorporate learning that can take place outside, as well as indoors should the weather not cooperate.

    Finding such activities means teachers at your child care center often are forced to spend their time scouring the internet for craft ideas from blogs and Pinterest to keep kids entertained while preparing them for kindergarten. 

    That’s one reason that a 52-week curriculum program is essential for early childhood education centers.  

    Procare Solutions, the most widely used child care management software, has teamed up with Learning Beyond Paper, Inc, the leader in digital curriculum, to offer early educators a tool they’ve been waiting for – an embedded, fully online curriculum program tailored to child care centers with a year-round program!

    Procare Early Learning Powered by Learning Beyond Paper is an all-digital curriculum specifically designed to meet the unique needs of educating children from infancy through pre-kindergarten.  

    The integration with Procare makes this curriculum program easy to use. New content, training and tools arrive automatically! It’s designed so teachers of all experience levels can understand it easily.  

    It includes more than 4,000 daily activities for infants, younger toddlers, older toddlers, preschoolers and pre-kindergarteners.  

    Let’s take a look at one such lesson that’s perfect for fall!

    Let’s Go Pumpkin Bowling!

    Learning areas in the Procare Early Learning curriculum include STEAM, language and literacy, physical development, cognitive, music and movement as well as interactive reading. Plus, teachers get tips and tools they can use in real time.

    The fall-themed lesson below is for preschoolers and focuses on physical development:

    screenshot of a lesson plan from Procare that details a delightful fall activity for preschoolers: pumpkin bowling.

    Let’s break down the sections of this lesson plan!

    First, notice that it’s tailored to the specific age group of preschoolers. The topic, activity name and learning objective are all clearly stated at the top of the lesson.

    Teachers then are given an organized list of what materials they’ll need to have ready for the activity, with pictures!

    The “Procedures and Teacher Talk” section gives a concise and easy-to-understand guide to carrying out the lesson. This is one way the Learning Beyond Paper curriculum gives teachers the tools they need to teach kids at specific age levels.

    Check out the column for learning support that includes an activity modification for children who are struggling. And the social-emotional development section tells you that this activity provides children with the opportunity to support their classmates by cheering them on.

    How Procare Early Learning Can Make Your Child Care Center Fun and Educational

    With Procare Early Learning powered by Learning Beyond Paper, your child care center can: 

    • Equip teachers with state-of-the-art online curriculum at their fingertips 
    • Dramatically reduce the amount of time spent on lesson planning each week 
    • Offer children a high-quality, developmentally appropriate curriculum 
    • Save money with this cost-efficient solution that’s integrated with Procare

    Want to learn more? Visit www.procaresolutions.com/curriculum and check out these resources as well:

    • Download “Procare Early Learning Powered by Learning Beyond Paper: What a Digital Curriculum Can Do For Your Child Care Center,” a free eBook, here.

    a photograph of Sarah Miller is accompanied by this quote: "The time savings have bee huge," Sarah said. "Teachers that had been spending up to five hours a week preparing lessons now are spending about an hour to accomplish the same goal.:

    Read here about how Procare Early Learning will save Sarah Miller’s child care center in West Virginia up to $1,600 a month!

    • Listen to our podcast about why curriculum is so important for young learners, particularly babies through pre-kindergarten. 

    • And check out this article on Procare Early Learning to learn more about this cost-effective solution that benefits children and sets your child care center a part from competitors!

    Procare is the only solution that can deliver the entire early childhood education ecosystem — lesson planning, lesson delivery within the classroom as well as assessment and parent engagement. Being able to do all of these with one platform simplifies classroom management and planning! 

    How much time and money could your child care center save using a digital curriculum designed for young learners? Enter your number of staff, number of students and type of program into our online calculator to see your potential time and money savings!

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    Calculate your potential cost and time savings by using Procare’s all-in-one child care management software. All we will need from you is some information about your child care location*: Calculate your potential cost and time savings by using Procare’s secure and effortless child care payment processing. All we will need from you is some information about your child care location*: Calculate your potential cost and time savings by using Procare’s classroom management. All we will need from you is some information about your child care location*:

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    * Our data model is based on our experience working with over 100,000 child care centers, before and after school programs and youth organizations since 1992.

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    The cost and time savings shown here are what the Procare all-in-one solution will help you save at your child care organization. Fill out the form below to see the full breakdown.

    We understand that smaller centers and in-home daycare providers are operating on a tight budget, and that is why we provide all these features for the affordable price of just $25 per month. Let us handle the business of child care so you can get back to caring for your children.

    To learn more about Procare home version, click below.

    *Please note that the report you see only factors in cost and time savings for the in-home solution features. For Procare home version users that are interested in seeing how they can benefit from Procare’s full suite of capabilities, contact us today to speak to a Procare representative.​ *Please note that the report you see only factors in cost and time savings for the in-home solution features. For Procare home version users that are interested in seeing how they can benefit from Procare’s full suite of capabilities, contact us today to speak to a Procare representative. *Please note that the classroom management functionality is not available for in-home users. For Procare home version users that are interested in seeing how they can benefit from Procare’s full suite of capabilities, contact us today to speak to a Procare representative.

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    For over 30 years, Procare Solutions has helped child care businesses big and small tackle their biggest operational challenges.

    From contactless check-in, attendance tracking and staff management to family engagement, tuition collection and extensive reporting, we have the solutions that child care professionals want most.

    More than 37,000 child care businesses choose Procare because we give them everything they need to focus on what they love—providing amazing experiences to the children in their care.

    Our data model is based on our experience working with over 100,000 child care centers, before and after school programs and youth organizations since 1992.

    Learn more at procaresolutions.com

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    About The Author

    Leah Woodbury

    Leah Woodbury is the head of content at Procare Solutions. Her job includes writing about topics that matter to child care professionals and finding ways to help them do their important work. She’s a mom of two who loves getting updates about what her preschooler is doing during the day via the Procare child care mobile app!

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