Baldwin County welcomes us in fall — or autumn as some prefer to call it.

Children absolutely love the coolness and beautiful colors of fall. As leaves begin to turn colors — especially on popcorn trees in our area — squirrels bustle around for acorns and cooler air begins to creep in to lower temperatures, this season of change offers many teachable moments for young children and their families. 

Notice how the sunflowers seem to celebrate this season with their bright yellow petals — and truly, the landscapes even close to Mobile Bay begin to reflect a change but you have to take the time to observe the changes.

Young children can take a nature walk just around the house outside. Point out items they can put in a bag such as fall leaves in many colors, nuts, acorns, pine cones and other items. Share what you found when you return home.

As you drive, walk and hike with your little ones, point out the birds, ducks and geese gathering in flight as they migrate to other places.  You can see this happening on a daily basis around beautiful Mobile Bay and other areas.  Tell them that migration means to move to a warmer environment as winter soon follows fall. 

One project I have loved to do for my students as well as my own child is to throw bread morsels to the birds. As the birds fly in to gather the bread morsels, point out the different colors of birds and how they feed.  Young children will be fascinated by the different birds flying in. Point out to your young children how bushy-tail squirrels rush about to gather acorns and nuts.  Sit back, relax and observe the different places the squirrels climb and rush to. Your child can use his/her counting skills and memory skills as they observe the number of acorns and nuts the squirrels collect.

When we think of fall we think of apples used in all different kinds of ways. Cut a big red apple horizontally and the seeds of the apple will be embedded in a star. As you plant apple seeds, plant pumpkin seeds. Point out the different shapes of both seeds.

Point out to your child that fall is a time of harvest of bringing in crops from the fields. As you ride along Baldwin County roads you can point out bales of cotton, hay, and grain

Beth Pinyerd lives in Daphne and serves as director of younger children at Faith Family Fellowship in Spanish Fort.

Her column appears every other week in the Daphne Bulletin and Spanish Fort Sun.