Hope you were able to enjoy some time outside this weekend.
Countdown to Kindergarten suggests making a belt of masking tape wrapped inside out around your waist to collect leaves and other signs of fall as you walk in your neighborhood. When you get home, you can compare what you collected. How are the things in your collection alike? How are they different?
Science Made Simple gives a good explanation of why leaves change color.
WHY DO LEAVES CHANGE COLOR IN THE FALL?
Plants make their own food. They take water from the ground through their roots. They take a gas called carbon dioxide from the air. They turn water and carbon dioxide into food and oxygen. Oxygen is a gas in the air that we need to breathe.
Plants make their food using sunlight and something called chlorophyll. Chlorophyll gives leaves their green color.
Winter days are short and dry. Many plants stop making food in the fall. The chlorophyll goes away. Then we can see orange and yellow colors. These colors were in the leaves all summer, but the green covered them up.
Some leaves turn red. This color is made in the fall, from food trapped in the leaves. Brown colors are also made in the fall. They come from wastes left in the leaves.
Have fun and stay safe!
