Fall Tree Contact Paper Play

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We have been enjoying some fall decorating around our house. We made Fun at Home with Kids beautiful leaf suncatchers and Skyler put up decals on his windows all on his own! It has been awhile since we had anything on our dining room window, so I decided it was time for a new contact paper play scene. You can see our Christmas Tree, Valentine Heart, Tissue Paper Rainbow, and Easter Egg Basket from past months.

Many trees have started changing colors around our house and we always talk about the colors as we walk or drive around. I knew Skyler would enjoy his own little tree to decorate. To make our contact paper tree, all I used was a piece of Contact Paper, a brown sharpie, scissors, tape, and fake fall leaves that I cut off a garland last year for our fall leaf sensory bin. This activity is incredible simple to set up and a fun seasonal way to play and decorate!

I started by drawing out the outline of a tree on the non-stick side of the contact paper. If I were to do this again, I would have colored in or painted the tree trunk and limbs. It is actually a lot easier to see when standing next to it, but it would look more festive if the tree could be more easily seen with or without leaves on it. 

After drawing the tree I peeled off the backing of the contact paper, held the non-stick side up to our door and taped the edges with the sticky side facing out. We were ready to play just minutes after starting! A very quick and fun activity for the last minute. I put the leaves into a bowl for Skyler and he happily started to decorate his tree.

Skyler also had fun making the leaves "fall" which we haven't seen this year yet, but we talk about it when we see the changing colors! It was cool because the leaves have to be pressed down pretty well for them to stick, so as he was playing the occasional leaf would fall to the ground - just like a real fall tree.

 

The sticky paper is fun to touch all on its own! Skyler went back to the contact paper tree throughout the afternoon and enjoyed playing with the leaves on their own and with his trucks as well. The set up was a cinch and I know he will have fun with this festive decoration for many days to come.

Getting Ready

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Last night, hubby and I started a movie on Netflix and got to work organizing Skyler's summer clothing into bins to make room for his new fall/winter clothing. We weren't just adding to the bins, but we also took out some of the older bags that I last organized about a year ago - out came the newborn clothes, sleep sacks, 0-3 month clothing, and itty bitty socks and hats in preparation for our little one's arrival!!

Eeek!! It was so fun to pull out these tiny clothes again!!

I have been itching to not only prepare Skyler's closet for his new clothing, but to see how much we are going to need to get for the new baby. With Skyler's birthday in June and baby E's ETA in December, we are complete opposite seasons for clothing. Luckily, we have a lot that will work, but I am excited that I get to buy this baby some new clothing of his own as well!! 

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When I started organizing Skyler's clothing, I got rid of nothing and I am especially glad now that I even saved things he never wore because we might need them this time around. When we started accumulating baby clothes that Skyler was growing out of, I bought two massive bins from the Container Store and a pack of vacuum seal bags. 

I usually just toss the stuff he grows out of into a box in his closet and when it begins to overflow I go through and sort the clothes into similar sizes (I combine seasons, his 12 month bag has fleece Santa pajamas and summer shorts, but I just wanted to focus on size), fold them and stuff them into a bag along with a post it with the size(s) written on it. I also do separate bags for things like socks, hats, and mittens, and I have a separate bag for all of the handmade sweaters we get since they are harder to size.

This is the kind of thing I love to do, and it makes the upcoming arrival of baby #2 feel so so real!