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Lesson Plans

Smithsonian Resources

Handi-hour Crafting: Fall Wreaths
Invite students to watch this video from the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum in which Public Programs Coordinator Gloria Kenyon demonstrates how to make fall wreaths.

Five Ways to Cook With Pumpkin
Decorative gourds may be all the rage, but pumpkin is still king when it comes to fall squash. Read this Smithsonian magazine article to learn how to think outside the piecrust and explore other ways to put pumpkin on your table.

Hou Yi an the Ten Suns: A Chinese Folktale
Every year on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, when the moon is at its roundest, Chinese families gather to celebrate Mid-Autumn Festivities. Invite students to watch this animation from the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage to learn more about this fall tradition.

Gardening Tips at the Smithsonian Butterfly Habitat Garden
The Smithsonian Butterfly Habitat Garden at the National Museum of Natural History is home to a variety of plants, insects and butterflies. Invite students to watch this video in which Jonathan Kavalier, Smithsonian Gardens horticulturist, shares some important facts of butterfly gardening and provides viewers with several fall gardening tips.

Autumn Views
Whenever autumn arrives, whether in a blaze of brilliant leaves or with subtle changes in the life cycles of flora and fauna, the season holds a special beauty. Invite students to explore this Smithsonian site to see how natural-science illustrations combine art and science in the close observation of nature and how artwork from around the world and across time can capture the mood, color and light of the fall season.

Monday Morning Ready

How decorative gourd season conquered fall

Helsinki’s new subterranean art museum opens its doors

A brief history of taking books along for the ride

You can get an Antarctic passport

How to hear the Met's historic instruments