Autumn Is Here

Autumn is one of the teddy bears' favourite seasons. Especially if the weather is warm and dry as it had been recently.

The leaves on the trees were all changing colour. They were no longer green like they were in Summer, but they were now yellow and orange and red and maroon and scarlet! They looked really lovely and were a colourful sight. The bears decided to go out on a walk in the nearby woods so that they could appreciate all the changes, and they invited their friends to join them.

"What do you like best about Autumn?" Scary asked the other bears as they set off.

"I like it best when all the leaves start to fall from the trees and they all pile up on the ground and when you walk over them they are all crisp and crackly," piped up Harry.

"And, of course, you can't help but kick through the piles as you walk along, sending them scattering into the air to keep falling down again and again!" added Richard.

"I like it when you look up at the leaves in the trees against, hopefully, a gorgeous blue sky," stated Lizzie. "They look so lovely - like a beautiful painting."

"Actually," said Henry, "Autumn makes me feel a little bit sad. It means it's the end of Summer and it will start to get colder and all the trees will soon be bare."

"Oh, it's not sad, Henry," explained Scary, "You see, it means that the trees will be settling down for the Winter so that they have the time and energy to make beautiful new green leaves again in the Spring. And, before you know it, they'll soon be looking luxuriant again."

This made Henry smile and he felt a little bit better about the trees losing their leaves.

"Plus," exclaimed Boo, "We've got Hallowe'en, Bonfire Night, Christmas and New Year to look forward to first!"

The bears all agreed that this would surely make up for the bit of Autumn Henry liked the least. And they spent some time walking through the woods and kicking their paws through the piles of leaves on the floor.

As they walked along, leaves continued to fall from the trees. They floated down very gently, sometimes landing on one of the bears' heads! Scary told them that it was said to be very lucky if a leaf fell on you, and luckier still if you could catch one before it hit the floor. Boo and Crackers tried their best to catch the leaves as they fell. It was very difficult and they didn't catch even one - but it was great fun trying!

The leaves were also falling off the trees in the garden, all over the grass and the flower borders. The bears decided to make the garden tidy again by raking up all the leaves and putting them into their garden compost bin to make luscious new compost in which they could grow their plants the following year.

So they set to with their rakes and shovels and buckets, each with their separate job to do. Boo was in charge of raking up all the leaves. He raked them onto Oscar's shovel, and then Oscar shovelled them into the bucket which Crackers was holding firmly on its side so that it could be filled more easily. Then the other bears took it in turns to carry the full buckets to the compost bin.

It took a lot of buckets full of leaves to clear the garden, but after they'd finished, the lawn looked nice and green again. But…. Oh no!! Another leaf just fell from the apple tree!! The bears will have to start all over again!!

If you go out on any walks during Autumn, enjoy both the fresh air and kicking through the crisp leaves. Have fun!