The pumpkins are on every corner perched on every corner can only been one thing - its that time of year again! These pumpkins naturally spark the interests of the children, and we hope to facilitate and nurture this curiosity in as many ways as possible.
As you may have noticed, we brought books, activities, pictures and even actual pumpkins into our class room, so the children could get a "hands on” approach in their exploration. A sink and float station captured many of the children's interest. This activity included sized pumpkins, squash and other fall items floating in a tub. The purpose of this station was for the children to see which of these items would sink in water, which ones would float, and why this was so. Sara, Julia, Kaitlyn and Chantel took a particular liking to this activity.
Sometimes when we set up an activity with certain intent, we find the children, using their imaginations and creativity, use it for something completely different. This is exactly what happened with the sink and float activity. The girls decided to turn the activity into an opportunity to test out their cooking skills! They spent several minutes stirring the water and picking up the pumpkins as they served their lucky teacher. Here is a conversation that took place during this activity:
Julia: “I`m making soup!
Sandy: “Oh! What kind of soup?"
Julia: “Pumpkin soup! It’s so delicious!”
Sara: “Do you want to try some?”
Sandy: “Sure! So yummy!”
Another pumpkin based activity we did was to cut the top off of a pumpkin and let the children explore it by using their hands, spoons and other utensils. We put this activity out during freeplay, and noticed a lot of the children used spoons to scoop the seeds up. We, though, wanted to challenge the children to get a little messy and put their hands inside the pumpkin to feel the different textures.
I brought our pumpkin to circle time and gave each child an opportunity to see how the inside of a pumpkin felt with their hands. Here are a few responses that the children gave:
Aedan: “I feel the seeds.”
Benjamin: “It feels spooky and sticky!”
Claire: “It feels sticky wicky.”
Gunner: “It feels mushy”
Adonis: “It feels icky!”
My favourite part of this activity was seeing the children’s reactions when they put their hand inside of the pumpkin. There were a lot of smiles and giggles as they felt the mushy seeds and pumpkin guts! This makes me think the children really enjoyed getting their hands a little sticky!
The most enjoyable activity for me involving pumpkins was, of course, visiting a pumpkin patch! This was not just a fun event for the children, but also very educational. The children had the opportunity to gain an appreciation of how much work it actually takes to create a pumpkin! We were treated to a tour that included some wonderful farm animals and some very informative facts about pumpkins. Getting the children out into the field was a great way for them to experience the hard work of picking a perfect pumpkin to carve into a jack-o-lantern! It was wonderful seeing all the children and families interact with one another. This was great experience for children to bond with their own families, as well as the others in our program.
I was interested to see how excited the children were to go out and pick their own pumpkin. Even with all the other things they could have done during this field trip, a lot of the children couldn’t wait to get to the pumpkin patch! They really wanted to be involved in this process and were so happy when they found their perfect pumpkin!
With the children’s imagination and curiosity leading the way, pumpkin season is always an enjoyable time of year for our program.
~Sandy
As you may have noticed, we brought books, activities, pictures and even actual pumpkins into our class room, so the children could get a "hands on” approach in their exploration. A sink and float station captured many of the children's interest. This activity included sized pumpkins, squash and other fall items floating in a tub. The purpose of this station was for the children to see which of these items would sink in water, which ones would float, and why this was so. Sara, Julia, Kaitlyn and Chantel took a particular liking to this activity.
Sometimes when we set up an activity with certain intent, we find the children, using their imaginations and creativity, use it for something completely different. This is exactly what happened with the sink and float activity. The girls decided to turn the activity into an opportunity to test out their cooking skills! They spent several minutes stirring the water and picking up the pumpkins as they served their lucky teacher. Here is a conversation that took place during this activity:
Julia: “I`m making soup!
Sandy: “Oh! What kind of soup?"
Julia: “Pumpkin soup! It’s so delicious!”
Sara: “Do you want to try some?”
Sandy: “Sure! So yummy!”
Another pumpkin based activity we did was to cut the top off of a pumpkin and let the children explore it by using their hands, spoons and other utensils. We put this activity out during freeplay, and noticed a lot of the children used spoons to scoop the seeds up. We, though, wanted to challenge the children to get a little messy and put their hands inside the pumpkin to feel the different textures.
I brought our pumpkin to circle time and gave each child an opportunity to see how the inside of a pumpkin felt with their hands. Here are a few responses that the children gave:
Aedan: “I feel the seeds.”
Benjamin: “It feels spooky and sticky!”
Claire: “It feels sticky wicky.”
Gunner: “It feels mushy”
Adonis: “It feels icky!”
My favourite part of this activity was seeing the children’s reactions when they put their hand inside of the pumpkin. There were a lot of smiles and giggles as they felt the mushy seeds and pumpkin guts! This makes me think the children really enjoyed getting their hands a little sticky!
The most enjoyable activity for me involving pumpkins was, of course, visiting a pumpkin patch! This was not just a fun event for the children, but also very educational. The children had the opportunity to gain an appreciation of how much work it actually takes to create a pumpkin! We were treated to a tour that included some wonderful farm animals and some very informative facts about pumpkins. Getting the children out into the field was a great way for them to experience the hard work of picking a perfect pumpkin to carve into a jack-o-lantern! It was wonderful seeing all the children and families interact with one another. This was great experience for children to bond with their own families, as well as the others in our program.
I was interested to see how excited the children were to go out and pick their own pumpkin. Even with all the other things they could have done during this field trip, a lot of the children couldn’t wait to get to the pumpkin patch! They really wanted to be involved in this process and were so happy when they found their perfect pumpkin!
With the children’s imagination and curiosity leading the way, pumpkin season is always an enjoyable time of year for our program.
~Sandy
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