Pumpkin Day

We had a great Pumpkin Day at my friend Camie’s house for preschool last week! She always plans such fun activities and yummy treats.

 

• Cheerio Pumpkin Necklaces … great fine motor and patterning skills!
  1. Need a length of ribbon, bowl of cheerios and orange paper pumpkin cut-outs with a hole punched in each one.
  2. The kids laced one pumpkin, 10 cheerios, one pumpkin, 10 cheerios…
  3. Tie and wear!

   

• Five Little Pumpkins Poem
  1. A classic Halloween poem to do with the kids. I don’t think my 3 and 2-year-old had ever heard it before, but they were repeating it the rest of the day!
  2. Click the images above to print in black & white or click here for color (scroll all the way to the bottom). 
  3. Cut the pictures in half and use as you tell the poem or staple together into a little booklet!
  4. Have the kids hold up their fingers for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th pumpkins. Make up simple hand actions for each part. Clap your hands together for “OUT went the lights” and roll your arms for “rolled out of sight!”

• Read “Oh My, Pumpkin Pie!” by Charles Ghigna …great rhyming text & illustrations.

 

• Pumpkin Graph … I thought this was great for the kids! I need to try to get better pictures. We’re always doing so much that I forget

1. In “Oh My, Pumpkin Pie!” some of the pumpkins are carved into jack-o-lanterns. The kids looked at all of the different faces.
2. Have several copies of each pumpkin face. I made a few different faces to use. If you promise not to laugh, you’re welcome to click and print them
3. Ask the kids “What type of face will your pumpkin have?”
4. Let them choose a face card and add it to the graph. Stack similar cards on top of each other to form a simple graph!

    

• Pumpkin Patterns
  1. Print out several small pumpkin & apple clipart. There are a couple to choose from above (from Microsoft Clipart). Camie’s were so much cuter!
  2. Show the kids a simple AB pattern … pumpkin, apple, pumpkin, apple…
  3. Ask them what would come next.
  4. Let them glue an AB pattern to a long strip of paper!

 

• Pumpkin Life Cycle
  1. Show simple pictures of a pumpkin life cycle.
  2. There is a great printable here.

 

• Paper Plate Pumpkins … what a fun, simple craft! The sticker pieces made this so easy!
  1. Use an orange paper plate and punch a hole in the top (for the stem)
  2. Cut out jack-o-lantern pieces (eyes, nose, mouth) from black sticky back foam paper. My kids apparently like Picasso pumpkins
  3. Add sparkly green foam paper leaves and a stem.
  4. Twist a green pipe cleaner through the hole and twist to make vines!
  5. TIP: These come in ready-to-make kits at Michael’s right now.

• Pumpkin Ice Cream Pie … possibly my favorite part of preschool … snack time This ice cream pie was delicious. The kids (and moms) gobbled it up. Get the super easy recipe on my friend Camie’s blog, Pass the Peas Please.