Pumpkin Patch

We started our week at a real pumpkin patch. We hunted for the perfect pumpkins...

We checked out some farm animals

and loved walking and jumping on the hay bales.

We chanted a finger play about five little pumpkins:

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate

(hold up five fingers)

The first one said, “Oh my it’s getting late 

(point to wrist)

The second one said, “ There’s magic in the air! (point upwards)

The third one said, “I don’t care.” (shrug shoulders)

The fourth one said, “Let’s run and run and run.” (move legs as in running)

The fifth one said, “Let’s go have some fun! (wave)

Wooooo! Went the wind, out went the light! 

(clap hands)

Five little pumpkins rolled out of sight! (roll arms)

We played with big pumpkins and little pumpkins, real pumpkins and pretend ones. We used tongs to transfer them from bucket to bowl. We weighed them and measured them. We used the words big and little and heavy and light to compare sizes. We mixed them up to make pumpkin stew and other Halloween concoctions. We also had some fun manipulatives like halloween erasers, spiders, stretchy skeletons and glow in the dark bats that we used for lots of pretend play. We were limited only by our imaginations!

Pumpkin shapes- tall, skinny ones and short fat ones were waiting for jack o'lantern faces designed by us using colored shapes.

"Emoti-Pumpkins" were hanging on the door. Each had a face which showed a particular emotion- angry, sad, happy, surprised, scared, etc. We threw a jack  o'lantern bean bag at them and acted out the emotion portrayed by the face.

We concocted a special "witch's brew", adding all kinds of yummy things and then we danced and sang around the cauldron...

Here's the recipe to try at home...

Choosing our favorite pumpkin from the pumpkin patch, we completed "Pumpkin Investigations".

 We weighed it, measured it, described it and predicted whether it would sink or float.

We cut our little pumpkins in half and scooped out the seeds and described how it felt inside and then we used the pumpkins for printing. We dipped them in a variety of colors and printed them on paper. There was some really vibrant language that came out of this super sensory activity from start to finish. 

 “Hocus Pocus” was a favorite game of the week. We had a magic wand and we turned the others into Halloween creatures. We chanted:
"Hocus Pocus Alakazam, turn into a _____________ if you can! POOF!"
We had to dramatize that creature and then when we were done, we chanted: "Hocus Pocus Alakazoo, now turn back into you! POOF! "

We were all turned into jack o' lanterns...

 We had loads of fun on the Trick or Treat Trail.

The animals of the forest were so kind to us and gave us plenty of treats.

 

 

Some of our absolutely favorite books were shared this week. We read them over and over again and sat and read them to each other and on our own.

Some of us grew pumpkins in our gardens at home but nobody claimed growing a pumpkin as big as the one in Big Pumpkin by Erica Silverman

or as many pumpkins as in Too Many Pumpkins by Linda Williams.

 We loved acting out the parts in The Little Old Lady Who Wasn't Afraid of Anything, by the same author. 

Inside a House that is Haunted introduced us to some  of our favorite Halloween characters. We read it so many times, we have it memorized... 

And, we can't leave out our favorite spooky story, The Spooky Old Tree.