Sorry I didn’t post last week, but, well, sometimes I have trouble with consistency 🙂
Book: The Pumpkin Book by Gail Gibbons. She is one of the best informational authors for children. If I’m looking for non-fiction about a subject, I check to see if Gibbons has written a book on that topic.
Song: “Scarecrow Song” by The Learning Company. This motion song helps get the wiggles out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geFvOfBQNbE
Literacy:
“Growing a Pumpkin” Sequencing Story by https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Sequencing-Stories-First-Next-Then-Last-Set-1-2086451
I bought this packet from Teachers Pay Teachers. It was well worth the $3.50. Tot needed some work with story sequence, and it provides multiple ways to work on this skill. I downloaded the story plus the larger sequencing images. I had Tot organize the images before we read the story, encouraging him to deduce the proper order. Then he corrected his choices as I read to him.
“Pumpkins” by http://www.dltk-teach.com/minibooks/
This mini-book teaches the basic pumpkin life cycle. I have Tot color each item as it is in real life: the flowers are yellow, vines green, etc. I generally allow him to color things however his imagination leads him, but for this activity I wanted to reemphasize the science we were learning.
Field Trip:
We went to a local pumpkin patch with our homeschool co-op. Mucho fun. There was a hayride, corn maze, and free pumpkins. The hayride took us past the fields, and I was able to point out the phases of the pumpkin life cycle we had read about. Seeing something IRL and touching it with his hands really solidifies learning for kinesthetic Tot. We also picked up a few of the orange gourds while we were there.
Math:
Using the pumpkins we picked up at the patch, we performed the following exercises:
- Arrange in order of size.
- Measure height, weight, and circumference of each one. Our small pumpkins wouldn’t register on the family scale, so I used a food scale for them.
- Make bar graphs of the results. TBH, this process was a little over Tot’s head, but it was a good introduction to future concepts.
Science: Baking soda and vinegar never, ever gets boring! I’d never done this particular experiment before and, as usual, I was more fascinated than Tot. He watched for a few seconds and was done.
http://littlebinsforlittlehands.com/dancing-corn-thanksgiving-science-activity/
Art:
Pumpkin Dot Painting from http://www.theresourcefulmama.com/fall-dot-painting-free-printables/
We don’t have dot markers. Tot used clothespins and poms poms to create the dots. I also used this opportunity to review that red and yellow blend to make the color orange and that blue and yellow blend to make the color green. Tot wasn’t interested in making neat dots. He used strokes this time.
Pumpkin decorating:
- Paint mini pumpkin and let dry. Tot really globbed on the paint, so I let it dry for a full day before completing the project.
- After paint is dry, glue on ribbon, pipe cleaners, sequins, and whatever bits and bobs you’ve accumulated in your craft box. Tot lost interest in this pretty quick. He just wanted to cut things with scissors.
- Add eyes. I got these cute ones in the Target dollar section aka the place I end up spending way more money than I should because it’s all soooo cheap.
Recipe: Pumpkin Patch Dirt Cake
Aunt H makes the best dirt cake. All the kids love it. Pilot nephew requested it as the groom cake for his wedding, and Aunt H indulged him, bringing it in a decorative pot with a fake orchid in the middle. Pilot’s adult cousins kept trying to sneak out portions of the dessert before it was time. We take our dirt cake seriously. So I used the aesthetic from the link at the bottom, but used my own family recipe. And I’m not sharing it with you. Sorry. Google a recipe, if you can’t find the TruMoo mentioned in the link. Tot did have a blast making it though. Beating Oreos with a mallet is tops in his book.
http://growingupgabel.com/pumpkin-dirt-cake/?pp=1
six5mom 