As we continue to enjoy the Fall season, we have explored pumpkins in our classrooms in many ways!
We’ve opened them up, scooped them out, counted the seeds and made delicious pumpkin treats!
I talked about some ideas in the “Learning about apples and pumpkins” post … but here are a few other ideas for ways to play and learn with pumpkins in preschool!
Pumpkin Playdough – We took a simple, no-cook playdough recipe, added red and yellow food coloring … and then added some cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice to the mixture! The children loved the smell! I asked them what they thought it smelled like … I got some really cute answers like “donuts” and “apple sauce”! Then we added some pumpkin seeds to the dough, for an extra sensory experience.
Pumpkin butter – Using heavy whipping cream, salt, canned pumpkin, powdered sugar and cinnamon (or pumpkin pie spice), the children can measure, mix and then SHAKE the ingredients to make a delicious pumpkin butter to spread on crackers or bread. Great science experiment to see how the liquid transforms to the creamy butter as they shake!
Pumpkin Pudding pies – Another yummy recipe featuring vanilla pudding and pumpkin pie filling!
Using Our Senses Pumpkin Exploration – Allow children the opportunity for some individual exploration with a small pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice (in a container) and pumpkin seeds (in a container). Children can explore what they see, feel, smell and hear!
Pumpkin Playdough faces – We had fun with this great idea by Deborah at Teach Preschool where we made faces on real pumpkins simply using playdough!
Count a seed pumpkin game – This is a fun, cooperative game that will help children practice counting (one-to-one correspondence).
Do you have any other fun pumpkin ideas to share?
Leave a comment or link below!
October 10, 2014
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