A Week on Pumpkins

Pumpkin Picking - Here we are FINALLY at the week of Halloween.  The kiddos were super excited to pick out their pumpkin...

Free Play - Creation Bin - I have been collecting odd recyclables (containers, tubes, rolls, etc.).  Today was a great day to pull that out and set the kiddos to work using tape and their imaginations. 

These kiddos found some bubble wrap and soon it sounded like Fourth of July!  Ha!

 This kiddos made a backpack vacuum.

Pumpkin Books - The kiddos measured, weighed, floated and studied their pumpkin.

Craft Foam Pumpkin Decorating - I found these in the dollar spot at Target and figured they'd be great for this week. 

Paper Plate Pumpkins - We painted the plates Monday and decorated them today!  They turned out super cute!

Five Little Pumpkins Books - I typed up the kiddo's favorite pumpkin story so they could add pumpkin stickers and have their own book to read at home.  They pretty much have it memorized. 

 

Kool-Aid Printing - During free play each kiddo took a turn to make a few kool-aid prints.  On Friday we'll turn these into yummy smelling pumpkins.   sprayed a piece of plastic with starch (ironing), then the kiddos sprinkled it with orange kool-aid and we carefully made a print.  

 I saw this fun idea on this blog! check it out.

Science - Pumpkin Dissection - We pulled the guts out of some pumpkins today.  We squished our fingers through it and hunted for seeds.  Some kiddos were more enthusiastic about this than others.  Ha. 
"What's dissection?"  It's taking something apart.

What's in a pumpkin? - Once we cleaned up from our dissection, we created a paper version.

Pumpkin Decorating - The kiddos (preschoolers & youngsters) enjoyed painting their pumpkins.  They were super excited to see their decorated pumpkins sitting on the steps.

 

The toddler class used craft foam Halloween stickers to decorate their pumpkins.  Since they LOVE stickers, really dug this activity.

Science - Candy Dissolve - We decided to see what would happen if we tried to dissolve candy in water and vinegar.

Our observations:
"The water is getting fuzzy stuff in it!"  I asked what he thought the fuzzy stuff was, "I think it's just part of the candy." 
"This one's getting big bubbles.  This one is not."
"It's like it takes all the skin off and it's white!" 

One of the kiddos decided to drink the water cup with melted candies in it...
"It just tastes like water.  ...  At the bottom of it - it's yummy like juice!"

Candy Corn Game - The kiddos chose candy corn or chocolate chips, then they rolled the dice, counted the dots and ate the candy sitting on that number.

"3!  I should eat the number 3!" 
Click to here see the original post for this game.

Jack-O-Lanterns - Here are the decorated pumpkins that the kiddos emptied out on Wednesday!