Preschool Fall Activities - Part 3

Okay, I know I should have started with these two activities at the very beginning. Call it Autumn brain or something like that. Anyway, we been having so much fun with activities, it is hard to keep track. We finally got ourselves some pumpkins late in the month. Until we had them we made our very own out of paper plates. Just think no gooey inners or decay and you can put them in places you normally couldn't decorate with a pumpkin.

Activity 3 - So, here is how we did it. We took those cheapy paper plates that you really should never serve food on. Turned them either direction it didn't matter. We colored it orange and drew our faces. (We use paper plates for lots of arts and crafts around. They make great lion masks as well and African style necklaces.) You can attach a craft stick to the other side if you want to make like a sign or punch holes in them to hang, etc. You get the idea. It really is all about lots of fun family time.
But, once we got the pumpkins we had a fun time painting them. We didn't go for the basic faces on many of them, but our bookworm girl painted hers in some very artistic creative styles. A tip though, those washable paints do not work well. We used acrylic and covered everything well. If you aren't into painting, try permanent markers in various colors. Again, those washable markers do not do well either. If you are working with older kids you could try dressing up the pumpkin. Hot glue guns are great for adding decorations. One year I did a simple dog and cat by using a marker for the faces and gluing on ears and cat whiskers. Have fun and enjoy the seasonal treats it has to offer. Oh, and there are a number of books out there with pumpkin decorating ideas. Visit your local library or bookstore for ideas that or the latest family magazines.

Harvest time - Pumpkin Books

Oh, what a beautiful day for a stroll in a pumpkin patch. The family is taking some time off this week to treat our wee one to her first pumpkin patch/hayride experience. What a treat she had (we all had).
These beauties are just a few we selected. The place we went to was great in that they had already “picked” the pumpkins and just left them around the patch making it so much easier than trying to cut our own off the vine. Prior to the visit we have been reading the typical fall books with many including pumpkins as the theme. As I have mentioned in the past we are not Halloween people, but we sure love the harvest season.

This weekend I had a delightful trip with the wee one traveling just about an hours drive north of us to visit with a longtime dear friend. Along the way we had the pleasure of seeing field after field being harvested. There were trucks loaded or being loaded with grain while other fields that were complete were being tilled under for the winter. The drive and scenery made this wonderful harvest time so real and makes me so thankful we are able to have a table of plenty.

I won’t go into too much about the following books, but we found them entertaining and informative also they are varied in content when it comes to the text. Hope you find an opportunity to check one or two out from the library. They range in age interest from about one to eight years or so.

Pumpkins: A Story for a Field by Mary Lyn Ray illustrated by Barry Root 1996 - A man harvests and sells a bountiful crop of pumpkins so that he will be able to preserve a field from developers.

Biscuit Visits the Pumpkin Patch by Alyssa Satin Capucilli and illustrated Pat Schories 2004 (available in board book as well) - Biscuit visits the pumpkin patch where he not only finds the perfect pumpkin, but a new friend as well.



From Seed to Pumpkin (Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science 1) by Wendy Pfeffer and illustrated by James Graham Hale 2004 - Pumpkins can be baked in a pie. Pumpkins can be carved into jack-o'-lanterns. Pumpkin seeds can be roasted for a healthy snack. But how does a tiny seed turn into a big pumpkin? Read and find out what a pumpkin seed needs to help it grow!

Plumply, Dumply Pumpkin by Mary Serfozo and illustrated by Valeria Petrone (board book) 2004 - Peter finds the perfect pumpkin so that he and his Dad can make a jack-o-lantern.



Patty's Pumpkin Patch by Teri Sloat 1999 - Rhyming text and illustrations featuring the letters from A to Z follow Patty as she plants pumpkins and watches them grow.