Thursday, October 13, 2011

PUMPKIN PATCH


Once I Had a Pumpkin
(Tune:  “Lassie and Laddie”)
Oh, once I had a pumpkin, a pumpkin, a pumpkin.  (Hands over head like
Oh, once I had a pumpkin with no face at all.         a pumpkin.)
With no eyes and no nose and no mouth and no teeth.
                                                               (Point to facial features.)
Oh, once I had a pumpkin with no face at all.
So I made a jack-o-lantern, jack-o-lantern, jack-o-lantern.
                                                           (Draw a jack-o-lantern in the air.)
So I made a jack-o-lantern, jack-o-lantern, jack-o-lantern.        
With big eyes and a big nose and big mouth and big teeth.        
                                                      (Draw facial features in the air.)
So I made a jack-o-lantern with a big funny face.                 

*Draw a jack-o-lantern on the board or on an overhead as you sing the song.

Pumpkin Paint – Mix equal parts of flour and salt.  Stir in orange tempera paint.  (Obviously, if it’s powdered, you will need to add some water, too.)  Add a spoonful of cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice to the paint and stir.  Children can paint a pumpkin, pumpkin pie, or whatever they want.  Their painting will be textured and smell good, too!

Pumpkin Seeds – Before carving your pumpkin, have the children estimate how many seeds they think it will contain and write down their estimations.  Have the children separate the seeds and count them.  Who guessed more?  Who guessed less?  Who guessed the closest amount?  Cook some of the seeds by rinsing them and frying them in a little butter and salt.  Save some of the seeds to plant in the spring.

Five Little Pumpkins
(You can say this or sing it to the tune of “Five Little Ducks.”)
Five little pumpkins sitting on the gate.         (Hold up 5 fingers.)
The first one said, “Oh, my it’s getting late.”         (Hold up thumb.)
The second one said, “There are witches in the air.”(Hold up index finger.)
The third one said, “But I don’t care.”                           (Hold up middle finger.)
The fourth one said, “Let’s run and run and run.”         (Hold up ring finger.)
The fifth one said, “I’m ready for some fun.”                  (Hold up pinky.)
Ooooo! Went the wind, and out went the light.         (Blow and then clap.)
And the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight!         (Roll hands behind back.)

Paper Plate Pumpkins – Make pumpkins out of paper plates.  Choose five children to hold the pumpkins as you say the rhyme.  You could also cut pumpkins out of felt and use on a flannel board.

Pumpkin Play Dough – Make play dough using the recipe below.  Add red and yellow food coloring to make it orange.  Let the children knead in pumpkin pie spices.  They’ll have fun making pumpkins, pies, and other characters.
                  2 cups all purpose flour
                  1 cup salt
                  2 TB. cream of tartar
                  2 TB. vegetable oil
                  2 cups water
                  food coloring
Mix all the ingredients together in a pan and stir until smooth.  Cook over medium heat stirring constantly until the mixture forms a ball and sticks to the spoon.  Cool and knead.  Store in plastic bags or covered containers.

Math Games - Make games where children seriate pumpkins from large to small or put pumpkins in numerical order.