This morning we had some friends join us for our pumpkin learning – we all had so much fun! If you didn’t get a chance to look at my first pumpkin activities post, you find find that here.
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Pumpkin Weight Comparison
We weighed a mini pumpkin on a balance (we have this one). The kids went and found something in our house that they thought might weigh the same as the pumpkin, and we tested each item on the other side. We made predictions before putting the item on the balance to guess whether it would be less than, more than, or the same as the pumpkin.
Jack-O-Lantern Suncatchers
One of my favorite projects for every season is a suncatcher to hang on the window. We have these materials on hand, and have made them in different shapes throughout the year.
Materials:
- contact paper; two equal sized pieces
- pumpkin shape from orange construction paper (or just draw an outline of a pumpkin on the contact paper)
- tissue paper pieces (I have pre-cut squares to save time, but any tissue paper will work)
- colored construction paper to cut jack-o-lantern faces
Directions:
- Lay one piece of contact paper sticky side up on the table. We taped ours down so that it wouldn’t slide around and stick to hands.
- Place pumpkin shape on the contact paper or draw a pumpkin shape with black sharpie
- Put tissue paper squares on the inside of the pumpkin shape, covering all the sticky areas.
- Cut out jack-o-lantern face pieces from construction paper and glue onto the tissue paper
- Lay the other piece of contact paper on top of the jack-o-lantern
- Cut out the pumpkin shape
- Hang on a window!
By this time we were ready for snack and story! I had made (with some “help”) some pumpkin muffins earlier in the morning that were ready to go. This is one of my favorite pumpkin muffin recipes – easy, quick, limited sugar, and delicious!
My goal was to read a story about the life cycle of a pumpkin and do a quick activity. I misplaced the book I was going to read, but remembered that Pumpkin Hill by Elizabeth Spurr has the life cycle in it along with a silly and fun story. We discussed the life cycle and put it together using these cards from The Measured Mom.
Pumpkin Pom-Pom Art
Pom-Pom art is another one that I love to make for different holidays, and try to keep these materials on hand as well.
Materials:
- canvas boards (These can be found in a smaller size at the Dollar Store as well)
- Tempera Paint (we used fall colors of orange, brown, red, green, yellow)
- wooden clothespins
- Medium sized pom-poms
- foam sheet with sticker backing
Directions:
- trace a pumpkin shape on the foam sheet and cut out, sticking it onto the canvas board
- Set up five paint trays with tempera paint colors
- Clip a pom pom to a wooden clothespin, and put at least one of these in each paint color
- Dip the pom pom in the paint and dot the canvas all around, making sure to dot the edges of the pumpkin
- After the paint has dried, peel up the pumpkin shape
Kristen's Korner 