Week 3: Pumpkins

This week we decided to go ahead and celebrate fall.  We have been doing fall crafts for the past few weeks, but the theme was pumpkins.  I ordered two books off Amazon last week:

The Pumpkin Patch Parable by Liz Curtis Higgs

This is a simple story about a farmer who plants pumpkins. Liz Curtis Higgs originally wrote this story in order to share The Good News with her kids during harvest season.  There are bible verses sprinkled through out the story on just about every page.  We learned that pumpkins come tall and lean, short and round, and even with lumps and bumps.  On this page for example was the following verse:

"My hand made all things.  All things are here because I made them, says the Lord." (Isaiah 66:22)

Halloween was never mentioned in this book which I thought was great.  Eventually the farmer chooses a pumpkin to carve and puts a candle inside.  At night the neighbors see the pumpkin's shining smiling face.  Liz Curtis Higgs finishes the story comparing the shining pumpkin to the way God offers us a chance to be full of light.

From Seed to Pumpkin by Wendy Pfeffer

This book was more of a scientific look at how pumpkins grow.  The kids enjoyed this book but I think they will understand it better next year.  We ended up using The Pumpkin Patch Parable as the primary book for the week. 

So with those two books under our belt we began with some sensory basket fun.  This idea came from Sensory Bins @ 1plus1plus1equals1.net

I scoured the house looking for anything that looked like it belonged outside.  We planned ahead and the kids collected some leaves to add to the basket.

In our sensory basket we had; leaves, squash, pumpkins, acorns, corn, grapes, pine tree clippings and a few rocks. I put out a large sheet in our living room and dumped the basket out for the kids.  The baby who is 14 months old loved it! The twins enjoyed this game as well...

Next we worked on a puzzle which focused on number sequences.   Pumpkin Printables 

We also learned the difference between pumpkins without faces and pumpkins with faces or jack-o-lanterns!  The twins first experience with using glue by themselves.  Of course they couldn't get enough of it!

I decided I was going to be brave and let them help me carve a pumpkin.  I think I had been worried it would be much messier than it actually turned out to be.

Our next project was glue the face on the pumpkin.  More glue, again a hit.

I wanted to get a painting activity in this week so I decided to make pumpkin potato stamps.

We ended up with a great picture of a pumpkin patch! I hung it on the window for a few days...

Grandma came to watch the kids one day so I gave her a cooking project.  Pumpkin brownies or Pumpkies YUMMY! I ended up making another batch myself they were so good. 

A few months ago I bought two pairs of little preschool scissors. Here they are working with them for the first time. It took a while for my daughter to get the hang of how to hold them.  Also a great opportunity to teach them safety! 

Next I brought out the pumpkin seeds I saved and roasted a few days before.  The letter of the week was P so the twins pasted the seeds on a P.  Once again glue was involved and once again they loved this activity.

We worked on some more lacing to finish up the week.  I cut out and laminated a picture of a pumpkin, and then punched holes around the edges.

Last, but not least, I was browsing YouTube looking for something appropriate the kids could watch while I was making lunch one day.  I came across the "Where is Pumpkin" song.  YouTube has a lot of great things for kids as long as you filter them of course!

Unfortunately we were not able to get together in our preschool co-op do to some colds that are going around.  I will post more on the co-op at a later date! 

Week 2

Week two:

Corduroy, by Dan Freeman is sweet book about a bear in department store named Corduroy! One day a little girl comes to the department store with her mother. Lisa spots Corduroy, picks him up and falls in love.  She begs her mother to let her take him home but Lisa's mother points out the little bear is missing a button on his overalls. Lisa reluctantly follows her mother out of the store leaving Corduroy behind. Later that evening when the department store closes, Corduroy begins to search for his missing button. He had no idea it was even missing and is determined to find it.  Corduroy ends up in the furniture department and tries to take a button off of a mattress to replace his missing one. He pulls so hard that he falls to the ground and the night watchman comes after hearing a loud bang. The watchman finds Corduroy and takes him back to the toy department. The next morning Corduroy awakens to see Lisa! She has come back to purchase him with the money from her piggy bank. Lisa takes Corduroy home and sews on his missing button. Corduroy is so happy because not only does his button get sewn back on, but he has a real home and someone to love and cherish him.  

First published in 1968, from the illustrations, I couldn't help but think of some huge, old department store that my Grandma used to work at in downtown Buffalo, NY. Or even Macy's at Christmas time!  This book has proven to be a classic for children and we so enjoyed our week learning about Corduroy.

Co-op day this week was at a friend's house.  One reason I love our co-op preschool group is because each one of the moms brings something different as we bounce ideas back and forth.  After our usual playtime we all gathered around the kitchen table to read Corduroy.  

Our shape for the week was circle and we played a game which I also duplicated a few times throughout the week.  Since I forgot to take pictures at the co-op of the circle recognition game here is my version below:

The kids had to take turns finding items on the tray shaped like a circle.  

Next was a lacing project. A button (just like Corduroy's) was attached to a long piece of ribbon and slits were cut into felt shapes.  

Snack time!  Yummy circle cut out rice krispy treats and apples.  I had not had a rice krispy treat in years so this was a real treat for me too!

A few other activities we did courtesy of www.homeschoolcreations.com included a matching memory game with objects from the book.

My window paint from amazon came in! It shows up a lot better than dry-erase markers and I am pretty happy with it so far. I think I will end up going through a lot of it though so that is the downside. 

Palmer Window Paint

Since Corduroy is a bear I thought it would be a good idea to bring out the counting bears this week.  This was the first time using them and the kids really liked them.  Each package come with 50 bears and 5 cups.  The idea is to sort the bears by color into the cups, or count them.  This activity kept them busy for a while which was nice!

After counting bears we worked on our sewing skills. These were colored shapes, another great printable from Homeschool Creations. I printed, cut out and laminated the shapes so we will be able to use them again. Just an aside, I have fallen in love with my laminator! 

 One last thing we did was practice counting with pennies and a picture of a piggy bank. I would write out a number and then put that many pennies in the piggy bank.  This they found a little tricky because we have not spent a lot of time on number recognition. 

Next week we are learning all things fall, with an emphasis on pumpkins!!!