Pumpkin Discovery Bottle

Last but certainly not least for our Halloween week was our pumpkin discovery bottles.  I have many discovery bottles in our classroom that get changed out almost weekly.  The kids love them.  So I thought that it would be fun to make one that they could take home.  I thought - red water, naturally yellow cooking oil, and some glitter.  When they shake it - it will turn orange.

Then they can watch it all separate again.

I decided to do it assembly line style.  It was crazy and hectic and messier than I had anticipated (had a bottle of cooking oil spill all over the table and carpet - yay!).  But in the end they all got made and the kids learned a lot about patience and following directions!

Halloween Sensory Bin

We had preschool on Halloween and each kid came in their costume.  I had promised their parents we would do nothing messy at preschool that day.  Coming up with art projects and sensory bins that are engaging but not messy is very difficult!  I was just going to break form the Halloween theme and do a standard rice bin.  But then I decided to throw in what ever black and orange stuff I could find.  Then I threw in some spiders and googly eyes.  And by the time I was done I was pretty proud of my Halloween sensory bin. 

And so were my kids

Boo - "oo"

During Halloween week we also discussed that two letter o's make the sound of "OO".  Of course a ghost is a perfect way to introduce this.  I also have two great books full of "oo" Halloween words called "room on the broom" and also "fright night flight".  We read them, talked about "oo" words.  And then made simple ghosts and wrote the word "boo" on them.  This was also good cutting practice to cut the squiggle lines on the bottom.

Sewing Spider Webs

To continue to advance our sewing skills using white thread on black cloth seemed perfect for sewing spider webs during Halloween week.  I wasn't sure if the kids were ready to sew on regular cloth yet - so I found a black mesh that let them see the holes better.  You can't really see it in the pictures - it was much darker in person.  I also put out spider rings that they could thread through their webs.

On our last day I dedided to introcue the next sewing step.  For my "pull out time" during centers (this is when I work with each child one on one).  I helped them make their own spider web.  They were introduced to a lot of new things in this activity - which is why I wanted to do it one on one with each child.  First: It was real fabric.  Second: Real needles.  Third: An embroidery hoop. Fourth: A pattern. 

As you can see I wrote letters on both sides of the circle - so they had to match - A across to A.  B across to B, etc.  They also had to remember to go down, up, down up, and not around the wooden part of the hoop.  This was also great letter recognition.  We threaded a spider onto their web at the end.  These kids were so proud of their webs, many of them couldn't believe I was letting them take it home!

5 little pumpkins

What's Halloween with out the song "5 little pumpkins sitting on a gate"?  We did this song several times a day... each child taking turns playing all the different parts.  When ever I do a felt story or song I always leave it out during center time for children to come up and explore the story telling process on their own.

Pumpkin goop

Another Halloween sensory bin was of course pumpkin goop.  I only had 2 kids brave enough to play here on this day.  Most kids at this age do not want to touch this stuff.  But it is always nice to have the opportunity to try.

P is for Pounding Pumpkins

Just to get all the use out of our pumpkins that we could we pounded golf tees into our pumpkins.  This was just too much fun for my kiddos.  They couldn't' believe I was going to let them hammer nails into a pumpkin!

By the end of the day our poor pumpkins had golf tees all over the place.  (This was actually Halloween day and the kids came dressed up - this is Olof hammering away!)

This wraps up all of our P things.  We ended the week by reviewing all the P things we did with our pumpkins - then each child wrote their favorite one in their journal and drew a picture of it.

P is for making Pumpkin Pies

Obviously there are no picture of us actually making these because... well imaging making these when you are out numbered 7 to 1!  I knew I wanted to make pumpkin pies with the kids, but I was unsure of the best way to do it.  I did a lot of research into finding a simple recipe.  Most were no bake recipes with pudding or marshmallow cream.  I thought about going that route, but in the end I wanted to give them a real experience.  One preschool teacher made real pumpkin pies with the real recipe - it gave me the confidence I needed and decided to just go all in!  They opened their own cans, cracked their own egg, measured their own spices, poured it into their crusts (I cheated a little and did graham cracker crusts instead of pie crusts).

Didn't they turn out great!!  Kids are amazing!

P is for Painting Pumpkins

P is for a Pumpkin Patch

During circle time we read about "patty's pumpkin patch" - perfect for P week, right!  We talked about how pumpkins grow on a vine instead of a tree or a bush.  We passed a ball of yarn around our circle making a pumpkin vine. 

During center time I had this sticky wall set up.  (I took the picture before I cut the yarn - but the other basket had cut pieces of yarn in it)

But the contact paper was not sticky enough to hold the weight of the orange pom poms.  The kids were frustrated... not always a bad thing though.  I left it that way for a while - letting them try to figure out how to get them to stay.  After a while one child came up with the idea to move the contact paper to the floor.  Problem solved!

P is for Pouring Pumpkin Soup

Materials:  Water in pin, and orange water in squeeze bottles.  Pumpkin seeds.  Salt in salt shakers.  Lots of spoons, whisks, ladles, bowls, and cups.

This was one of my busiest sensory bins ever.  There was so much going on!  And unlimited access to a salt shaker... yes please!

It kept me busy - refilling salt shakers and the orange squeeze bottles - but it was well worth it!

P is for Pasting Pumpkins

For our large group we read a great book about a pumpkin and then made some mosaic pumpkins.  We cut squares of orange paper.  And some shapes with black paper (I cut the mouths). 

Then we simply covered our paper plates with the orange squares.

then added our faces.

And a stem.  Three cheers for pasting pumpkins.

P is for Poking Pumpkins

It took me a while to decide exactly how I wanted this center to be set up.  Do I put the pins in the pumpkin first and then let them explore with the rubber bands?  Do I just leave the pumpkin bland with a bowl of pins and rubber bands?  I was unsure of the best delivery system.  I changed it a couple of times over the weekend while I was setting up. 

In the end I went with this:  A mixture of both.

I had planned on only doing this for one day.  But it was so open ended and soothing for the kids I ended up moving it to the floor and keeping it out all week.  The pins and rubber bands changed constantly with each child.  Even my own kids came downstairs to play with it during the evenings - and now it is upstairs in our living room continuing to be loved!  So many great learning objectives going on here!