Homeschool: Pumpkins (Week 8)

We just completed our eighth week of homeschool. You can view our daily schedule (including which curriculum we use for math and reading) by clicking the link. Below you'll find the art and science activities we did this week - focusing on Pumpkins.




MONDAY:
  • Book: From Seed to Pumpkin by Wendy Pfeffer OR Pumpkins by Gail Gibbons
  • Activity: Dissect Pumpkins & What's Inside My Pumpkin Craft
  • Supplies: Small pumpkin, scooper, tweezers, orange/green/brown card stock, orange yarn, glue,  gold round head fastener
  • Main Point: What's inside a pumpkin and the pumpkin life cycle



TUESDAY:  
  • Book: The Legend of Spookley the Square Pumpkin by Joe Trionno
  • Activity: Sponge Painting
  • Supplies: White Card Stock, pencil, sponge, orange paint
  • Main Point: Being kind to others that are different.
After reading our book, we talked a lot about being kind to others and what to do if people point out our differences. You can view an entire post about this craft by clicking the link.






WEDNESDAY:
  • Book: Too Many Pumpkins by Linda White
  • Activity: Pumpkin Play Dough
  • Supplies: Pumpkin Spice Play Dough (recipe below)
  • Main Point: Play. Strengthen finger strength and imaginative play.
After reading our pumpkin book, we made pumpkin treats just like the lady in our book. This pumpkin spice play dough is AMAZING. It smells just like a yummy pumpkin treat. My six wanted to do a "bat birthday party" for his stuffed animals. He made these really cute bat cakes and my four made pumpkin treats to go along with the party. It was so cute. The Pumpkin Pie Play Dough mats are from Fantastic Fun & Learning. The pumpkin cookie cutter and pumpkin ice tray are from the Dollar Store. The plastic rollers and pizza cutters are from Lakeshore Learning.






Singing Happy Birthday to my six's bats.
 


THURSDAY:
  • Book: How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin? by Margaret McManara
  • Activity: Pumpkin Mosaics
  • Supplies: White Card Stock, Pumpkin Seeds, Food Coloring, Glue
  • Main Point: We are all great, no matter what our size. Creativity.
I love this book, because it teaches about a boy who is a little sad to be small. His teacher brings in a small, medium and large pumpkin and the class dissected the three pumpkins and counted the seeds inside. The tallest kid was sure the largest pumpkin had the most seeds, but in fact the smallest pumpkin did. This teaches us that we can be small and mighty (just like my boys)!

To die pumpkin seeds: Place desired amount of pumpkin seeds and a squirt of liquid water color into a ziplock bag. Shake the bag and make sure the pumpkin seeds are fully coated. Add more liquid water color if needed. Dump the seeds on a cookie sheet and dry over night. Note: You can speed up the process in a microwave. We did four different colors. Use the seeds and glue to create whatever you'd like! My six made an earth.  




    FRIDAY:
    • Book: Pumpkin Jack by Will Hubbell
    • Activity: Pumpkin Patch & Pumpkin Carving
    • Supplies: Pumpkins, Carving Kit (this one is AMAZING and SAFE for kids!)
    • Main Point: What's inside a pumpkin and fine motor skills.
    We went to a pumpkin patch and picked some pumpkins! My boys both wanted square pumpkins, to be like Spookley. We celebrated our Pumpkin Week by having friends over on Sunday for a Jack-O-Latern Pizza Night. We made pumpkin shaped pizzas and carved our pumpkins afterward. I have to recommend this Pumpkin Carving Set. It comes with stencils (think cookie cutter) that you hammer into the pumpkin to make the eyes, nose and mouth. It was really neat. You can read all about it by clicking the link. 

    This was so funny. At the pumpkin patch a goat snatched my baby's sandwich out of his hand, mid picture. 







    Other Ideas: Because my four loves the "Five Little Pumpkins", we did this craft for him:








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