Parts of the Pumpkin

To go along with the parts of the pumpkin 3 part cards, I always try to dissect a pumpkin at group time. The children enjoy matching the parts they are exploring to the cards. This is also a great time to separate out the seeds for roasting (or to save to make works with)!

Bats on Moon Counting Work

This is a work I've wanted to make for years.  I finally got around to it this year.  I used Ben Franklin's dye cuts which are free to use as long as you buy the felt or paper there.

I made a few extra bats as I'm sure some will get lost at some point!

This was in constant use during October and they referred to it as the "Batman Work"  :)

Five Little Pumpkins Sitting on a Gate

Of course everyone knows that classic finger play and poem and there are various art projects to go along with it.  I've done a few different ones over the years and this one seems to be the most practical for the kids to do independently.

The pumpkins come pre-cut (these ones are foam) and they were from Michaels.  Their first step is to choose five pumpkins and draw faces on them!  I cut 2 different sizes of brown strips of paper for the fence posts and rails.  There is also a crescent moon paper punch and the poem all printed out to glue on the back.  (they do that part first!)

Here is the finished product- the poem is glued on the back so they can teach their parents when they bring it home! 

On Halloween Night Felt Play

This is a Halloween felt play that is well loved each year!  You  place each piece out one at at time while you tell the story.  After a few times the kids can help tell the story too!  This works on a felt board or a work rug.

Here is how it goes...

This is the moon that shone in the sky on Halloween night.
This is the broom that sailed across the moon on Halloween night.
This is the witch that rode on the broom, that sailed across the moon that shone in the sky on Halloween night.
This is the cat who belonged to the witch that rode on the broom that sailed across the moon on Halloween night.
This is the owl that woke up the cat that belonged to the witch who rode on the broom that sailed across the moon that shone in the sky on Halloween night.
This is the jack-o-lantern who startled the owl that woke up the cat that belonged to the witch who rode on the broom that sailed across the moon on Halloween Night.
This is the ghost that carved the jack-o-lantern who startled the owl who woke up the cat that belonged to the witch that rode on the broom that sailed across the moon that shone in the sky on Halloween night!

Witches Brew

This is my friend Tiffany's work from Bella Terra Montessori in Fall City.  We sing a song called "Witches Brew" in October.  You pretend to put a cauldron in the middle of circle and go around the circle and each child get's to put something in the brew.  This can be anything.  We get lots of eyeballs, frogs, sparkles, leaves, etc. :) 

After they all put their item in we sing " We're stirring, and stirring, and stirring our brew!  Ohhhhh, Ohhhh, Ohhhh.  We do this three times and then say "tip toe, tip toe, tip toe, BOO!"  (tip towing with our fingers).

This is always fun over and over and over!

This is an extension of that song! I put an assortment of Halloween objects in a bowl and they take them out with the tweezers and put them in the cauldron.  Then they stir!  We put an emphasis on singing quietly since this is work-time :)

Pumpkin Painting

This is a very simple art project that's great for October!  On the tray is pre-cut circles, red and yellow paint tablets (my favorite kind of paint!) green stems and a black crayon.

They first glue on the stem and draw a face on the circle with the black crayon then paint with the yellow and red to make orange!

This one was done by one of our five year olds in our classroom!  

We had done some group presentations of color mixing activities (things that are on the science shelf) a few weeks before this so it went along perfectly with the sequence!

Color Mixing Pumpkin Work!

I made yellow and red play dough and rolled them into individual balls.  In the basket is a pin poker to 'dot' their initials with on the bottom of the pumpkin, and I cut up a thin willow branch for the stems.

First they make 'snakes' and then twist them together.  It takes quite a while for the colors to mix to it's a lot of rolling, squeezing, and pinching for them!

It took her probably 10 minutes to get this orange color!

Here it is all done!  My friend Tiffany had the idea of making a small pumpkin patch on top of a little shelf!  We lined it with brown felt and I just cut some leaves off a ground cover plant off the playground!

Hammering Nails into a Pumpkin

I can't remember where I heard of this idea but I did it last year as well!  I showed it at circle time making sure everyone knew to wear the goggles, hold the hammer with two hands, and do gentle taps so everyone was safe!

 They first do 5 gentle taps while holding the nail on the line with their fingers.  Then they are sure to keep two hands on the hammer as they are nailing it in the pumpkin.

 This was in use all morning long and all these nails were done in 1 hour of work time!  I think I'll draw another face on the opposite side of the pumpkin to get more use out of it!

Halloween Party Invitation

Each year at the school I'm at we have an annual Dad's Pumpkin Night.  The kids come in costume and the dad's too if they wish.  They carve a pumpkin together, play games, and at the end of the night the kids all sing songs!  I try and think of a clever and new invitation each year and this is what I came up with this year.  I used a bat die cut at Ben Franklin on black sparkly scrapbook paper.  Then they used the circle metal inset to trace the 'Harvest Moon' and glued it down and the bats on top.

 On a separate piece of paper all the details of the night that they glue and then sign their name!  I love the bats on the moon so much I'm brainstorming a bats on the moon counting work for next year!

Pumpkin Chalkboard

This idea came from my friend Tiffany.  The first year I did it I got one of the artificial pumpkins from Michaels that's round (solid- like a pumpkin).  I found it tricky for them to draw on it.  Last year I found this.  It was also at Michaels and it's made out of balsa wood.  I spray painted it with chalkboard paint and I think I used 2 coats.

 It's a great art work to have out so early in the year.  Simple, clean, and fun! 

Spiders on a Web

This a super simple tweezing work that I like to put out around Halloween.  I printed out a spiderweb image on orange paper, cut it out in a circle, and laminated it.  The tiny spiders can be found at any party store around Halloween.

They simply tweeze the spiders on to the web!