Preschool Theme: Pumpkins
We started each homeschool day by talking about the date and the weather. Then we sang a song or two. This week's in-theme song was "Five Little Pumpkins," which we watched on YouTube several times throughout the week. Keep scrolling to see what books we read, and which activities kept us busy!
Books
Books
Jack-o-Lantern Felt Board
I made this ages ago when Honey Pot was doing tot school, and we pull it out every year. I left this out throughout the week, and Sweet E and I played with it once in a while.
So many combinations!
Learning Notebook
Just some pumpkin stamping. And when she was done, she decided to count them up!
Learning Lowercase j
This FREE printable comes from Preschool Play and Learn. It was a fun way to search for letters, because it includes lots of different fonts! Instead of tracing the J's though, Sweet E requested giant pushpins to poke holes on them.
Then we practiced matching a few lowercase letters that we've learned so far.
Rhyming Puzzles
This FREE printable comes from This Reading Mama. It was actually the first time Sweet E and I talked about rhymes!
The different ways the puzzles are cut helped her to match them up, but the concept is still tricky for her. A great thing for us to work on again soon!
Kitchen Science - Baking Pumpkin Muffins
Yum!!
Count and Clip Cards
This FREE printable came from Kindergarten Connection. So I pulled out our clothespins, and Sweet E clipped them to the right number on each card.
So proud of her work!
Exploring the Inside of a Pumpkin
This was a great sensory experience for Sweet E! First we made observations about the outside of the pumpkin. After prompting the question in a few ways, I got these responses: "orange...smooth...and round like a circle." Then I asked her to guess what the inside would be like. Unfortunately, there was no Ariel inside our pumpkin. 😂
Next we opened it up, and dunked our hands inside to feel it! I asked her to describe it to me. She said it felt "wet" and then noticed something felt "like seeds."
Together we scooped them out to use in future activities.
(I baked them in a 300⁰ oven for about a half an hour to dry them out. Then I dyed them with some watercolors.)
After I scraped out the rest of the guts, I asked Sweet E to draw a face for our pumpkin. Then I carved it into a jack-o-lantern. I tried to follow her drawing as best as I could. And here's how he came out:
She loved talking into his open mouth, and hearing how her voice sounded!
His name is Geegee, in case you were wondering! And she asked me to make him talk all week lol.
The Inside of My Pumpkin
This FREE printable came from Teachers Pay Teachers. Sweet E and I grabbed a little bit of the "guts" of the pumpkin--the pulp and seeds--and put them in a sandwich bag, which we taped to the back of this page. Super cute!
And she just loved to squish it around!
Learning Lowercase k
We used our fall-colored pumpkin seeds to form the letter K!
Counting Seeds
Then we used them again with this FREE printable from Kindergarten Worksheets and Games. The ink in our printer really needs to be replaced!
She did a great job at recognizing the numbers, and counting out the right amount.
Pumpkin Bracelet
I saw this idea at Make and Takes. First I invited Sweet E to use the orange beads to make a bracelet.
Then I twisted it off, had her put on a few brown ones, and then twisted it again. Ta-da!
She loves her pumpkin bracelet. She was showing it off to everyone in the family!
Pumpkin Craft
We used our dyed seeds again to make a colorful pumpkin.
She wanted to sort them by color in each section!
Name Pumpkins
For this activity, Sweet E first colored in each of the six pumpkins with marker.
Then she cut them out herself!
I added a letter to each one, and then she glued them onto the paper, spelling her name.
This was the first time she used scissors for anything more than practice lines, and I think she did a fine job!
The theme for our next TWO weeks will be Halloween! We're going to do lots of fun and festive activities, so stay tuned!
