Week 7 Day 1

(I hold preschool 2 days out of the week for my kids, so on the first day for our activity, we do something related to our theme for the week and on the 2nd day we do something to review the letter of the week).

Pumpkins!

Today we made glitter pumpkins and sang some fun songs about pumpkins (including "Five little pumpkins" My kids LOVED it, so we sang it multiple times. We really got into it and took turns flipping the light in the room off when it got to the part, "and out went the lights" It was a flashback to teaching preschool with my sister. She had the kids do this and they absolutely loved it! (Of course not too dark in the room either time so not spooky at all-just fun!)

 our glitter pumpkins!

Five little pumpkins

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate, (hold hands up) 
The first one said "oh my its getting late," (hands on cheeks) 
The second one said "there's a chill in the air," (hug self) 
The third one said "but we don't care," (shrug) 
The fourth one said "we're ready for some fun," (jump) 
The fifth one said "lets run, run, run," (run in place) 
So woo went the wind, and out went the lights, 
And the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight (sit down).

I just came across this version on everything preschool and really like it, I usually say "The second one said "there are witches in the air."

but seeing how my 2 year old is seeming a little nervous about this, this version might be a good idea. :)

Their actions are definitely fun, but if you are looking for actions that you can do better while sitting down these are the actions my sister and I used:

 Hold 5 fingers up over your other arm (held horizontal) (pumpkins on a gate),

Throw your hands in the air for "we're ready for some fun", 

(pump arms forward and backward ( with hands in fists) as if running for "lets run, and run, and run"

and finally roll your arms for "rolled out of sight"

Another fun pumpkin song that I made pictures for when I taught kindergarten:

Have You Ever Seen A Pumpkin? 
(tune: Have you ever seen a lassie?)
Have you ever seen a pumpkin, a pumpkin, a pumpkin,
Have you ever seen a pumpkin, that grows on a vine?
A round one, a tall one, a bumpy one, a squashed one.
Have you ever seen a pumpkin, that grows on a vine?

Unfortunately, I misplaced the pictures so will need to hunt them down, they were super cute!

( I drew each type of pumpkin that the song mentions, my kindergartener kids absolutely loved the bumpy one and squashed one! :)

I love how the song mentions how a pumpkin grows on a vine , which brings to my remembrance a fun art/science activity showing how a pumpkin grows(and how in the end you can turn the pumpkin into a jack-o-lantern).
A classmate showed us a fun activity very similar to the one found

here.

Other fun pumpkin activities:
Let your children play with the "insides" of a pumpkin. If you don't want so much mess, put the goop in a large zip-top bag for them to squish.
Have the children count pumpkin seeds or sort a certain number of pumpkin seeds into pumpkin shapes (i.e. tell them to put 3 pumpkins seeds inside of each pumpkin.
Bake something together with pumpkin as an ingredient.
Visit a pumpkin patch.
Paint, or help them carve their very own jack-o-lantern.
Make a jack-o-lantern out of a paper plate, using black construction paper eyes, nose, and mouth and a green construction paper stem. The kids can either color their plate orange or paint it before they stick on their face shapes. (You can have the face shapes pre-cut and then let them put them wherever they'd like on the plate.
Make sure to point out the different kinds of pumpkins sitting outside of grocery stores this time of year. My kids and I have seen quite a few "bumpy" ones lately! You can even start singing "Have you ever seen a pumpkin" with your child. I'm a mom who's not ashamed to sing preschool songs in public places (quietly that is:)

..endless options...

again, stay tuned for the letter Gg activity on Thursday.