The Pretty Life: ivey league preschool: pumpkin mini-unit!

I decided to do fun pumpkin-themed activities with Caleb on Halloween this year. So we took a break from letter-themed things that day and focused on pumpkins instead!

First we did a few pumpkin worksheets. We learned about the life-cycle of the pumpkin by putting pictures in order (Caleb selected independently and got a couple of them correct!).

He also wrote in missing letters of a pumpkin alphabet:

We used one worksheet to introduce the idea of addition...I just let Caleb count the pumpkins for now, but it helped him start to grasp the concept of adding objects/numbers together.

And he colored his own jack-o'-lantern using a color-by-sight-word method. He can recognize some color names, plus he already knew pumpkins are usually orange. :o)

We also threw in some science by conducting a "pumpkin investigation" with a little sugar pie pumpkin we had in the house. I had found a couple of different worksheets online, and combined what I liked about them into our own special one. We found words to describe the pumpkin, and hypothesized about how tall it was, how many lines it had around it, how many seeds it would have inside, and whether it would sink or float. Caleb loved testing out the last one...he played with that pumpkin for at least 20 minutes before I told him it was time to cut it open to count the seeds!

Finally, once the seeds were dried out, we toasted them with some cooking spray, salt, and pepper. Yum! We also roasted and pureed the flesh of the pumpkin and baked it into a pie. Caleb was so excited to help me make the pie, but was not so much excited about the end product, even with whipped cream on top. Maybe it's texture thing?