We are continuing our pumpkin/fall theme this week in preschool and are learning about the life cycle of a pumpkin. The perfect book to go along with this theme is Pumpkin Jack by Will Hubbell (affiliate link). It is a cute book about a boy who in the course of one year, watches as his jack-o-lantern, Jack, decomposes, sprouts and finally produces more pumpkins in time for Fall. Since the weather isn’t quite cold enough to carve pumpkins yet, we explored the inside of a pumpkin through sensory play with a Pumpkin Guts Sensory Bin.
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HOW TO MAKE A PUMPKIN GUTS SENSORY BIN
Supplies you will need:
- plastic trick-or-treat pumpkin (we found ours at Walmart)
- yellow yarn
- wooden beads (The ones we used were found at Hobby Lobby)
- pumpkin carving scoop (we used the one out of this kit)
- mini tongs
- scissors
Directions:
1. To make the pumpkin insides “the guts” cut your yarn into 18-24-inch sections and put them in a pile inside your pumpkin. Place your wooden beads inside the pumpkin and mix them in with your yarn.
2. Place a small pumpkin guts scoop and some small tongs next to your pumpkin. The tongs work great for gripping the wooden beads.
3. After reading the book Pumpkin Jack, I let my daughter explore the insides of her pumpkin. I decided to put a small container next to the pumpkin where she could put her wooden beads (seeds) into after finding them in the pumpkin. [For a great math extension, have your toddler/preschooler count all of her seeds after finding them in the pumpkin.]
She started out having fun using the tongs and scoop to discover the insides of the pumpkin but she eventually dug right in with her hands, just like it was a real pumpkin. I loved it! Seriously, this is such a fun mess-free way way to explore what the insides of pumpkin are like!
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HERE is a fun craft we made last year to go along with the Life Cycle of a Pumpkin.
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