Playtime with Pumpkins!
Hallowe’en is almost upon us again and at this time of year we can celebrate its less spooky aspect: the beautiful pumpkin! Here are 5 pumpkin activities to incorporate into 5 days of half term, ending on Hallowe’en itself!
Day 1
Munchkin Pumpkin Prints
You can buy these cute little pumpkins from any supermarket! Squeeze some bright paints into large-ish containers (biscuit tin lids are my favourite!) and dip in the munchkins. Then make prints onto paper, spare cardboard or boxes, packing paper etc. Try using black paper and really bright paints for a great effect!
Day 2
Pumpkin Guts
Buy a large pumpkin and carefully cut off the top. Everyone can put in their hands and scoop out the stringy “guts”. Take turns to describe the textures, smells and sights with inventive adjectives! Put some paper towels into spare containers and collect the seeds. Allow the seeds to dry out overnight before having a go at the third activity….
Day 3
Pumpkin Seed Counting Chart
Take a piece of A4 card and draw lots of evenly spaced pumpkins – maybe up to 6 for younger children but as many as possible otherwise! Number each pumpkin and find some glue (or glue dots!). Now take your dried pumpkin seeds and glue the correct number of seeds below each numbered pumpkin. This is a great activity for concentration, counting and dexterity!
Punch two holes in the top of the card and attach some string or wool so that you can hang it up for all to see!
The left over seeds can be baked for 5-10 minutes in a hot oven for a delicious and nutritious snack!
Day 4
Munchkin Pumpkin Decorating
Here come the munchkins again! This time use a variety of munchkins and think of all the different ways they can be grouped i.e. size order, colour order, length of stalk etc.
Using glue (again glue dots are great for this!) decorate the outside of your munchkins with feathers, glitter or even just different stickers. Try drawing scary faces and making hats out of recycling materials.
Day 5
Pumpkin Recipes
This will be Hallowe’en itself so the day to finally carve your large pumpkin into a horrifying face! Luckily you have already cut off the lid and scooped out the seeds so half of the work is done! But what should you do with the leftover pumpkin flesh? Try making puff pastry pumpkin lanterns, scary pumpkin quiches or spooky pumpkin pies!
Enjoy after trick or treating if you are not too full of sweets!
