October 2002
 

Pumpkin Games
 
 


PUMPKIN PLAY DOUGH (This is not edible!)

2 cups flour
1 cup salt
2 cups water
2 TB. Vegetable oil
2 TB. Cream of tartar
red and yellow food coloring
pumpkin spice

Mix the above ingredients together until smooth. Cook over medium heat stirring constantly. When mixture thickens and sticks to the spoon, remove from the heat. Knead and store in a zip bag.

 


PUMPKIN PINATA

Take a large paper grocery sack and fill it with candies and treats.
Gather the top and twist a green pipe cleaner around it to make the stem.
Paint a Jack-o-Lantern face on the front of the bag.
Tie one end of a string to the step of the pinata pumpkin, and the other end to a broomstick.
Roll up several pieces of newspaper and tape to make a bat.
Blind fold children and let them take turns trying to bust open the pumpkin.

(You can pretty well control this by swaying the pumpkin around as they swing.)

Distribute the treats evenly at the end of the game.


PUMPKIN GAMES

Pumpkin Concentration - Cut cardboard into 3" squares. Use seasonal stickers or draw pumpkins with different features on the cards. You will need two of each sticker or pumpkin. Place the cards face down on a table. Children take turns flipping over the squares and trying to match squares that are alike.

Pumpkin Patch - Cut ten pumpkins out of construction paper. Write the numerals 1-10 on the pumpkins. Children line them up in order on the floor. Pumpkin Seeds -You will needs pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds for this game. Draw pumpkin shapes on a file folder. Write different numerals on the pumpkin stems. Children make appropriate sets of seeds in the pumpkins.

Pumpkin Seriation - Cut 5 to 10 pumpkins out of orange construction paper in graduated sizes. Children seriate the pumpkins from smallest to largest. Have them identify which one is smallest, largest, etc.

Pumpkin Puzzles - Cut pumpkin shapes out of orange paper. Write an uppercase letter on the left side and a lowercase letter on the right side. Cut a puzzle design between the two letters. Mix the pieces up, then challenge children to put the pumpkin pieces that go together and identify the letters.
 


THE SCARY BOOK

Discuss things that are scary to you, then have children share things that frighten them.

Give each child a sheet of paper and ask them to draw what they are afraid of. Have them write or dictate a sentence about their picture.

Put the pages together to make a collaborative book called THE SCARY BOOK.

Hint: Brainstorm what you can do when you are afraid. Empower children to discuss their fears, tell an adult, sing a song, etc.

 
 


CANDY WRAPPER MATH

Have children bring in their candy wrappers after Halloween to use for math activities.

You can sort them, regroup them, count them, graph your favorite kind, make sets, etc.

 

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