Activities
Sweep the pumpkin. Using orange balloons decorated to look like Jack-o-lanterns using black marker and brooms, set up two teams. Make a goal a distance away. Have the children sweep the “pumpkins” around the goal and back to the team. Continue the relay until everyone has had a turn.
Crafts
An easy and inexpensive craft is paper bag pumpkins.It only requires a lunchsized paper bag for each child,crayons, old newspapers and asmall amount of yarn for each child. First the child makes a face on the bag. Then color the bag orange except for the top inch or two. Color the top part green.Stuff the bag with wadded up newspaper.The last step is to tie a piece of yarn around the bag where the orange meets the green
Decorations
If you can find plain orange cups, have the children make a jack-o-lantern face on it with a black marker. These can be used for drinks or snacks.
Foods
There are many Pumpkin foods. I have seen pumpkin cookies, pumpkin bread, pumpkin pie, and more.
Ithink the most fun would be to make individual pizzas with jack-o-lantern faces. Just use English muffins, your fvorite prepared pizza sauce, and a variety of veggies to decorate the face.
Literature
One of my favorite Pumpkin poems is:
Continuing Story
Each week there will be the start of a new story here in this box. Please continue the story in the comment section below. Completed stories will be published on the “Stories” page.
Little pumpkin lay on the ground in the big garden enjoying the warm autumn sun. This had been his home all his life. He had started out as a beautiful flower. Then he grew into a small green ball. Now he was a nice orange pumpkin. As he lay there he wondered what would happen next. Would he be someone’s pumpkin pie? Would he be chosen as someone’s Jack-o-lantern? Or might he be one of those pumpkins that the mean boys smashed in the street?
Five little pumkins sitting on a gate.
The first one said, “Oh, my its getting late!”
The second one said, “There are witches in the air!”
The third one said, Well, I don’t care!”
The fourth one said, “Let’s run and run and run!”
The fifth one said, “I’m ready for some fun!”
Ooooo went the wind and out went the lights.
And five little pumpkins rolled out of sight!
there is also, Peter, Peter Pumpkin eater.
Had a wife and couldn’t keep her.
Put her in a pumpkin shell and there he kept her very well.
(To be done with appropriate hand motions)
Music
for listering there is “Danse Macabre” by Saint-Saens
to the tune of pah pah patch
Where oh where is little Johnnie
Where oh where is little Johnnie
Where oh where is little Johnnie?
Way down yonder in the pumpkin patch.
He’s pickin’ up pumpkins puttin’ em in a basket
Pickin’ up pumpkins puttin’ em in a basket
Pickin’ up pumpkins puttin’ em in a basket
Way down yonder in the pumpkin patch.
Children stand in circle with one child(Johnnie) outside circle for first verse. There are cut out pumpkins or wads of crumpled orange paper on the floor in the center of the circle. During second verse “Johnnie” picks up “pumpkins”. To add interest for older children, you could count the number of pumpkins picked up or have a symbol on the back of one or more “pumpkin” which would indicate a prize.