Runaway Pumpkin by Kevin Lewis, is relatively new, and completely new to me this year! It’s a delightful story about what happens when two mischievous boys start a giant pumpkin rolling down a hillside. One by one, family members envision delicious pumpkin treats, as the pumpkin continues on it’s destructive path. Finally, the pumpkin is stopped and well-used on a Halloween night. The text on the page seems to bounce right along with the pumpkin, a great feature for building phonological awareness. The children (OK, so did I) really get a kick out of seeing the whole family in their Halloween costumes!
Follow up this book by making a favorite pumpkin treat, like Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread!
You could also do an activity using these Jack-o-Lantern Cards , or your own. (They didn’t scan so well! They are just pumpkins cut from orange paper with different faces drawn on with a Sharpie.) Be sure to print two of each so that you have matching pairs. Keep one set yourself, and then give the rest to the children in your small group, two a piece in a group of four kiddos. Have them look at their pumpkins and pay attention to the different facial features. One by one, hold up a pumpkin and ask who has a match. When someone volunteers theirs, hold it up next to your sample so they can make a side-by-side comparison as a group to decide if it is in fact the right match. Repeat until all of the matches have been found.
Matching these pumpkin faces requires visual perception, an important skill you can read more about here. Discerning the different shapes in the faces brings geometry into play as well!
So snuggle up for a good pumpkin book, and then enjoy a fun pumpkin activity together!
For more favorite fall activities, click here!
[…] they love to do with pumpkins. The characters in this story wanted pumpkin pie, and having read The Runaway Pumpkin a few days earlier, the children had several other food suggestions for pumpkins. (Making a pie […]