Pumpkins

Last year we got super busy with our move, Halloween and Birthdays so we ended up merging the Pumpkin and Halloween lessons. Hopefully this year we can do everything. There are a lot of things on Pinterest about pumpkins and you might find other activities, recipes, and books that suit your family better. Please share what your family enjoys.

Books: Five Little Pumpkins (a bunch of different people have written their own versions), Pumpkins - Jacqueline Farmer, The Pumpkin Book - Gail Gibbons

Film: It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. This is technically a Halloween movie, but it has pumpkin in the title so just go with it.

Activity/Art Pumpkin patch and pumpkin carving. I'm sure if you live somewhere cooler than Florida, going to a pumpkin patch is more of an event.

Music: Five Little Pumpkins. My son learned this at school last year and taught it to us. I searched all over YouTube to find the version that he was singing.

Food: Pumpkin Rice Krispie treats are ridiculously easy and always a win. They could be a good gift for the kid's friends wrapped in some cellophane. Roasted Pumpkin Seeds I have yet to find a recipe that works for me but I plan on trying this one. I will let you know how it goes.

Leaves

Books: Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf - Lois Ehlert; Why do Leaves Change Color? - Betsy Maestro
Music: Leaves are Falling and for the adults Autumn Leaves
Activity: Collect Leaves. That is if you live somewhere where the leaves change, otherwise just look at a book.
Art: Watercolor leaves. This lesson says to use liquid watercolor in droppers. I've done a similar project with coffee filters and washable markers and then you spray the filter with water to get the colors to spread. Markers seem less of a hazard than liquid watercolors. But she has a template already made so we'll go with that for now. Maybe I will make my own later.
Food: Maple Leaf cookies from Trader Joe's or if you are feeling really ambitious and have lots of time on your hands you can try these Martha Stewart ones Homemade

Apples

There really are endless amounts of things you can learn, create, and eat that involve apples. I had to limit myself here so I didn't go overboard.   


 Books: Apples - Gail Gibbons; Johnny Appleseed - Steven Kellogg; How do Apples Grow? - Betsy Maestro. I don't have any of these books and had to reserve them at the library so you might need to do that as well.
Music: A.P.P.L.E. and Applesauce
Activity: Identify Parts of an Apple 
I found this easy diagram online to use.
Art: Tissue Paper Apple 
This is super easy. All you need to do is print this apple shape out on cardstock and then glue red, green, or yellow scraps of tissue paper.
Food: Homemade Applesauce. You might have your own recipe or like to tweak it a bit like I do. But you can never go wrong with Martha.
Film: Apple Dumpling Gang

Primary Colors

I'm very excited about this week and hope that I get around to finishing all the projects.

Books: Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh
Songs: Primary Colors - OK Go I saw this on Sesame Street and thought it was so great.
Activity: Mixing Colors. All you need is plastic cups and food coloring. We have done this before but I found a color wheel online that you can print out and they can color in as they learn. (courtesy of Art Factory)
Art: Mondrian inspired. I have been very excited to do this art project with the kids for a while. I created a little sheet that you can print out to get started. You can choose to either have the kids color the page using the primary colors or cut out squares and rectangles out of construction paper and allow them to glue wherever they would like. Try not to fill every square and to leave some white spaces.
Food: I figured we could do something easy and make jello.