The children were noticing the fall coloured leaves on the ground outside and we started talking about signs of fall (weather, the sky, the shorter days). We provided the preschoolers with fall books, songs, and other fall related crafts and loose parts. The children were playing with and exploring the textures of pumpkins and gourds in the sensory bin. They were talking about the names and the colours of the seasonal fruit. Some of the children talked about what they were going to wear for their Halloween costume. All of these interests led us up to participating in a pumpkin patch activity in our playground.
Preschool one invited us to join in on their pumpkin patch. The children had a great time walking around the wood chips finding a pumpkin. Some of the children noticed the weight and the size of the small pumpkins and said “This is heavy.” They found the strength to lift the pumpkins and bring them over to the photo booth for a nice picture with their pumpkins. The children had a wonderful time smiling for pictures and being proud and feeling independent that they carried their pumpkin all the way over from the wood chip area. During the pumpkin find, the children took turns going for a hayride in the wagon. The children were smiling and laughing and so excited to have to turn wheeling around the playground. At the end of it all we had some refreshing apple cider. Some of the children thought it was sour and others thought it was sweet, but I think it was a great new experience for the children. Most of them wanted to have seconds.
The children are creating memories with their friends and teachers and learning about culture and tradition in Canada and our community. They enjoyed this amazing seasonal experience and had so much to talk to their parents about. Each of the children got to take their small pumpkin home to remember the fun day they had at the Oak Creek pumpkin patch. Perhaps in the future we could do more traditional event activities in the playground. We could also do more learning about pumpkins through science, language and literacy and social play with our friends and teachers.
