Fall season is here! Time to see the tree leaves change colours and feel the crisp cold air on your faces. One thing that gets everyone in the fall season is knowing that Halloween is just around the corner. Dressing up in fun costumes and going around from house to house to get your favourite pieces of candy is a child's favourite activity this time of year. School-age 2 got to engage in designing and carving the pumpkin to celebrate the holiday.
Once the educator finished setting up the area for the children to scoop and carve the pumpkin, the children took turns passing the pumpkin around allowing each child to take a turn scooping out the seeds. Layla seemed intrigued by the inside of the pumpkin once the top was taken off. Some of them wanted to get messy and use their hands to dig up all the seeds; Hannah and Yug appeared to enjoy this sensory exploration! Then one by one, the educator assisted everyone in carving the face of the pumpkin.
Since this activity was done on a PA Day, we had some of the older children from School-age 3 with us to help. Ella wanted to draw the face so that everyone had a visual outline as to where they had to carve out the eyes, nose, and mouth; she then carved one of the eyes, while Aaron carved the mouth and Austin carved out the other eye. Hannah, having watched and learned from the older children, tried carving out pieces herself and got the nose out for us. This introduces the children to risky play by helping guide the children’s hands and by placing our hands over top of their hands; any sort of kitchen safety is an important skill to know when handling a knife and when to use any kitchen tools. While carving the face of the pumpkin and scooping out the seeds, it also enhances their fine and gross motor skills.
After we all finished carving our pumpkin, the educator then guided the children to always wash their hands and clean up after themselves when you make a mess. Introducing and focusing on the little things in the beginning enriches the children’s habits and character, and it also begins to develop responsibility and how to be held accountable for our own actions.
