Pumpkins and the Pumpkin Patch

It wouldn't be Autumn without a trip to the pumpkin patch! In the Pacific NW you have to be prepared for rain, and one of our pumpkin patch days was very wet. These little ones didn't seem to mind too much!

We explored the pumpkins and rode in the wagons.

Then we got to pick a sugar pumpkin. This little girl liked the wet, green weeds almost as much as the pumpkin.

Preschool children love to use their big muscles to do powerful work. Hauling these wagons down the muddy roads, up and down hills, took some cooperation.

This wagon is loaded with the pumpkins the Orcas want to vote on for the one to take back to class. Each of these pumpkins probably weighs near 30 pounds, so pulling this wagon takes some strength.

The second graders just happened to be visiting the farm with the Educulture Program, the program we do Farm School with. The big kids had just learned a lot about pumpkins and took the time to share that with the preschoolers. Then we followed them up to say hello to Farmer Betsy's horses.

We played a game where we each got a pice of string and we had to measure a pumpkin with the string and find the one that fit our string.

Finally it was time to buy our pumpkin. We weighed our friend and guessed if our pumpkin would weigh more or less than her. It weighed one pound more, a whopping 36 pounds!

We took our strings and found a treasure from the pumpkin patch, and we tied these treasures to a branch that looks like a hand. It makes a cool and creepy reminder of our time at the pumpkin patch.

Back at school we played pumpkin patch. Here one little guy is carry three pumpkins to put in the patch.

The patch also has vines, green leaves, and yellow pumpkin flowers.

Each class carved a pumpkin and explored the insides.

Here the Orcas work together to get the seeds and pulp out of our big pumpkin.

Then we turned the pumpkin upside down and pounded on it like a drum. It made a funny noise, and the rest of the seeds fell out of it.

We wrote pumpkin stories,

and made pumpkin pancakes.

We washed the seeds, and roasted them in the oven for a yummy treat.

We drew Jack-o-Lanterns and painted them. It's so much fun to see the different faces on these pumpkins.

Here the Dolphin class votes for what face they want to have carved in their pumpkin. We got to practice making x's.

The happy face was the winner! Happy Halloween!