Pumpkin Patch

Builds on: hand strengthening, sensory development, vocabulary

 

What you'll need:

1 package of cream filled chocolate cookies- cream removed

1 package of candy pumpkins

A large spoon

Rectangular container

Small cultivator/ hand rake

Toy tractor

What to do:

Place just the chocolate cookies into the container and hand your Hoot the large spoon. Show them how to use the spoon to crack, smash and crumble the cookies into tiny pieces so that it looks like soil. Make sure you offer a helping hand so that they don't loose interest before the work is done. Place the tractor in the "soil" and the opened bag of candy pumpkins on the side with the small cultivator. You can bury the pumpkins and have your kids dig them out. You can read a story about farming or growing pumpkins or you can just set them loose and see what happens. Either way it's a fun activity that will help to strengthen little hands with all the smashing and provide a fun dramatic activity with multiple sensory elements. 

*Don't forget to talk about how it smells, feels and even tastes to help develop the senses and build descriptive vocabulary.

Sheer The Sheep To Make Yarn
Builds on: dramatic play, sensory

What you'll need:

a square piece of clear contact paper
scissors
painters tape
permanent marker
1 bag of cotton balls
a low window


What to do:
Use the permanent marker to draw the outline of a sheep on the front of the contact paper. Tear 4 pieces of painters tape measuring the length of each side of the contact paper from the roll. Remove the protective paper from the adhesive side of the contact paper and place your drawing against the window, sticky side facing you. Use the pieces of tape to secure the sides of your picture to the window. Now grab your bag of cotton balls and invite the kids over.


Talk as much as you can about sheep as the cotton balls are put on and pulled off. Say the sheep is cold when it has no wool and hot when it does. Talk about how the "wool" is soft and rub it on an arm. Show them how to pull the pieces apart and twist it in their fingers if they are older. Make sheep noises. Anything you say is building your littles vocabulary so chat it up and acknowledge any grunts as a response. 

Related Resources:

Follow the link to a video about wool pulling and spinning.

Wool pulling and spinning video

Spot The Cow Game
Builds on: counting skills, finger strengthening, vocabulary building

What you'll need:
Large side view print of a plain cow
1 large Ziploc freezer bag
1 tub of black playdoh



What to do:

Place the picture of the cow inside the Ziploc bag and zip it up. Place everything on to the activity table and sit across from your little. Show your little how to take a pinch of playdoh from the tub and press it on to the picture of the cow to make spots.

The most important thing is to keep talking while there is interest in this activity. Moo every time there is a spot added or count each spot that's placed on the cow. Talk about cows on the farm, especially if you took a field trip to a farm and saw one. Talk about other animals on the farm that you saw together.

The Carrot Seed Farm
Builds on: math, color recognition, fine motor skills

What you'll need:
1 empty cardboard egg carton
Green, purple, yellow and orange pipe cleaners
Wire cutters
Large exacto knife
The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss
Four 3x3 squares of paper the same colors of as the carrots

What to do:

Turn the egg carton over so that the egg cups are facing up. Use the exacto knife to cut and X into the center of each cup. Use a pencil to force the X open a little more.

Use the wire cutters to cut the all the pipe cleaners into 2 inch pieces. To create a carrot take a green pipe cleaner and a purple pipe cleaner fold them each in half. Twist the two ends of the purple pipe cleaner together to so that you have a loop at the folded end and a point at the twisted end. Finally, thread the green pipe cleaner through the loop of the purple pipe cleaner and twist close to the loop leaving the ends untwisted for the stocks of the carrots. Repeat with all of your other colors until you have 12.

Once you have them all made push the pointed ends through the holes of the egg cups and place it on the activities table. Once you've read The Carrot Seed you can let your Hoot pull out all of the carrots and put them back in. Each time a carrot is uprooted say the name of the color and sort the carrot on to the matching colored paper. As the carrots go back in make sure to count each one that goes in. 

Addition activities:

Follow the links below for some of some more carrot activities, by some other awesome bloggers, to go allow with The Carrot Seed

Soda Bottle Carrots: A Very Small Kitchen Garden
Spring Sensory Tub With Carrots
Carrot Fingers
Preschool Carrot Patch Math Activity