October is always a fun time to learn and play with preschool pumpkin activities! I recently set up an incredibly simple “pumpkin patch” for small world play in the classroom. The kiddos got into it even more than I thought they would!
Related: Pumpkin Sorting Activity with Printable Sorting Cards
Materials
Acrylic pumpkins
Small and large river rocks
Bamboo tray
Toy tractors and trucks
Set Up
As I mentioned previously, this was incredibly simple. I set the tray out on one of our center tables, then placed a variety of river rocks on the tray. The pumpkins were then placed on top of the rocks. The kiddos came over as I was setting it all up, so they helped with that too!
How the children played
The children dove right into this small world play invitation! Exclaiming, “Oh! We have a pumpkin patch to take care of!” one my girls grabbed some of her buds and brought them to the table.
The pumpkins were arranged and rearranged over the rocks. A few children grabbed some trucks from our building are, explaining that a pumpkin patch needs farmers and tractors. The pumpkins and the rocks were loaded into the trucks, then unloaded. Then loaded again, then unloaded again . . . etc., etc.
At one point, everything was taken off the tray. Then multiple children worked together to make a new pumpkin patch, adding the pumpkins back to the tray without the rocks. It was so interesting to watch how intentional the kiddos were when placing the pumpkins back on the tray. They wanted each pumpkin to have its very own spot in the patch.
All in all, this incredibly basic pumpkin patch activity led to over an hour of play. It’s been recreated multiple times since then, as well!
The learning
If you’re a regular reader of Fun-A-Day, you know I can go on and on (and on . . .) about the learning that takes place during seemingly simple activities. Here are a few things the children learned/practiced with this small world play:
- Teamwork
- Counting
- Fine motor skills
- Sorting
- Estimating
- Language skills
Have you tried small world play with a “pumpkin patch” before? If so, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. If you’re looking for more ideas, be sure to see how Buggy and Buddy created a sensory play pumpkin patch small world! Play Train’s has a play dough pumpkin patch train small world, too!
Done-for-You Preschool Resources
Planning meaningful lessons for students week after week, all while balancing other teaching responsibilities and a personal life, can be a daunting task. That’s where Preschool Teacher 101 comes in to save you time!
Preschool Teacher 101 is excited to share with you some amazing lesson plans, activity packs, and much more! We offer a wide variety of themes that are frequently used in preschool classrooms, as well as some less common (but super interesting) themes. Click on the images below to learn more about some of our pumpkin lesson plans!
Join The Pack from Preschool Teacher 101 today for exclusive access to our amazing products. And we even have three different membership options to suit your needs!
Leave a Reply