Littles Learning Link Up: Pumpkin Lessons for Preschoolers

I am so sorry Littles Learning Link Up is late this week. I am trying to play catch up here on the blog as I was dealing with annoying issues this week (no electricity Monday afternoon, no internet Monday night into Tuesday, my being sick Tuesday night into Wednesday morning). I didn't want to miss a week again though.

Each month you will find:

• A seasonal round-up (usually toward the beginning of the month)
• Posts where I share what I have been up to with my early elementary children (including occasional highlight posts where I share how we used ideas that have been linked up here on Littles Learning Link Up).

Each week, I will host a link up, where you can share either what you have been up to recently, or old posts that may go with the theme.  Feel free to link up more than one post.

Each week I will continue to feature a couple of posts from those that have been linked up. 

I hope you will continue to share your wonderful posts, and I hope you will find something new to try with your child(ren).

It would be great for everyone to stop by and visit the other linked-up posts as well. Check them out, leave some comments, pin those that interest you. Let's make this a real party and socialize with each other.

What have we been up to?

Here at home we have been continuing our studies on Ancient Rome. We have gotten up to the time of the birth of Jesus. I really have enjoyed seeing what is going on in other parts of the world during this time, and how the Roman Empire and all its advances had made circumstances "ripe" for the birth of Jesus. We are still reading Augustus Caesar's World, which has been so intriguing for me, though I do think quite a bit is going over the children's  heads (especially Harold and Hannah). We are also still trying to get through The Bronze Bow, which is a story that takes place when Jesus is already a man. 

We have continued learning about the different senses and the parts of the body that help with those senses. So far we have talked about hearing, smelling, taste, and touch. 

Let's move on to today's preschool lesson. 

Pumpkin Lessons

I am now teaching a Pre-K class at our homeschool co-op which consists of 3-5 year old children. I have them for 2 hours, which means I teach them the first hour, have a break when they go and have snack and gym with the K-3rd graders, then have them for a second hour. Having this class last week was actually a surprise, as we weren't supposed to start this until January when we come back from break. So, I threw this lesson together on the spur of the moment. 

We started our day by gathering in the corner of the room to sing songs. I plan to start every day with "Good Morning to You" the way I used to when I worked at the Montessori. 

Here is how the song goes:

Good Morning to You

Good morning to you,

Good morning to you.

Here we are in our places, 

with bright shining faces.

Good morning to you,

Good morning to you.

Then we talked a little bit about fall, leaves, and pumpkins to segue into fall songs. I found some Pumpkin Songs at the DLTK website. I used to use this website quite a lot when Tabitha and Amelia were younger. 

I wanted to focus on pumpkins without focusing on Halloween and jack o' lanterns. So, these are the songs we sang:

I'm a Little Pumpkin (sung to the tune of I'm a Little Teapot)

I'm a little pumpkin orange and round.

Here is my stem, I grew in the ground.

When I get all cut up, don't you shout!

Just open me up and scoop me out!

Have You Ever Seen a Pumpkin (sung to the tune of Have You Ever Seen a Lassie)

Have you ever seen a pumpkin, a pumpkin, a pumpkin,

Have you ever seen a pumpkin, that grows on a vine?

A round one, a tall one, a fat one, a small one.

Have you ever seen a pumpkin, that grows on a vine?

Then Tabitha and I came up with words for a couple of Fall Leaf songs. I have sung similar songs in the past, but these are the words we came up with.

Leaves are Falling (sung to the tune of Running Over)

Leaves are falling, leaves are falling.

Trees are bright and leaves are falling.

Leaf piles we'll make, we will rake and rake.

When trees are bright and leaves are falling.

Autumn Leaves (to the tune of London Bridge)

Autumn leaves are falling down, falling down, falling down. 

Autumn leaves are falling down,

Lots of colors!

Autumn leaves are falling down, falling down, falling down.

Red and orange, yellow and brown,

I love Autumn!

 I then read the book The Pumpkin Patch Parable by Liz Curtis Higgs

As I read the story, I involved the children by having them make their own pumpkin patch picture. Each step corresponded to a page in the story.

I had taped together two half-sheets of both brown and green construction paper. 

I had the children "plant" or glue 3 real pumpkin seed in a row down in the brown soil. Then they covered it with a strip of brown. They then used a green marker to draw the growing vine and added some leaves. Then I gave them a 1/4 of a piece of orange construction paper and I had them draw a pumpkin shape and cut it out. Some of the children needed a bit more help with this step. They then glued the pumpkin onto their pumpkin patch. If we had had more time, I probably would have had them make at least one more pumpkin.

I then read The Pumpkin Prayer while preparing our own pumpkin to be carved.

This is how the prayer goes:

The Pumpkin Prayer

Dear Jesus,

As I carve my pumpkin, help me say this prayer:

Open my mind, so I can learn about you;
(Cut the top off the pumpkin.)

Take all my sin, and forgive the wrong that I do.
(Clean out the inside.)

Open my eyes, so your love I will see;
(Cut eyes shaped like hearts.)

I’m so sorry for times I’ve turned up my nose at what you’ve given to me.
(Cut a nose in the shape of the cross.)

Open my ears, so your Word I will hear;
(Cut ears shaped like the Bible.)

Open my mouth to tell others you’re near.
(Cut the mouth in the shape of a fish.)

Let your light shine in all I say and do! Amen.
(Place a candle inside, and light it.)

While reading the prayer I did carve the top and had the children take turns scooping out some of the insides (boy were they grossed out), and then for the other steps I just drew the shapes on. While the children were in their gym class I did the remainder of the carving. Then when they came back in I lit it up so they could see. 

Here is what it looks like lit up on our porch:

Prior to going to snack, the children painted pumpkins. I needed to make sure we did them early so they would dry. Unfortunately some of them still weren't dry when it was time to go home. Next time we'll just have to start with the pumpkin painting I guess. Anyway, we just used acrylic paints for this step.

When they came back from gym, we sat in the corner again and sang our songs, then I introduced them to this fun pumpkin rhyme Tabitha and I came up with.

Pumpkins, Pumpkins, On the Vine

Pumpkins pumpkins on the vine,

First there were ten, now only nine

Pumpkins pumpkins by the gate,

One rolled away, then there were eight.

Pumpkins pumpkins God’s in heaven

He looked down, and there were seven

Pumpkins pumpkins one looks sick

Throw it away, then there are six

Pumpkins pumpkins take a dive.

One was cleaned, now there are five

Pumpkins pumpkins seeds no more

Say goodbye cause now there are four

Pumpkins pumpkins one for me

another sold now there are three

Pumpkins pumpkins one for you

They are disappearing, now only two

Pumpkins pumpkins we are almost done

Another was plucked, now there is one

Pumpkins pumpkins so much fun

the last one left, now there are none

We used the above pumpkin scene to "act" it out. To prepare this, I printed out pumpkins, we colored and cut them out, making sure to have one look "sick," then Tabitha drew the background onto the construction paper. I taped two sheets of green construction paper to two sheets of light blue to form the background. Then I taped it to my flannelgraph board. The pumpkins were attached with tape.

I had the children each take off a pumpkin at the end of each line of the rhyme. And they got to count the pumpkins to see how many were left. They really seemed to enjoy it, so we put the pumpkins back on and did it again. Except this time they held onto their pumpkin. Then we stood up by the wall and pretended to be the pumpkins in the pumpkin patch. And yes, we recited the rhyme again with the children "rolling" out of the patch and walking over to the adjacent wall.

We then read another book:

Pumpkin Circle: The Story of a Garden by George Levenson is a great story that goes through the lifecycle of a pumpkin with gorgeous photographs. I will say, I stopped at the page that ends, "We are pumpkin millionaires" as the next page shows a very scary looking jack o'lantern. The following page shows a jack o'lantern deteriorating and going back into the earth to complete the cycle.

Then we played "Pin the Stem on the Pumpkin."

I did NOT create this pumpkin. It had been used at our church's Venture Club Harvest Party the weekend before and I asked to borrow it.

Let's take a look at that review schedule real quick:

Last week I posted my review of Math-Whizz from Whizz Education. 

This week I posted my review of MasterKitz from Kidzaw.

I will be sharing about Guitar360 next week. Tabitha and my husband were both thrilled to find out we were going to be learning to play guitar.

Here are a few things I would like to share with you:

Seeing as Thanksgiving is this month. . . 

Thanksgiving Round Up

Now onto:

Littles Learning Link Up Features

On my last Littles Learning Link Up post, there were 8 wonderful post linked up. I will be featuring the most clicked on post, plus one randomly selected post.

Please, don't forget to stop by other posts that are linked up. See what catches your eye, stop by, pin the post to a relevant board, and perhaps leave a comment to let the author of the blog know you have been by for a visit. I know I appreciate others commenting and letting me know they have read my posts, so I am sure others do too.

This week's randomly selected post is:

Dawn from The Schoolin' Swag Blog shared Heroes, Horses, and a Hippopotamus: Letter H Preschool Activities and a Printable!

This week's most clicked on post is:

Kelly from Our Everyday Harvest shared Autumn Craft Finds from the Dollar Store

Join the Party!

I would love to have you join in this week! What sort of activities do you do with your young children? Do you have some favorite activities you would like to share? I invite you to link up below. I will be pinning posts on one of my relevant boards, and I would love to feature some of the activities each week from what is linked up.

Please know I may share a picture from your post and link back to it, along with sharing how we used your idea in our school time. By linking up you are giving me permission to use a picture from your post. I will ALWAYS give credit and link back. Additionally, if you choose to try out any of the ideas with your child, please make sure you give credit where credit is due.

Linky will be open through Monday night, to give me time to check out all the posts and get the Features organized. Please take the time to visit some of the other wonderful posts linked up.

No button currently, and there won't be one until I can figure it out seeing as Photobucket has changed things. Feel free to still share the picture in place of the button. Just link it to my Littles Learning Link Up permalink please.

I am sharing over at

An InLinkz Link-up

Wordless Wednesday: November 7, 2018 (w/linky) - Having Fun in the Autumn Leaves

Looking forward to seeing your Wordless (or not so wordless) Wednesday posts this week.

No button currently, and there won't be one until I can figure it out seeing as Photobucket has changed things. Feel free to still share the picture in place of the button on your Wordless Wednesday post or in a list of Wordless Wednesday linkies. Just link it to my Wordless Wednesday permalink please.

An InLinkz Link-up

Creating Our Own Unique Starry Night Paintings with Master Kitz {A TOS Review}

We had the opportunity to create some unique works of homeschool art thanks to an innovative product called Master Kitz The Starry Night from Kidzaw.com. We were sent an Amazon Gift Card via email with which to purchase the kit. Once it arrived, we were so excited to get started.

First of all, it came in this nifty carrying/storage case. 

Almost everything needed for the project was included.

We received:

3 bottles of acrylic paint (blue, black, and white)

2 pieces of 16x20 artist quality paper

glossy detail stencil

textured roller

sponge roller

oil pastels

star stickers

Information sheet which also includes step-by-step instructions

Plus instructions in several other languages

This gave us enough supplies to make two paintings. We were also gifted two extra sheets of paper, so all four of the children were able to create their own Starry Night masterpieces. There was actually just enough paint to be able to complete two additional projects.

We were also supposed to supply some sort of palette, plus tape to keep the paper secure. As we didn't have any paper plates at the time, I took wax paper and taped it to a regular plate. It worked perfectly. 

I will mention that after opening the kit, we did wait til the next day to start our project. The paper and stencil came rolled up, so I rolled the paper the opposite direction and set it back in the box overnight, and I attached the stencil to our easel. This really did help to flatten the paper, though the stencil was still sort of bowed. 

As I had four children working on their own paintings, we did this in two stages. The first day, each child worked individually on art while the others were involved with other subjects. They worked through the first 10 steps, which are all painting steps, and then their papers were set aside to dry. The next day they worked on the final details using the oil pastels. 

Let's take a look at the process we followed.

Amelia was the first one to work on her Starry Night painting. As you can see, we kept the instructions in easy reach, and we covered our work area with newspaper. 

The first step is to attach the star sticker masks. The children can place them wherever they want on the top half of the paper. We love how this helps to personalize the projects.

We started with blue paint.

I used the picture in the instructions to give them an idea of what the texture should look like.

They were reminded to move up and down the page while rolling back and forth. I was noticing that if they went back and forth in one spot too much, the picture lost the textured feel that it is meant to have. You can see what I am referring to in Hannah's painting in the picture below.

The white paint was used next, we figured it was supposed to go mainly in the middle of the picture, though the instructions didn't really specify. Of course, it mixed with the blue paint, as we were told to just put in on the top of the blue paint on the palette, so we had more of a light blue than a white.

It was now time to remove the star sticker masks and tape the stencil down to the newspaper so we could add the black paint.

We noticed this worked best when we used very gentle pressure while picking up the paint as the foam roller rolled easier. However, when placing it on the painting, the children really needed to push down hard to get the paint to go through the small openings onto the paper.

And yes, because the stencil didn't quite lie flat, I helped to hold it down. 

They also had to be careful in a couple of places where the connecting pieces were quite thin. There is one spot where it did end up tearing after the first two uses.

Fortunately, it wasn't too difficult to place the loose section in the right spot for the children to complete their painting. I will also mention that we made the mistake of trying to wipe it down with water after the first use. That was a mistake. You can see the places in the picture above where the water ruined the stencil. I will also say that technically the kit was designed for two paintings, so it did live up to that expectation. And, it might not have ripped if we hadn't tried "washing" it.

Once it was completely covered in black. . .

. . . we removed the stencil.

We let the paint dry before moving on to the next step. There was a suggestion to use a hair dryer to speed up the drying process, but we didn't have time to work on the final details the first day anyway, so I decided we would wait until the next day. Though we don't own a hair dryer, I do believe the paint was drying fast enough that we could have worked on it if we hadn't had other school work to finish. I know the first two were dry by the time the last one was painted.

Moving on to Day 2:

The children gathered at the table and used the included oil pastels to work on the details. Tabitha actually brought her own oil pastels to the table to add some additional color. They worked on giving the stars a swirly feel, and then added color to the fields and buildings.

Here are their finished Starry Night paintings.

The children loved working on this art project, and we were very happy with the results. It was definitely a unique way to create a replica of this famous painting. Though, I will admit, you don't really get the feel of how Vincent van Gogh actually used the brush strokes to get the famous effects. 

Speaking of Vincent van Gogh, we did enjoy learning new information about his life from the enclosed informational fold out. 

This unfolds once to show this interesting flowchart with more information. And then we unfold it again to find the instructions (which I shared a couple of pictures of earlier in the review).

I highly recommend this innovative art kit. It was great fun to use with the children, and they loved the results they achieved. I admit, I was a bit nervous about the paper and stencil being rolled up in the box; however, the paper straightened quite well and as long as there is someone to help hold down the stencil, it is not a huge problem that it doesn't lay flat.

So, if your children (or yourself) would like to have some fun creating art and learn about a famous artist, I really think you will enjoy this kit. I haven't told the children, but I am thinking of getting another kit or two for Christmas. Or maybe even birthdays.

Here is what the children had to say:

Tabitha said," I think it is a fun way to do art and learn about Vincent van Gogh. My favorite part was when we got to do the oil pastels to finish up the drawing because I like doing art for myself, so I'm not a big fan of using stencils, but it was still fun."

Amelia said, "I enjoyed using the art kit. I liked the colors in the oil pastels, but I really wish there was a little more colors. And I liked the van Gogh roller. It was fun."

Hannah said, "I liked the painting, but I don't like that it was all rolled up because then it was harder to use the stencil."

Harold said, "My favorite part was how we got to use the rollers. I liked the one to roll the black on with the stencil best."

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Don't forget to click on the banner below to see what my fellow Crew Mates and their children thought about the Starry Night Master Kitz from Kidzaw.