October 17 – 21
This week we will have pumpkins at preschool – in the play area, at the art table and in the sensory table. We will have orange playdough and cookie cutters at the play dough table. A pumpkin is a sensory experience in an orange ball (or other colors and shapes!) Talk to your child about the color, the size, the shape, the texture. You can scoop out the seeds and roast them or buy some at the store and talk about where they come from. There will be farm and garden books in the library area. Talk to your child about where our food comes from and how plants grow. Remember that some children love to explore and get messy while others will just want to look at the pumpkin. Either way your child is learning and developing new informational pathways in their brain. These early experiences are stored and used to build the foundation for later learning.
Developing and Cultivating Skills with a Sensory Table
By Danielle Steinberg
Is it smooth and wet or bumpy and dry? Is it sticky and gooey or slippery and fluffy? Does it tickle? Can it change shape? These are just a few of the questions that children can explore while using a sensory table. Learning with a sensory table is more than a fun time-filler; it allows them to gain insight and information about the world around them by providing essential hands-on experiences. Investigating materials with no preconceived knowledge also helps develop and refine cognitive, social and emotional, physical, creative and linguistic skills Remember, there is no right or wrong way to use a sensory table; they are appropriate for all ages, genders and races. Encourage your child to explore: don’t overwhelm him with tasks and don’t be too quick to answer his questions
Songs & Rhymes
Have you ever seen a pumpkin?
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 bumpy one, a squashed one.
Have you ever seen a pumpkin that grows on a vine?
(You can add your own adjectives to describe it)
Pumpkin Song
We are pumpkins big and round, big and round, big and round.
We are pumpkins big and round.
Sitting on the ground.
Pumpkin Poem
Pumpkin, pumpkin, round like a ball.
Pumpkin, pumpkin, high on the wall.
Pumpkin, Pumpkin, sit up tall.
Pumpkin, pumpkin, tip and FALL!