Pumpkins and Farm Monthly Theme

We're enjoying our themes and had fun last month. Of course, in October we need Pumpkins for Halloween. The other holidays for October went pretty well with the themes I had wanted anyway. Farm Animal Day how perfect. The last week we will spend doing Halloween-type things with Frankenstein Day.

• 1st- Homemade Cookies Day

• 2nd- Farm Animal Day

• 6th- Mad Hatter Day

• 14th- Dessert Day

• 25th World Pasta Day

• 27th- Frankenstein Day

• 31st- Halloween

The activities for these holidays include-

Homemade Cookies Day- Of course we'll make cookies together and he'll help put the ingredients in the bowl and mix some. I find it's easiest if I have everything measured out ahead of time. Soon though we'll work on him measuring too. I'm not a fan of my toddler working with raw egg so I found this Eggless Chocolate Cookie. Works on following directions, counting, understanding action words

Farm Animal Day- We'll take the Little People's Farm out for the rotation. We'll go over the animals and follow directions to make the animals eat, sleep, and go in their marked stalls. Works on following directions, identifying familiar items, understanding action words, genders, understanding the concept of one and all.

Mad Hatter Day- I looked it up to see what it was about and it's a holiday to celebrate silliness, so we will be silly. We will make some silly hats or use the ones we made in September and have a silly snack similar to the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland. We will sing some silly songs. Works on following directions,

Dessert Day- Everyone likes dessert right? We will get back in the kitchen and make another dessert. I saw these adorable pumpkin patch dirt cups and I know they'll be so much fun to make and eat. It will work on following directions Works on following directions, counting, understanding/using action words

World Pasta Day- We will play in our pasta sensory bin even though we will have a different sensory bin for the month and have pasta for dinner. I let my little helper dump the pasta in the water with a lot of assistance. Be careful. Works on following directions, understanding/using action words

Frankenstein Day- I saw this Paperplate Frankenstein project and thought it was so cute. I will make a paper nose and mouth, along with some stitches instead of drawing it. This way my Little guy can glue on the pieces where he would like. Works on following directions, body parts,

Halloween- Since Halloween is on my Day off we will probably go visit my parents' house who live 45 minutes away and tick or treat with cousins and friends that live over there too. My little one will be Mario and his wagon will be his Kart. There will definitely be pictures. I am one of those Moms that doesn't let him have a lot of candy and only certain kinds so whatever he does get will probably get donated to Daddy's coworkers and get switched out for a lovie or something. We're getting on board with that Switch Witch. When Daddy gets home from work we'll work on relating recent experiences and answer questions about our day. Works on relating recent experiences through verbalization, answering questions with yes or no.

Other Activities for the month will be

Sensory Play

Sensory bin- We'll be doing a Pumpkin Patch Sensory Bin with black beans. Most of the month will just have some little pumpkins in it and some small buckets to count the pumpkins. You could do orange pompoms similar to the red and green pompoms we used for "apples" in our oatmeal bin for September, or candy pumpkins. For the last week, we will add some Halloween items like spiders, eyeballs, skeletons, or bats. works on counting, sorting the items, fine motor skills

Playdough- We will make some Pumpkin Spice playdough and have pumpkin cookie cutters. We like a good pumpkin spice in the fall. I like making the playdough because my little guy has been very into tasting it again lately. We'll use pumpkin cookie cutters, and some little pumpkins to push into it. You could add googly eyes and make a face on it. Works on following directions, fine motor skills.

Pumpkin Activities

Painting pumpkins- We will paint some little pumpkins and then use them for decorations around the house. We'll probably send a couple home with Grandma and Grandpa. Works on following directions, naming colors

Carve pumpkins- closer to Halloween we will carve pumpkins with the real simple shapes kind of face, triangle eyes and nose, and a circle mouth. Daddy will do the cutting, but it'll be a whole sensory experience with the pumpkin guts. My little guy will help clean the seeds and then we will roast the seeds. I'm thinking this will be a whole weekend event. When letting littles help things usually take so much longer but the experience and learning that goes with it are priceless. works on body parts, shapes, following directions, sensory play

Farm Activities

Little People Farm Play- Like I've said we will take the Little People Farm back out, it had been rotated out for a while and now it's time to come back in. We will name animals and sounds and follow directions to put the animals in the stall and feed the animals. Depending on what type of people you have, you could work on genders and pronouns. You can ask questions about what the people or animals are doing on the farm. You can use pretend play and make the people or animals talk to each other. works on following directions, identifying familiar items, using plurals, and prepositions, answering wh questions, relating recent experiences, using verbs, choosing one object from a group of five upon verbal request

Muddy pigs- He enjoyed playing with his pig toys in chocolate pudding "mud" and then cleaning them. So we will do that again. It's ok to repeat activities. I will probably set it up a little differently this time with 2 separate bins, one for the pig to play in and then one with water and brushes to clean them. works on following directions, counting, plurals, and prepositions.

Field Trips

Pumpkin patch- I know we will be going to the pumpkin patch with the Grandparents since it has become a new tradition. I have a large family with 11 grandkids and on the other side, my little guy is the only grandkid. Getting to do something with my parents with just my boys doesn't happen very often so we are trying to be a little more purposeful lately. Not that I don't enjoy big family things but I also like my boys getting some more special attention. My little guy gets all the attention on the other side, and my oldest used to get all the attention when he was the only grandchild. We also have a homeschool group field trip planned for the same place but might be doing different things. work on sizes, following directions, colors, choosing one object from a group of five upon verbal request

Visit Farm animals- We might not go to an actual Farm to visit farm animals but a local, smaller zoo has a farm area. We will name the animals and read the signs for them. We were at the Fair last month so we saw, named and pet all the farm animals there. works on identifying familiar items, animal sounds.