Kitah Bet and Pumpkins!

Fall time means cooler weather, rainbow leaves, and pumpkin season! We've been incorporating pumpkins and gourds into our sensory table and drama area up until now, and we decided it was time to take our exploration of these fall vegetables to the next level. By now we've familiarized ourselves with the smooth outsides of the pumpkins and bumpy feel of the gourds, but we wondered, what's inside?

Morah Rena cut a pumpkin open first. We made guesses as to what we thought might be inside.

Evan - "Leaves."
Caleb - "Seeds."

Sammy - "Orange."

Annabelle - Pumpkins."

Becker - "Orange."

Lily - "Seeds."

Whoever guessed "seeds" guessed right! And "orange" too, though the seeds were white. We passed the pumpkin and gourd pieces around for a closer look.

The cut pieces were placed on display with a magnifying glass for further independent exploration. The children could examine all parts of the items with their hands, eyes and noses.

While talking about the seeds during snack, Evan suggested, "Let's plant them!" We thought it would be interesting to see what would happen if we planted pumpkin seeds in a pumpkin itself! We scooped out the insides of the pumpkin and then took turns filling the cavity with soil.

Morah Rena placed a few seeds into the soil, and every day we'll chart our pumpkin plant's progress.