What's inside a pumpkin?

We began our day with a question: "What's inside a pumpkin?" The most popular answer: a star. Well, at least that apple lesson stuck with them! So when we headed outside this morning we brought along some pumpkins. Three, to be exact. I cut holes in the top and let them have at it.

Some of the children were totally excited to help empty out our pumpkins, but once they saw the eewie insides they found that they didn't want to help afterall. This was a good activity to build our vocabulary-squishy, stringy, gloppy, goopy, wet, cold, etc. Junior said the insides looked like orange spaghetti. We emptied all three pumpkins into bowls and then lastly sorted out the seeds. We will taste test them tomorrow!

I was impressed that Joshua can carry three balls at once when we were cleaning up!

Bekah wanted to show me how strong she is.

Fun with medical props in dramatic play.

Halloween shapes and cutters with play dough.

I am told this is a "hospital, but the doctors are resting".

Gourds and pumpkins to explore.

Today during our large group time we talked about germs. I used a spray bottle to demonstrate what happens when we sneeze or cough and do not cover our nose or mouth. We could see (and feel) how the germs spread all around. We read a book Those Mean Nasty Dirty Downright Disgusting but...Invisible Germs. We talked about how washing our hands and drying them really well will send the germs "swirling, whirling down the drain." Then we did an experiment-we put lotion on our hand, and then sprinkled glitter on them to be the "germs". First, we tried to wipe them away with a paper towel, but we saw that that didn't get them all off! So, we had to go wash our hands to make them really diappear. It was an excellent visual lesson of why we wash our hand SO MUCH during the day. Germs are everywhere!