Pumpkin Prints

Teachers at heart don't stop being teachers just because they are home with their children.  Preschool teachers at heart are known by their resourcefulness and how they can turn regular objects into a creative project.  We can look at cotton balls, potatoes, q-tips, apples, etc, and instantly see a use for them other then what they are intended for.  Right now, since it's fall, the theme is pumpkins.  All over the web, in homes, and at preschool, pumpkins are being used for sensory play, science projects, cooking fun, and of course art!  

I had originally planned for my son to roll a mini pumpkin around in a box doing some "marble" painting with it.  Or if he wasn't interested in that, to simply have him paint his pumpkin as he desired.  But the more I thought about it, the more I really wanted to cut that sucker open, let him check out the innards, then try painting with it.  So, I bought a second mini pumpkin (in case he wanted to paint the other) and we proceeded to move forward with pumpkin prints.     

Michael loves to do things on his own, so I gave him a pumpkin carving knife so he could try to cut the pumpkin in half.  Unfortunately for him, these little pumpkins are tough!  

Even with a large butcher knife, I found it extremely difficult to slice the pumpkin open.

Finally, success!  I loved the tiny pumpkin seeds inside.  I wasn't sure if this sort of pumpkin was edible, so we tossed them.  Not before my son got a hold of them though.  He insisted on copying Garfield from Garfield's Halloween, placing the seeds in his mouth, and spitting them out while saying, "phooey".  Now, since I was leery about allowing him to do this with raw pumpkin innards, on a pumpkin I didn't even know was edible, he snuck some outside, went to the corner of the yard, and did it anyway.  He's been asking to do this for months and when he gets something in his head, it stays until he accomplishes it.  Now, he has no interest in the seeds.  

 Michael loved scooping out the seeds.  

Once the pumpkin was nice and clean, I placed some green and orange paint lids from large yogurt containers.  We've been talking about the life cycle of the pumpkin using this great Pumpkin Life Cycle download from Montessori for Everyone.  We've talked about how pumpkins are green first, then slowly change to orange.  Michael's favorite book right now, which reinforces this cycle is The Fierce Yellow Pumpkin.
 

Stamping green...

Slamming orange!  

Art projects can be very short with us.  Michael is way too active to stay for long.  I was pleased just to get four pumpkin prints out of him!

I wanted to try it out too!   

Need some pumpkin stories?  Check out these great books:

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