There’s Lots to Learn at the Pumpkin Patch

Fall is my favorite time of the year! The weather is gorgeous and the leaves, with their spectacular burst of color, are just breathtaking. The minute the temperature starts to drop and the leaves begin to change, wonderful childhood memories come flooding back. There’s nothing like the felling of a warm cozy sweater and a mug of hot apple cider!

For our family, early autumn (Halloween in particular) serves as the official start to the holiday season. My girls love this time of year as much as I do. They smile in joyful anticipation as I haul out the fall decorations. Talk soon begins of what they will dress up as for Halloween and then the next question invariably follows, “When are we going to the pumpkin patch?” Our annual visit to our local pumpkin patch is a one of our yearly highlights and a great family tradition that many share! Here are a few ways to incorporate some fun leaning activities into and after your visit!

Predictions & Measurement
Ask the kids to make predictions about their pumpkins. They can guess the weight, height and circumference. You will find out the weight when you go to pay for the pumpkin, and once you get home you can conduct the other measurement tests to see whose predictions were the closest!

Read, Write, Cook
Turn you pumpkin in to a delicious pumpkin pie and get the kids involved. Ask them to search on-line for a recipe and have them transfer it onto a recipe card. You can even go a step further and have them illustrate the recipe. They can then read the recipe to you and help you measure out all the ingredients

Life Cycle
At the pumpkin patch, ask the farmer to describe the life cycle of the pumpkin (a seedling, vine, flowering plant, green pumpkin and mature pumpkin). See if he can show the kids example of each the stages.

Use Your Senses
Ask the kids to use their five senses to describe the pumpkin. It looks like________. It feels like_______. It smells like_____________. It tastes like____________. It sounds like_____________.

Enjoy your trip. Here’s to a happy healthy fall season for all! Yolanda is the mom of 3 young children in the Delaware Valley and the Founder of Team Tutor.