{Playing Through Autumn Day 27} Pumpkin Carving!

A couple of weekends ago, we made a trip to the pumpkin patch and finally over this past weekend we made good on our promise to the tot and carved the gorgeous pumpkin she had picked. I have to say, outside of the actual trip to the patch itself, this is the single most fun thing we've done all autumn. Just as I suspected, the tot brought her usual curiosity and enthusiasm to this project, and we all had a ton of fun as a result!

No sense in wasting any time! We promptly got the top off that pumpkin and went to work emptying the inside. The tot got the hang of that job in about two seconds flat!

Even Zephyr the Long Dog got in on the action! The tot did a great job scooping out the seeds with her hands, and even with a spoon. The pumpkin guts are a sensory lover's dream!

After the inside of the pumpkin was as clean as we were going to get it, I presented the tot with two options for her pumpkin's face. I wanted to give her a choice, while at the same time keeping things fun and not overwhelming her with too many choices.  Before I even showed her the two choices, I knew what she would pick - but what kind of mommy/early educator would I be if I didn't at least give her the option?

The tot declared she wanted a "Boo!" face on her pumpkin, so Mommy got to work drawing it on the pumpkin, and Daddy lent his mad carving skills to finish off our masterpiece.

When all was said and done, the tot squealed with delight...then promptly moved on to the next thing (which just so happened to be chasing the dog around the living room). I was impressed by how long she stayed engaged, and how much she talked (and is STILL talking) about our pumpkin carving adventure. We can't wait to do it again next year!

{Playing Through Autumn Day 22} Books We Love: Halloween Round-Up Part 1

With Halloween rapidly approaching, it's only fitting that this edition of Books We Love be devoted to all of the wonderful picture books surrounding the holiday. L has become OBSESSED with all things Halloween in the past few days, and of course books are no exception! Here are just a few of the titles we've been voraciously devouring this week - I'm betting they'll make your little ones howl too!

Room on the Broom

Written by Julia Donaldson 

Illustrated by Axel Scheffler

Five Little Pumpkins

Traditional

Illustrated by Iris Van Rynbach

It's Pumpkin Day, Mouse!

Written by Laura Numeroff

Illustrated by Felicia Bond

Pumpkin Eye

Written & Illustrated by Denise Fleming

The Night Before Halloween

Written by Natasha Wing

Illustrated by Cynthia Fisher

We can't get enough of these books! They are silly, not-so-scary, and perfect for little ears! Tune in next week for Part 2 of our Halloween Book Round-Up! Until then, happy reading...and happy haunting!

{Playing Through Autumn Day 19} Spider Sorting

L has been all about counting lately. She just mastered counting to ten by rote, and she's well on her way to counting with one-to-one correspondence. I wanted to capitalize on this interest of hers, so we recently did a little sorting and counting with a Halloween twist.

I found this irresistibly cute silicon baking tray while out and about the other day. Who could resist all that Halloween fun? To this I added those cheap little plastic spider rings (I had a bunch left over from our Halloween rainbow rice sensory bin). Voila! Instant Halloween counting activity.

L quickly got busy sorting those spiders into the baking cups. We placed one spider in each section, counting as we went. Once we hit six, we dumped it out and started all over. It was great fun!

After a few rounds, counting to six lost a bit of its luster, so L went to her rice table and retrieved several more spiders. We lined them up in rows and counted them again and again. There is nothing like engaging a child with something that interests her - we've been at this spider counting thing for several days now!

{Playing Through Autumn Day 16} Halloween Rainbow Rice

Happy October! This is my absolute favorite month of the year (so I feel really lucky to have been born within it!). It's just such a feast for the senses. If you've ever happened to find yourself reading this blog, you know how much we love sensory activities in this house! L has been making the most of autumn rainbow rice, sensory bottles, and cinnamon play dough, among other things, which has made our house just full of autumn-themed play opportunities. Now that we've entered October, I wanted to present her with a sensory activity with a Halloween twist, and so I give you Halloween Rainbow Rice.

I made up two huge batches of rice, one in black and one in orange. (For the method, click here.) I was so excited to come across black food coloring - I'd never seen it before, so I snatched up a bunch! You never know when you might need to color something black.  After the rice dried, I mixed it together and tossed it into L's sensory tub.

For added fun, I included some miniature jack-o-lantern buckets and some small plastic spiders. (They're hard to see in this photo, but trust me, they're there! They have managed to startle me a time or two since we started this tub!) L loves scooping the rice into the pumpkins and pouring it out - such a fun and simple activity!

Has Halloween play started yet in your house? What kind of fun Halloween activities are you doing?