Tag: language

Pumpkin Exploration

Hands-On Activities for Kinesthetic Learners

Autumn is here! The air is getting crisper, the leaves are changing color, and we are looking forward to all the traditions of the season! Many of those seasonal traditions in our home involve pumpkins – decorating, crafting, painting, eating… we are all about pumpkins!

A favorite activity for my kids is Pumpkin Exploration. It’s a simple activity that is perfect for kids who like to get their hands messy and can easily allow for some additional education like counting and language-learning. We make a trip to our local pumpkin farm, taking our time to enjoy it and have fun (maybe even take a hay ride or pick apples if still in peak season!) and once we get home, we wash up and get ready to explore.

We used a small pie pumpkin for this activity.

What you need:
🔹 A small pumpkin
🔹 Some newspaper to protect your work surface
🔹 A spoon for scooping
🔹 A bowl for collecting the seeds

What you do:
🔸Cut the pumpkin in half
🔸Explore the inside of the pumpkin, with hands or spoon
🔸Count and remove seeds and place in the bowl
🔸Play with, remove, and discard pulp

My preschooler has fun removing the seeds and pulp with a spoon.

Language-Booster:
While exploring the pumpkin, talk about what you see: seeds, pulp, and flesh. This is a perfect opportunity to introduce or review vocabulary, discuss how plants grow from seeds, and think about where healthy foods come from.

Math:
Count the seeds you find in the pumpkin, compare quantities (how many seeds were in one half? how many in the other half? which number is greater? etc.), and make number groups (groups of 5, 10, 20…).

After exploring, we make diagrams to record what we learned.
Pumpkin Diagram

After my kids are done exploring their pumpkin, we discard the pulp and clean the seeds, and we make our own diagrams to record what we learned. You’re going to want to keep your surface covered in the newspaper for this activity, too.

What you need:
🔹 A piece of blank paper
🔹 Some orange washable and non-toxic acrylic paint
🔹 A paint brush
🔹 Cotton balls
🔹 Liquid glue
🔹 Clean pumpkin seeds

What you do:
🔸Paint the shape of the pumpkin on paper
🔸Create “pulp” by gently stretching out cotton balls, and paint orange
🔸Glue “pulp” and seeds inside the painted pumpkin shape

My niece had fun gluing seeds on her diagram.

Making a diagram is a great way to retain information and record observations made during the exploration activity, while exercising creativity, and allows your child to look back on the activity at a later date to recall what they learned. It’s a great introduction to the scientific method!

Pumpkin Spice Hotteok

While the glue on the diagrams are drying, we prepare to cook the pumpkin. There are so many wonderful pumpkin recipes out there, so take your pick! This time, we made Pumpkin Spice Hotteok (호박 호떡).

Making pumpkin puree is super easy and can be used to make a variety of delicious foods. Hotteok (호떡) is a popular Korean pancake filled with sweet syrup and nuts, perfect for chilly days – and when combined with pumpkin and spices, is a delicious fusion between Korean and American flavors.

To make the pumpkin puree, make sure the outside of the pumpkin is washed well, sprinkle the flesh with some salt, and place cut-side down on a baking sheet covered in parchment paper. Roast the pumpkin in the oven at 400 degrees F until easily pierced with a fork and the skin pulls away from the flesh (45 to 60 minutes). Once cool enough to handle, process with a food processor or blender until smooth. That’s it! It’s ready to use in your favorite recipe!

While still warm, we used our fresh pumpkin puree in our Pumpkin Spice Hotteok recipe, and topped it with whipped cream, maple syrup, and honey butter. They were absolutely delicious and helped to close our day of activities!

The kids enjoyed every last bite of the pumpkin spice hotteok!

Taking the kids through all three activities, from whole pumpkin to tasty dessert, helps them to appreciate that journey from farm to table. They get to be involved in every part of that journey with these exploration activities: picking the pumpkin, exploring the fruit, recording their observations, and even cooking! And along the way they practice math, language, science, and art. It’s a well-rounded educational experience perfect for an autumn Sunday!

I hope you and your kids have fun with these activities, and that they can become a tradition in your home, too. Until next time!

“I Spy” Looking Glasses

Can you see what I see? 너도 보이니?

We are always looking for fun ways to merge learning activities with play time and the classic children’s game, “I Spy,” is a perfect opportunity to do just that! “I Spy” is a guessing game where, traditionally, players take turns choosing something in the immediate area and reciting the rhyme “I spy with my little eye, something that is…” and the other players try to guess what the object is based on the singular clue.

One of the great things about this game is its incredible flexibility – you can use colors, shapes, sizes, and other adjectives as clues (or combinations of them); play the game anywhere you happen to be; practice target-language vocabulary… there are so many ways you can tailor it to your own personal needs!

“I Spy” Glasses template available for download on aerilynbooks.com

To make this game even more fun, we added a craft element to it. Our kids love to make things by hand, so this was right up their alley! Plus, it provides the extra benefits of strengthening their pincer grip and exercising their creative skills.

Use our FREE Downloadable Template to make your own looking glasses.

What you need:
🔹 FREE Downloadable “I Spy” Glasses Template
🔹 Colorful Paper or Cardstock
🔹 Kids Scissors
🔹 Heat Resistant Acetate Sheets (Optional)
🔹 Double Sided Tape (Optional)
🔹 Popsicle Stick (Optional)

What you do:
🔸 Print “I Spy” Glasses Template on Colorful Paper or Cardstock
🔸 Cut Along Solid Lines to Create “I Spy” Glasses

Optional:
🔹 Cut the “Lens” Out of Acetate Sheet and Use Double Sided Tape to Adhere Between the Paper Cut-outs
🔹 Use a Popsicle Stick to Create a Stronger Handle, Taping it Between the Paper Cut-outs
🔹 Decorate with Stickers or Washi Tape

“I spy with my little eye, something that is…”

Use your newly customized looking glasses to play “I Spy” and practice shapes, colors, and vocabulary – your child will love having their very own “magnifying glass” to search for objects around the house! Try playing in your target language, for some bilingual fun, or even go on a bug-hunt – how many activities can you think of for these looking glasses? We’d love to see your ideas in action – tag us in your pictures on Instagram and we just may feature them on our page!