Harvest Season

Autumn doesn't really exist here in California and even though I love the permanent sunshine here in San Diego, I do miss the change of seasons sometimes. Since we don't get to experience all of the beauty of the fall season, we (Angela and I) brought the season of harvest into our preschool. We started with exploring pumpkins and gourds, followed by hay and farm play. Children enjoyed various squash activities involving arts, science, literacy, math and physical exercises, of course.

Gourds Exploration
Children used senses of sight, smell and touch to explore variety of small gourds. They used magnifying glasses to take a closer look at the plants as we talked about the different colors, sizes and  textures. Later we cut the gourds and pumpkins open. As I was cutting the pumpkins, some children engaged in a conversation about the insides; wondering if they all looked alike and predicting the color of the seeds.

Indian Corn Experiment
I placed an Indian corn in the water and invited the children to observe it daily and notice the changes. It took couple of days for the corn to start sprouting. Below are some of the children's observations as they took a closer look at the plant using magnifying glasses.

10/18/16

Marta: What do you notice when you look at this corn?

Winter: Look at corn! (touching the corn and picking the sprouts)

Nalini: Corn! it has this... sprouts!

Declan: they long, so many! (pointing to sprouts)

Anthony: (wondering) Why the seeds are coming out? Are seeds coming out in the water?

10/19/16

Marta: What do you see?

(no response)

Marta: What color are the sprouts?

Declan: Green and white

Bradley: (holding it up) wet, it drips

10/23/16

Marta: What do you notice about the sprouts, friends?

Declan: so high!

Anthony: they grew!

Once the sprouts got big enough, one of the dads planted a couple of them in our garden. Children were happy to help prepare the soil with water and compost.

Art
Painting inspired by gourds, as well as painting and decorating pumpkins of different sizes.

Farm Play
We set up a dramatic farm play in the sensory bins with hay, pumpkins, Indian corn and farm animals. Children's play involved feeding the animals, transferring hay from bin to bin using shovels, and transporting the pumpkins from place to place in trucks and wheel barrows.

Bales of Hay
At first we set up farm play on the bales of hay but after few days children were interested in climbing on the hay more than anything. I added ramps for the children to climb up and down. I marked one ramp with arrow pointing up and another with arrow pointing down. Children not only practiced their gross motor skills going up and down and balancing on the ramps, but also practiced patience waiting their turn as the area was very popular and got crowded often!

Children are having a blast and my heart is happy!