Pumpkins in Pre-K!

During this time of year, our favorite orange fruit starts adorning our porches with silly faces, paint and other embellishments.  Did you think of an orange?  Try again… the orange fruit is a PUMPKIN!  Did you know that pumpkins are considered fruits?  Pumpkins grow from a blossom on their vine that develops into the beautiful orange fruit that we love to carve and eat this time of year.  

In preschool, we have been learning about pumpkins this week.  We learned that a pumpkin starts out as a small seed, is planted in dirt, needs water and sun, and then it starts to sprout.  The sprout looks like any other sprout; tiny, green, two leaves, then it is ready to make its debut to the world!  As the sprout grows, it starts to take on a different trajectory. Instead of growing straight up like a flower or a tree, this stem starts to lay down and turns into a vine which starts to grow longer and longer, and then orange or yellow blossoms start to appear.  When those blossoms are pollinated, they start the process of becoming pumpkins, which over time we are able to harvest and enjoy in October.  

After we learned about how a pumpkin grows, we were able to carve a pumpkin and observe all the parts, inside and out, that make it such a cool fruit.  First, we observed the rind, stem and ribs of the pumpkin. 

           

Once we did that, we were ready to see the contents of the pumpkin.  We cut off the top, and took a look inside.  We could see all of the seeds, fibrous strands and pulp.  Then, it was time to dig in! 

We took turns scooping the contents out with our bare hands to get the best sensory experience.  If we did not want to scoop, we could rub the sliced part of the pumpkin to feel how slimy it was. 

Once the pumpkin was cleaned out, it was time to carve it!  We decided that we wanted a happy pumpkin, so we gave our pumpkin a happy face.  It turned out perfect! 

The next day, we had another surprise!  Ms. Tulo took the pumpkin seeds home and made roasted pumpkin seeds!  They were so yummy and tasted just like popcorn!  We had a great time learning about pumpkins!