Pumpkins!

The kids were greeted Thursday with 2 orange pumpkins, ready for the carving to begin!  First we had the kids sketch out faces and then we began to cut.  The kids got to help with the carving by using special pumpkin carving utensils.  Many of the kids were engaged drawing, planning or carving the pumpkins.  We talked about the seeds and the pumpkin guts and during circle time we each got to hold a seed and then acted out the pumpkin growing big and strong.  We also started learning the words to The 5 little pumpkins poem.

After circle time,  the blue group was off and running into the woods.  They started through the meadow and then climbed through a big tree-taking turns, one at a time.  Snack and story time included a book about pumpkins and Halloween.

The yellow group hiked "off trail", through the forest, under and over trees until they popped back out into the meadow in time for some swinging on the tire swing in the sun. Hooray for bits of sun! 

The children are still working on safety and listening to the teachers' directions. When the kids get more able to know the boundaries of behaviors and safety they will get more freedom.  But all in all they are beginning to gel as a group.  I heard many of the kids talking and laughing together in the swing and discussing which way to go in the woods.  We had some leaders on the trails and some hangers back. Next week we will be hiding our pumpkins in the woods  and then throughout the year we will watch them as they decompose back into the ground.