A Very Pumpkin Weekend

Our weekend: Family in from out of town, Halloween party at the farm, trip to the cider mill for donuts and pumpkins this time, Annual Pumpkin Carving party, a birthday party, a wagon ride, a bonfire, several costumes, hot spiced cider and pumpkin pie. Oh what a perfect pumpkin weekend!

Jack-o-lantern Paintings

We didn’t get a chance to paint on pumpkins this week… instead we made these pretty cool jack-o-lantern paintings to set on the mantle.

First we outlined our pumpkins, their faces and a few other spooky things like bats with a black crayon. Then we painted over the entire page with water color paints.

The kids were pretty excited with how they turned out.

Pumpkin Muffins

Just a quick post this morning. Before Grandma and Grandpa got here yesterday we made a big batch of pumpkin muffins. YUMMM!

And here is the evidence of the kids helping. LOL! They haven’t quite figured out how to mix without flinging stuff out of the bowl. Size of bowl, size of spoon, sitting on a chair, sitting on the table… it just doesn’t matter. Oh well, they were happy to help clean up.

The recipe is on my Pumpkin Pumpkin post.

Week 8: Pumpkin Pumpkin

This might be a quiet week for me in terms of posting. We have a lot on our calendar and quite a bit of family coming in from out of town. Fun, Fun, Fun.

Week Eight (Oct 20-25)

Book of the Week:

Pumpkin Pumpkin

Pumpkin Pumpkin

Expansion Book:

Pumpkin Circle

Pumpkin Circle

There is a lovely DVD that goes with the Pumpkin Circle book if you can find it at your library. It is a bit too pricey for me to recommend buying it but Scholastic does carry it if you are interested.

Letter of the Week: H

H is for Herb Twopence

We will be coloring the Herb Twopence page from our Flower Fairies Alphabet Coloring Book and reading the accompanying story in the Flower Fairies Alphabet Book.

Craft for the Week: Painting Pumpkins & Gourds

I think we will paint a couple of the little ‘baby pumpkins’ and gourds for some fun decorations.

Field Trip Idea:

A trip to the pumpkin patch of course!

Baking Recipe for the Week:

Pumpkin Muffins

INGREDIENTS

Nonstick spray coating

1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup sugar plus 2 packets heat-stable sugar substitute, or 1/3 cup sugar

1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 ginger

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 slightly beaten eggs

1 cup canned pumpkin

1/2 cup fat-free milk

2 tablespoons cooking oil

1/4 cup orange juice

DIRECTIONS

1. Spray twelve 2-1/2-inch muffin cups with nonstick coating; set pan aside. In a medium bowl combine the all-purpose flour, buckwheat flour, sugar plus sugar substitute or the sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Make a well in the center of flour mixture; set aside.

2. In another bowl combine the eggs, pumpkin, milk, oil, orange peel, and orange juice. Add the egg mixture all at once to the flour mixture. Stir just until moistened (batter should be lumpy).

3. Spoon batter into the prepared muffin cups, dividing the batter evenly. Bake in a 400 degree F oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until the muffins are light brown. Cool in muffin cups on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Remove from muffin cups; serve warm. Makes 12 muffins.

Poem of the Month for October:

Harvest

Now all the farmers from far and wide

Have gathered their bounty of countryside:

Corn and barley from field and wold,

Honey from beehive and wool from the fold,

Fruit from the orchard all ripe, red and gold,

Log for the fire to keep out the cold.

by Dorothy Hancock

Kindergarten/Preschool Term One Overview: Harvest Time