Pumpkin Attribute Activity

I found these cute hanging pumpkins one year at Dollar Tree.  I hang them up year after year.  I always meant to do a fun activity with them, but never have quite had time to create it.  There are 16 pumpkins hanging from my ceiling and four different designs.  I mix them up and it is REALLY hard to tell how many different types there are.

I introduced the word "attributes" to them. We noticed that some have two teeth, some have zig zag teeth, curved stems, straight stems, curly mouths, scary mouths, etc... I gave the kids a page with the task of figuring out how many different types of pumpkins there are and how many of each type.

After they finally figured out there are four types that had the same attributes, they had to count how many of each type.  This sounds easy enough, but since they couldn't touch them and they are all mixed, it was a challenge.  Even my GT kids were working very hard to figure this out.  It was interesting that they all wanted to work alone.  I let them pair up only if they wanted to.  

Since I couldn't duplicate my pumpkins for you, I've created a set that you can find in my TpT store or at Buy Sell Teach and use just in time for Halloween!

Available {HERE}

planning pages

Could you tell we had "Pink Out" day today for October Breast Cancer Support Month?  My girls loved it...the boys, not so much. Some were brave and wore pink.

We are Batty in Room 409!

I love to squeeze in some art whenever we can - my whole team does the same projects.  We have some fun art activities that we do year after year, and even when we've done them more than once, we love the way they look in our halls plus, they're new for the kids.  We love our bats for October!

They are super easy.  If you can create the BIG pattern by looking at mine, you've got it.  I was going to create a pattern to share with you, but the size wouldn't work out because we make these on the BIG construction paper.

Step 1: Staple two large sheets of black construction paper together at one of the corners about two inches from the edge.  Trace the pattern in white crayon or colored pencil.

Step 2: Cut out two bats at once (front and back), and DON'T separate the two pieces or they'll have a hard time getting them to fit together again.  They can draw a face on the "front" of the bat (we just leave the back blank except for a name.)   I encourage "happy bats" (no blood or scary bats.)

Step 3: take three tissues or about 9 cotton balls and stuff the head and both wings, stapling as you go all the way around the bat.  This process takes awhile, but if you try to glue it, it doesn't dry fast enough. Hot glue would work great, but it's as time consuming as stapling.  It really doesn't take that long.

We hang our bats up and down the hall suspended from the ceiling.  CREEEPY, but happy bats greet our visitors!

We drove each other a little "batty" today, so we took an "art break!"