pounding pumpkins

Here is a great way to get one last activity out of your pumpkins before they bite the dust.  You will need:  pumpkins, golf tees, and a hammer.  

 Pounding pumpkins was always one of my favorite activities in my classroom.  The children loved it too.

Abby tried it, but was not a fan.  

She did like pounding the golf tees into the pumpkin pie play dough.  Tomorrow we will try pushing my sewing pins into the pumpkin.  Abby has an obsession with my pins so I think that will go over a little bit better.

I could see this along with the pumpkin pie play dough being a hit at the kid's table after Thanksgiving dinner.  Let me know if you give it a try.

pumpkin pie play dough

Here is the hands down best recipe for play dough:

• 2 cups water
• 2 TBS vegetable oil
• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup salt
• 2 TBS cream of tartar
• 2 TBS pumpkin pie spice 
• food coloring (I used the orange gel food coloring, but liquid works just fine)

Mix the wet ingredients with the food coloring over a low heat.

Add the dry ingredients and mix well.

Remove the warm dough and knead until the play dough is smooth in consistency.

We decided to make pumpkin cookies and pumpkin pies.  I gathered some pyrex spice dishes, plastic knives, pumpkin cookie cutters, and child size rolling pins.

It seriously smells delicious.

Eleanor on the scene.

I want some.  Now.

Any guesses on what she does next?  You bet.  She eats it.  Should that be reason to say she should not be allowed to join our fun?  Nope.  That's what little ones do.  They explore with their mouths.  Eating this play dough would not hurt her.  It tastes really salty though, even with the pumpkin pie spice.  (Ask me how I know?)  So I went with the tasting for a bit and then showed her some different things to do with the play dough other than eat it.  She still tasted it throughout our play time, but she also pounded with roller, batted at it with a knife, broke it into a million pieces, and then filled up our dishes and dumped.  The breaking and dumping kept her attention for nearly fifteen minutes.  Really important work for a toddler.

A little pumpkin patch made by Abby.

And a pumpkin pie for Daddy.  It's his favorite.

So if you have a kid table at Thanksgiving dinner, wouldn't this be kind of fun to play with while the turkey is digesting and prior to letting them destroy the play room?  Let the babies try it too.