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MINDFULNESS ACTIVITIES FOR YOUR PUMPKIN THEME
I've gathered some kid-friendly, mindfulness activities for your pumpkin theme. These pumpkin-themed activities will fit perfectly into any Fall-inspired lesson plan and are simple to use. And, your preschoolers will want to participate because the activities are kid-friendly and fun.
RELATED:
Mindfulness activities for your fall leaves theme
pebble meditation for fall
PUMPKIN READ ALOUD
Have you ever read, "The Ugly Pumpkin" by Dave Horowitz? It's a cute story with bright, bold pictures and fun, bouncy rhymes. It's about a pumpkin who feels picked over and left all alone because of the way it looks. Until, one day, the ugly pumpkin discovers it's actually a squash and feels right at home alongside the other squash in the garden.
Now, while I like the story and the message about self discovery, I could never read the book and not take the discussion one step further.
I think it's sad that the pumpkin had to endure cruelty and bullying because of the way it looked. It was excluded from other groups and cried just because others thought it was ugly. This is not what we want to teach children.
We don't want to teach children that we all have to look, or act, or be the same in order to be treated with kindness or to fit in and be accepted. Instead, we want to teach the messages of kindness and inclusion. We want to embrace our differences and celebrate our uniqueness.
So, enjoy reading the book to your class and discussing the journey of self-discovery that started as a pumpkin and ended as a squash. But then, continue the discussion about how once the squash found out who it truly was, it can feel confident and comfortable being itself even when it is around those who were cruel and mean like the skeleton and the trees.
Here are some questions to start your discussion:
- What is the ugly pumpkin feeling based on the front cover? How can you tell? Can you guess why it feels that way before reading the book?
- Do you think the pumpkin is ugly?
- Can you find something nice to say about the pumpkin?
- Did you ever feel like you didn't belong or fit in? How did it feel? What did you do about it?
- Were you ever teased because of the way you look or act? How did that make you feel? What did you do about it?
- How did the pumpkin feel when it discovered it was really a squash? How do you know?
- Can you say something nice about yourself right now?
- Can you say something nice about the friend sitting next to you right now?
- If you were the skeleton, would you have taken the ugly pumpkin?
- What would you have said if you were the tree? Would you have used cruel, mean words or kinds words?
- Can you find something about yourself that makes you different from everyone else? Do you love that part of yourself? Why or why not?
- Can you celebrate the differences among everyone in your class?
- Are you kind to and include others who aren't like you?
- Do you think you can feel confident and comfortable with yourself even if you are around someone who is teasing you? What would you do?
I listed a lot of questions so don't use them all, pick and choose the ones that work for you and enjoy the discussion!
PUMPKIN YOGA ACTIVITY
When you add pocket dice together with yoga and some pumpkin fun, you get an engaging, kid-friendly mindfulness activity for your pumpkin theme. I speak from experience- kids love to roll the pocket dice AND they love the movement break from the yoga. It's a win-win.
If you don't have pocket dice, you'll want to grab some. Believe me, you will find so many ways to use them and like I said, the kids love them. But, if you don't have any dice and you want to get started right away, you can still use the printables as cards.
I put all of the instructions for pumpkin yoga using the fun dice in the Mindfulness Library for you. You will find the detailed instructions along with suggested yoga poses and two templates for cards that you can print and add to your pocket die. One template is a softer watercolor version and the other is a bolder, more vibrant set of cards, you choose.
It's all FREE and waiting for you in the Mindfulness Library.
PUMPKIN DETECTIVE- Another Mindfulness activity for your pumpkin theme
Pumpkin Detective is one of my "focus and notice" mindfulness activities for your pumpkin theme. For this mindfulness activity, you will need a small pumpkin for each child. If you can't get enough pumpkins for each child to have one, then you can pair the kids off or group them in threes. Give each child or group a pumpkin. Have your kids settle in and take a couple of deep breaths.
instructions
- Instruct your kids to quietly focus and notice things about the pumpkin using their five senses. Have them notice its color, size, and shape along with any unique markings it might have. Have them notice the scent and how it sounds when they tap it. They can run their hands over the surface to notice how it feels. Are there any bumps or ridges?
- After they have had some mindful time with their pumpkin, put all of the pumpkins together in one place. Then, have the kids turn their backs so they can't see while you move the pumpkins around and mix them up. Leave some space between them because the kids are going to come back to the "patch" and try to identify their pumpkin.
- Give them time to move around the pumpkins and figure out which one was theirs. You can offer hints like reminding them to think of the size, or any unique markings. You can have them recall the texture or the way it smelled. Was there something unique about the stem? They can use all of their senses to track down their original pumpkin.
variations
Here are a few variations so you can repeat this activity over and over. Start with the simple version above and then you can move to these versions which are slightly more difficult.
- Have your kids spend some mindful time "focusing and noticing" their pumpkin, but this time instead of identifying their pumpkin immediately after, move onto another activity first and then come back to it.
- Try doing the activity blindfolded. Your kids can use any of their senses except sight.
- You can have a discussion about what each child is feeling during the activity. Some might feel excited and up for the challenge while others might feel frustrated or discouraged. Ask questions about why they might be feeling that particular way or if they can remember feeling that way in the past and what was happening at that time.
- You can purchase different sets of foam pumpkins to change the difficulty of the activity. By using sets where the pumpkins are similar to each other makes the activity more difficult and by using a set where the pumpkins are less similar to each other makes them easier to identify.
- If you can't use real pumpkins, you can always find pictures of pumpkins. Or you can use anything else you can easily find in nature like leaves, acorns, pinecones or even rocks.
Have fun with it and use the variations to repeat the activity again and again. If you like the "focus and notice" activities, you can click the link below for an apple art study version.
related: Apple-themed mindfulness activities for preschool
related products and lesson plans
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MINDFULNESS LESSON PLAN-PUMPKINS
MINDFULNESS LESSON PLAN- FALL LEAVES
MINDFULNESS LESSON PLAN- FALL
If you're looking for more easy, kid-friendly ways to sneak in some mindfulness this Fall, then have a peek at the Fall-related lesson plans right above. You'll find even more mindfulness activities for your pumpkin theme, your Fall leaves theme, and general Fall related activities that are perfect for any Fall theme.
Which activities will you be trying? Let me know below.
~ Dawn
