Dramatic Play Pumpkin Carving

As the holidays begin and Fall arrives, my classroom begins buzzing with excitement over all of the holiday activities. One of our Fall favorites has been the dramatic play pumpkin carving. Along with several other Fall and Halloween props, pretend pumpkin carving is one that every scholar takes special interest in each year.

Supplies

Over the years, the craft pumpkins have been made of stronger, longer lasting materials. The current pumpkins in our activity have lasted over two years, despite taking a bit of a beating for three weeks out of each school year. The initial investment is worth the cost, as long as you can get them on a reasonable sale or even seasonal clearance. It's imperative to purchase and use tea lights with a child-safe battery compartment. The tea lights we use have the battery compartment screwed shut with a micro screw.

Materials for the pretend pumpkin carving include:

• faux hollow pumpkin (we use the 6.5" craft pumpkins from Michaels)
• orange yarn snipped into various lengths
• dried pumpkin seeds
• scoop (the 98 cent pumpkin carving kit from Walmart has the perfect size scoops for small hands)
• battery operated tea light (with child-safe battery compartment)

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Present

Once you have carved the pumpkins, fill each with enough yarn strings and sprinkled in dried pumpkin seeds to give the feel of real pumpkin carving. I set out a big black cauldron as the collection bowl for the pumpkin innards. When my scholars have completed their imaginary play, they scoop a good portion of the innards back into the pumpkins for the next peers to use. It's so simple, yet so much fun for little scholars to use their incredible imaginations with. 
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