I love October. Yes, the trees look fabulous wearing their brilliant regalia, but as a facilitator in early childhood education, the season offers a panoply of themes to build:
Today I begin with a favorite: Drawing Pumpkins
A pumpkin is essentially a circle (or approximation of one), two parallel lines on top with a horizontal line connecting the vertical to form the stem. Even three year olds can scribble up a pumpkin successfully.
For preschoolers getting ready for Kindergarten, demonstrating a specific way to draw the circle and connect the lines provides a foundation for later letter formation.
Jack-o-lanterns are a great way to learn about basic shapes.
For Kindergarten and older children, changing the features to make happy, sad, scary and angry faces also helps build spatial relationship reasoning.
Materials:
- Paper
- Any writing tool (crayons, markers, pencils…)
- Scissors
- Glue stick or tape
Suggestions:
- Shapes can be pre-cut or traced for younger children
- Older children should be required to make a plan and figure out several different configurations to help reinforce spatial learning
More to come: Angry Cats Creepy Spiders and lots more about… Pumpkins
Jill, I would like to speak with you about visiting my class at CCNY this spring to educate future teachers about the value of OT. Please get in touch if you are interested.
Hi Sara,
apologies for just getting back to you…as you can see I do not check the website much at present. I would be very interested in discussing a speaking engagement in some format…I do a day long workshop at Bank Street college each year. Best to reach me at jill.mays@gmail.com