DIY Pumpkin Manipulatives & Activities

Okay, here is a simple project you can do yourself to make fun, colorful pumpkin manipulatives! (DO NOT EAT!!)

• What you need:
• Brach’s Candy Pumpkins
• Spray Paint (my favorite is Rustoleum Double Cover, usually at Walmart, Home Depot, or Lowes)

*If you buy them AFTER Halloween they are typically half off, depending on where you go.

Buy a couple or a few bags of candy pumpkins, depending on how many you want to make. I used the basic colors of spray paint – Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, Pink, and Black (I may need to make more in white, brown and grey colors).

I set out some newsprint (or butcher paper) in the garage, and be sure to open the doors/windows. Then you paint!

It really is such a simple project. I even painted the orange ones, just to make sure the kids didn’t ever try to sneak a little nibble, since these will be played with a lot and years old (YUCK!!)

Another option if you don't want to paint the pumpkins is to grab a sharpie. You can draw shapes, write numbers or letters, or dots on the bottom of the pumpkins. If you make 2 sets of each you can play memory and other matching games. EASY!!

Then play with them! Here are some ideas...

1. Sort by color 

2. Arrange them in rows

3. Use for any "find and cover" activities

4. Make letters or shape outlines using the pumpkins

5. Put in a sensory bin

6. Draw out of a bag or bin and graph it

7. Sing & act out “5 little pumpkins”

8. Pumpkin Counting

9. Line up in order of the alphabet

10. Line up, least to greatest & vice versa

11. Spell simple CVC words

12. Play memory match (with shapes or letters/numbers on the bottom)

13. Pick a number pumpkin and count that many colored pumpkins

          14.  Match numbers or letters

There are so many ways you can use these pumpkin manipulatives! 

Share in a comment how you have used them, or even how you plan to use them! Let me know if you make these or tag me on Instagram @preschoolalphabet.

*More Pumpkin preschool ideas can be found here

--Kiley

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom ABC preschool

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom is a traditional way we start the preschool year in our house. It is a fun story to introduce the whole alphabet.

• Sensory Bin
1. Fill a small container (6 qt size is what we use) with rice, wheat, beans, oatmeal, sand, or etc.
2. Add ABC letters of some kind – scrabble letters, printed construction paper letters, magnetic letters, etc.
• Magnetic letters are needed for the last project, or you can use tape!
3. Use tweezers or tongs to pinch the letters out.
•  great for fine motor skills!
4. After they find all the letter, start the next project, or let them play in the sensory bin, putting letters back in and finding them again!

• Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault
1. Read this book (or watch it on youtube) to your preschooler.
• They can point out each letter as you say them in the book
2. After you’ve read it at least one time through, use the ABCs your preschooler found in the sensory bin for the next project

• DIY Coconut Tree
1. This is a fairly simple DIY project. What you need:
• 3 tin cans – glued together and painted brown (I used hot glue and spray paint)
• add three palm leaves to the top
• if you have clay, playdough, or wooden balls, set those on the top
2. As you read the book again, tell your preschooler the letters and have them find the magnet letter and put it on their coconut tree.
3. After all the letters are in the tree, let them tip the coconut tree over and let all the letters fall off, just like in the book!

More Chicka Chicka Boom Boom preschool activities can be found HERE.

A is for Alphabet

 It’s so exciting to start a new Preschool year. I love it! There is a big difference between two and three-year-old preschoolers and 4-year-old preschoolers ready for kindergarten next year. This year, I have my 4-year-old. She knows her upper-case letters (by name and can write them) and a lot of her numbers. She knows animals and shapes. We’ll be working on lower-case letters, writing numbers and just playing and having fun doing the things that she loves … princesses, drawing, moving, and pretending. That’s what I love about preschool at home: I can customize it to fit each of my kids.

• Color Letter A Hat … This is a great FREE printable from Beth at 123 Homeschool 4 Me. There is a hat for every letter A-Z! 
  1. Download and print the letter A hat here.
  2. I cut out the hat and taped it ahead of time.
  3. Color!
  4. Trace the letters and talk about the pictures.
  5. Tape to fit head and wear!

• Introduce Alphabet Strip
  1. Put an ABC strip somewhere in your house where the kids can see it. Our last strip was this one. This year, we are using this one.
  2. Let the kids look at the ABCs and tell you the ones they know.
  3. Sing the ABCs as you point to each one.
  4. Find letter A!

• Learn ‘A’ sign language … I love doing this with my kids. I think it’s great for them to learn some sign language to go along with the letters.
  1. It’s come in really helpful when my kids want to know how to spell something and I don’t want to add to the noise (noisy house, quiet church) I just sign the letters to them!
  2. “The Handmade Alphabet” by Laura Rankin is a great book to learn sign language A-Z. Available here.

• Read “ABC: A Child's First Alphabet Book” by Alison Jay … I love this book! The pictures are so interesting. We have fun looking for items that start with each letter in the pictures. Available here. 
  1. Look at the cover and point out A, B, and C.
  2. What else do the kids see on the cover?
  3. My daughter wanted to “help me read”. So I would say “A is for…” and she finished by looking at the picture. Sometimes it was right and sometimes it was close enough
  4. Have fun looking at the little details.

 

• Do ‘A’ Journal Page
  1. We are using a simple primary composition notebook this year. Like this one.
  2. Write ‘Aa’ and “Alphabet” on the page.
  3. Practice writing big A’s and little a’s.
  4. Stick ABC stickers all over the page. Tons of choices here.
  5. My pictures show the difference between a 2-year-old and a 4-year-old

• Watch “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom” video (or read the book) … I’m always a fan of the book, but sometimes it’s fun to switch it up and watch a video version. Book available here.

 

• Chicka Boom Boom tree
  1. PREP:
     • Clean 3 tin cans and hot glue them together.
     • Spray paint brown.
     • Draw a simple leaf shape on green paper.
  2. Have the kids cut out the leaf shapes. Add small snips to make a palm-type leaf. My 4-year-old can do this herself. I cut out the leaf for my 2-year-old and he added the snips
  3. Let the kids tape the leaves to the tree.
  4. We added a few pom-pom coconuts to the top.
  5. Watch or read “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom” again. Have the kids add magnetic letters to the tree.
  6. Of course, the fun part is tipping the tree over (“BOOM! BOOM!”) and starting all over again.

• Play ABC Find & Stick
  1. Write A-Z on a piece of paper.
  2. Give your preschooler a sheet of ABC stickers.
  3. Have them cover up the letters on the page with the matching ABC sticker.
  4. TIP: For a challenge, write lower-case letters on the paper and use upper-case stickers to match. Or vice versa!

 

• Make Alphabet Bead Necklaces … a simple activity, great for fine-motor practice.
  1. Tie one bead to the end of a length of elastic thread. ABC beads here. Elastic thread here.
  2. Let the kids string ABC beads! Of course, my 4-year-old would rather go fancy. She skipped the ABC beads and make a bracelet with our fancy beads. We’re flexible
  3. TIP: The wiggly elastic thread is too hard for my 2-year-old. He did great threading those itty bitty beads onto a pipe cleaner!

A is for Alphabet

It’s the start of another preschool year! I will be gearing our activities to my Just-Turned-3-Years-Old daughter. We’ll be going back to the basics … colors, letter names & sounds, shapes, cutting, coloring, playing. She loves dress-up and baking too, so we’ll do plenty of that.

• Sing the ABC Song

• Read “ABC: A Child's First Alphabet Book” by Alison Jay … the pictures in this book are beautiful. I loved it. I loved how we could pick out several things that started with each letter and also follow a little story linking each one together. I’m going to buy this one to add to our own library.

  1. Have the kids point to the ABC letters on the front and name each one.

  2. Say the letter sound several times as you read the book and look for items that match that letter sound.

  3. The pictures are so interesting. Let the kids enjoy each one!

• Read (or watch) “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom” by Bill Martin Jr. & John Archambault … I couldn’t find our copy of this book anywhere today, so YouTube came to the rescue. It was kind of nice to change up the format and watch it online.

• Hands-On Chicka Boom Boom Tree
  1. Spray paint 3 tin cans with brown paint (empty, washed & dried)
  2. I used hot glue to glue them together to make a tall trunk.
  3. Let the kids help cut out leaves! I was going to do this myself, but it was a great fine-motor, cutting activity! My 3-year-old ended up cutting her whole paper into little tiny pieces. She did great!
     • Give the kids a piece of green cardstock & a pair of scissors
     • Show them how to cut a leaf shape.
     • Cheer them on no matter what shape they cut out
     • I put a small dab of hot glue on the top of the tree and they added their leaves (just be sure to warn them about the HOT glue.)
  4. Have the kids add magnetic ABC letters to the chicka boom boom tree.
  5. When the trunk is full of letters, say, “Chicka Chicka, oh, no!” and let them tip the tree over and slide the letters off. My girls did this over and over a few times.

• ABC Find & Stick
  1. Use a package of ABC stickers. I found these at Michaels for about $2.99 before coupon. There were two sets in each package.
  2. Randomly write A-Z on a piece of paper. NOTE: You could have your older preschoolers write the letters themselves.
  3. Help the kids find the ABC sticker to match each letter on the page.
  4. Say each letter name & sound together as you work.
  5. TIP: My 3-year-old had a hard time finding a few of them, so I would point to an area of 3 letters and tell her it was one of those. She still got to decide which one it was, but it was much more doable for her.

• ABC Sugar Cookies … it was my two older boys first day of school, so we decided to make these ABC cookies for our after-school treat.
  1. Use your favorite sugar cookie dough recipe.
  2. Roll out the dough and use ABC cookie cutters to make lots of letters.
  3. Bake & frost
  4. You can get the ABC cookie cutters here.

• ABC blocks … while we were waiting for our cookies to bake, I pulled out these wooden ABC blocks. I got two sets here. I love the size and colors and simplicity of the font. The letters are both upper and lowercase.
1. Stack them.
2. Knock them down.
3. Point out letters & say the sounds.
4. Find the letters in their name.
5. Sort by color.
6. Find matching letters. I was impressed that my 3-year-old noticed that the lowercase d and b looked alike, but were not exactly a match.

Have a FANTASTIC preschool year!