Can a room full of 2-3 year olds hear three book titles, hold all three in their heads, and then pick a favorite? Apparently, YES! And not only did they pick one - they remembered its name!
Because it was October (of course!), I brought three pumpkin and Halloween books to class this time. I pulled them out one at a time, read each title out loud, and lined them up side by side on a small table. Then I asked the children which book they wanted to "read." Some pointed. A couple of them called out the title. And the winner? Pumpkin Heads!, unanimously. I'm still not sure if they already knew the book or if those bright orange pumpkins against the darker background on the cover simply won their hearts. Either way, I was amazed that they remembered the name after hearing all three!
A Book Where Every Page Stands on Its Own
Pumpkin Heads! is a beautifully illustrated book with just ONE simple sentence on each page, paired with a vivid, colorful picture that shows the concept or vocabulary word right there. There's no storyline to follow, which means each page can stand on its own. (You could skip a few pages and nothing would be lost - a real gift when you're reading to toddlers!) With so few words and such bold pictures, we were able to read the book cover to cover.
The children's favorite part was talking about the facial expressions on the pumpkins. As they pointed to the pictures, they named the feelings they saw: happy, sad, angry, silly. I modeled the faces myself, and the children did their best to imitate my facial expressions.
Heavy, Light, Big, Medium: Getting to Know Our Pumpkins
Now for the real stars of the show! I set out five REAL pumpkins in different colors, sizes, and textures, and the children dove right in. They touched them, felt their textures, lifted them, pushed them, and rolled them. Then came a bigger challenge: lining the pumpkins up by size. It took a few trials, a few errors, and some good old-fashioned teamwork to get the order just right.
The children named the colors and described "big" and "small" all on their own. And along the way, they picked up some new words and repeated them with me: "medium" for size, "heavy" and "light" for weight, and "bumpy" and "smooth" for textures.
And then came my favorite moment. When I said that one pumpkin was LIGHT, one little guy looked a bit puzzled and said, "Turn on the light!" What a perfect chance to talk about how some words can mean more than one thing!
Pass the Pumpkin… BOO!
Next we played a little "pass the pumpkin" game with a spooky song. I found the tune online and used it, and here's how it goes:
Pass the pumpkin round and round,
Listen to the spooky sound.
Ooooo, Ooooo, will it land on you?
BOO!
Every time we said "BOO," the song stopped, and whoever was holding the pumpkin got to pick an object out of a cloth bag. They pulled out an object (an apple, a magnifying glass, a ball, a small toy basket, or a spray bottle), named it, and then told us how we use it. The children got "BOOed" turn by turn, and without even realizing it, they were practicing so many skills: passing until they heard the song stop, waiting for their turn, taking turns, and even a little impulse control by NOT pulling every object out of the bag at once!
After that, we sang another pumpkin song that I found online, this one about pumpkins and their faces:
Five little pumpkins sitting in a row,
Each with a different face to show.
Jack, Joe, Edgar, Allen, and Poe...
Jack was the one with the Happy face.
Joe was the one with the Angry face.
Edgar was the one with the Sad face.
Allen was the one with the Worried face.
Poe was the one with the Spooky face.
I had drawn faces on five little pumpkins, and as we sang, I modeled each expression while the children looked at the pumpkin faces and tried to copy me. Happy, angry, sad, worried, spooky… we went through the whole range of feelings in one little song.
Scoop, Scrape, and… Squish!
Then came the BIG moment. I had cut the top off the largest pumpkin before class, so all that was left was the fun part! I brought a child-safe scraper and scooper, and the children dug right in, exploring the slimy insides and scooping out SO many seeds.
The sensory words came flying out: "slimy," "sticky," "cold," and "wet," some on their own and some repeating after me. All of the children wanted to take part, but a few of them paused when the slimy insides touched their hands or arms. And that's perfectly okay! Every child has their own comfort level with different textures, and being able to watch, join in, or take a break is part of exploring.
Playdough Pumpkins (with Real Pumpkin Seeds!)
I dried the pumpkin seeds at home and brought them back for the next class, where they turned into art supplies! At the work table, we used orange playdough to make playdough pumpkins, and the children could add googly eyes, pumpkin seeds, and pipe cleaner stems. Some children loved poking and pressing the seeds into their playdough. Others simply enjoyed rolling the playdough out and balling it up, and one little one preferred to watch from a distance, without touching it at all. All of the playdough pumpkins went home with the children at the end of class.
What I Noticed This Time
Here's something different: unlike with previous books, the children did NOT go back to this book on their own again and again. They were so engaged in the hands-on activities that the real pumpkins were the highlight of both classes. I wonder if it's because Pumpkin Heads! has no storyline to pull them back in, or simply because the real, squishy, rollable pumpkins were so much more exciting than a book on a table. Probably a bit of both!
What I do know is that the simple sentences and bold, colorful pictures made it easy for me to read the whole book from cover to cover. Sometimes a book doesn't have to be the star - it can be the spark that gets the pumpkins rolling.
Little Friends, Growing Fast
If I had to pick the most special part of these classes, it wouldn't be the slimy scoops or the playdough (though both were wonderful). It would be watching the children bond. They are starting to play WITH each other during class, using more and more words, and their overall social interaction skills have grown considerably. They shared materials and waited for their turns. THAT is the real magic of our Talk and Tinker classes.
Why Real-Life Exploration Beats Any Flat Page
Pumpkin Heads! reminded me why I love pairing books with real, hands-on exploration. A book can introduce the words "heavy," "bumpy," or "medium," but nothing beats actually holding a heavy, bumpy, medium-sized pumpkin and feeling those words in your hands. When children get to see it, touch it, move with it, and talk about it, the words don't just make sense… they stick. Which is why I love this saying often attributed to Maria Montessori: ‘What the hand does, the mind remembers!’
Here's to many more Sensory Speech Adventures - rolling, scooping, and BOO-ing right along with our little ones!