Square Pumpkins in Speech

This week in Speech my preschoolers have been learning about pumpkins and all of the fun we can have with them!

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There are so many great books about Fall. Here are some of my favorites:
     
   

The book I chose to focus on this week was “Spookily the Square Pumpkin”. It’s a great book for a variety of ages. The young ones love the funny colored pumpkins and the message of embracing differences is great for the slightly older crowd.

 

I found the book on Amazon; it also came with this great plush toy. Don’t we all love a stuff animal book character?! I also had a pair of boxes that I found at the dollar store a couple of years ago. They nest into each other for easier storage and come in a big one and a little one, which make them great for size concepts as well as location concepts. For all those goals about following directions with basic concepts – this is key!

I use candy corn, counting bears, seasonal erasers, etc. to target location and/or size concepts with these boxes.

I also love doing crafts with my preschoolers. Crafts are great for interacting with peers (asking a peer for the glue), following directions, learning vocabulary, requesting, and more.

My square pumpkin craft allows for students with a variety of goals and needs to complete the same project.

All you need is construction paper: green, brown, and orange. The inside of our pumpkins target both articulation and language goals. I allow students to use dot markers or crayons as they say each target. There are 20 boxes/targets per pumpkin.

You can find complete instructions and the pumpkin insides in this resource:

It would also be fun to fill a pumpkin with real pumpkin seeds and cut pieces of yarn. That would add a cool sensory aspect to the project.