A couple of years ago we found a great pumpkin book at the library called, How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin? We fell in love with this book and it has become tradition that after we have our Pumpkin Day at Black Island Farms, we read this book and then do what Mr. Tiffin's class does. This not only allows us to have a really fun homeschool day, it also allows me to cook up those pumpkins rather than have them wasted on pumpkin painting or carving.
First we gather with our pumpkins around the kitchen counter and take turns guessing how many seeds each pumpkin has.
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Next comes the gooey, smelly part. Instead of cutting the top off the pumpkin and reaching inside to get all the goop out, I just slice it down the middle. Little Man grew a Casper Pumpkin this year and boy did that sucker have a hard hide. This made our experimenting more exciting though, as we got to compare the differences between his white pumpkin and the traditional orange ones from Black Island Farms.
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Now comes the math part of the day. Each child chose how they wanted to sort and count their pumpkin seeds. Little Man chose piles of two's (his Casper seeds were fatter and darker than the Orange pumpkin seeds). Big Man and Big Woman chose ten's and Little Woman wanted five's. After sorting seeds into thirty five piles of five, I believe Little Woman can now count to five with no problem.
Big Man had the most seeds, although "it is not a contest". Big Woman was the closest to guessing how many she had, only four off! And although Little Woman guessed she had five in her pumpkin she did have two fives in her total amount, yes she likes the number five.
Now I can get my grubby paws all over those seeds and pumpkin flesh! Stick around and see how you can preserve and use your entire pumpkin - Pumpkin Puree and Powder, Whole Foods Pumpkin Pike, Whole Grain Pumpkin Cookies.
