Pumpkin Cat ~ Picture Book & KID KANDY

Pumpkin Cat
By Anne Mortimer
(Katherine Tegen Books, HarperCollins Publishers, 2011)

Pumpkin Cat is a story of unlikely friends, Cat and Mouse.

Cat wonders how pumpkins grow. So Mouse decides to show the answer by planting pumpkin seeds. All throughout the growing season, Cat and Mouse watch the pumpkin plant grow and develop baby pumpkins. By fall, Mouse is ready to carve a surprise for Cat.

Delicious illustrations in Pumpkin Cat make readers want to reach out and touch Cat and Mouse. They look so soft and cozy!

Young readers will enjoy the simple text and gorgeous pictures. Gardeners young and old will be delighted at the retelling of the pumpkin life cycle.

KID KANDY:

Decorate a Pumpkin

We can all carve a jack-o-lantern. But did you know there were others ways to decorate pumpkins?

1. Get some newspaper and wax paper. Spread newspaper on the table and cover it with wax paper.

2. Choose your pumpkin. Make sure it is clean and dry.

3. Gather colored tissue paper and white school glue. Squirt some glue in a disposable cup and add a tiny bit of water to thin it out. Find a wide paint brush.

4. Paint a small section of the pumpkin with glue. Tear off pieces of tissue paper and stick it to the glue. Continue painting and sticking on torn tissue paper until the pumpkin is covered. Add a thin coat of glue over the top of all of the tissue paper. Let dry.

5. Look! Now you have a rainbow pumpkin. Happy Fall!

Other art supplies to use on pumpkins: glitter, newspaper, patterned paper, permanent markers, stickers, sticky dots (for buttons, beads, and bits of yarn), ribbons, and curling ribbon.

Watching the Seasons - Fall ~ Picture Book & KID KANDY

Watching the Seasons - Fall
By Emily C. Dawson
(Bullfrog Books, Jump!; 2013)

Watching the Seasons - Fall is a perfect nonfiction picture book. Filled with glorious fall photos, one could not wish for better pictures.

The nonfiction book features are what make this book stand out. Table of contents, charts, glossary, index, short sentences, text boxes, and learning more about the topic section really make Watching the Seasons - Fall shine.

Early readers will love the challenge of reading this beautiful book and learning how much fun nonfiction can be.

KID KANDY:

Rank Your Favorite Fall Activities - And Then Do Each One!

1. Make a list of your favorite autumn activities. Put each activity on a separate index card. Some people enjoy raking leaves, visiting pumpkin patches, carving pumpkins, or touring apple orchards. Ask your family for their ideas.

2. Rearrange the cards until they are in the order of your favorite fall activities.

3. Start at the top of the list and do that fun activity. Place the card on the bottom of the list and continue having fun with all of the other activities.

4. Did you find a new favorite? Did you learn something?

5. Invite a friend to choose his or her favorite and have some fall fun together!

P.S. Fall is my absolute favorite season. I love pumpkins, so one of my favorite fall activities is going to pumpkin patches and buying pumpkins for my house!

Ready for Pumpkins ~ Picture Book & KID KANDY

Ready for Pumpkins
By Kate Duke
(Alfred A. Knopf, 2012)

Nothing could be better than pumpkins in the fall and guinea pigs!

Guinea pigs have been a big part of my classroom environment for most of my teaching years. Sturdy, chatty, adorable, large, and slow enough to catch, both preschoolers and kindergartners have loved and cared for our squeaky pets.

Ready for Pumpkins tells the tale of Herky (Hercules), a guinea pig in Miss MacGuffey's first-grade classroom. After tasting fresh green beans, Herky decides he wants to have his own garden. Using pumpkin seeds he saved from the previous fall when the students make a herk-o-lantern, Herky and his friend, Daisy, planted seeds. And waited. And waited.

Ready for Pumpkins is a funny tale about pumpkins, how we get pumpkins, and the relationship between friends. Too cute too miss!

KID KANDY:

Plant Some Pumpkins

1. Get some pumpkins seeds. Depending on the season, you may have to wait to plant, save seeds over the winter, or get busy right away with a packet of seeds from the garden store.

2. Find a nice large area in the garden or yard that gets plenty of sunshine.

3. Follow seed packet directions. Or, plant 3-5 seeds in a hole on top of a small mound of dirt. Gently water the dirt until it is soaked. Keep the pumpkin hill wet until it starts to sprout.

4. If the sprouts all grow, you may want to take out a few puny ones so the biggest ones can have lots of space.

5. Water your pumpkin plants regularly. Watch as the leaves grow, tendrils curl, flowers bloom, and baby pumpkins start developing.

6. In the fall, you will have your own pumpkins for decorating, carving, and eating! Save some seeds for next spring!

Fun Tip: When my pumpkins are green, I like to use a flat blade screwdriver type tool to scrape the names of my grandchildren in the skin. The scrapes will scar over and make cool designs as the pumpkin grows. ASK an adult to help!

Seed, Sprout, Pumpkin Pie ~ Picture Book & KID KANDY

Seed, Sprout, Pumpkin Pie
By Jill Esbaum
(Scholastic, Inc., 2009; National Geographic Kids)

Pumpkins are one of my favorite signs of fall. I adore pumpkins and cannot wait for the season of my dreams to roll around and please me with the smells, sights, and sounds of leaves, pumpkins, and cooler temps.

Seed, Sprout, Pumpkin Pie is a beautifully photographed nonfiction picture book about the pumpkin life cycle. The pumpkin life stages are shown through photos. Examples of ways we use pumpkins (carving, eating, baking, floating, etc.) are shown in full color. There is such a wide variety of seasonal sights featured in this book, I love reading it just for ideas that get me in the mood for pumpkin hunting.

Young readers will be inspired to hit the pumpkin patch and choose a favorite pumpkin - be it orange, yellow, green, white, smooth, lumpy, tiny, or enormous.

KID KANDY:

Grow Pumpkin Vocabulary

1. Visit a pumpkin patch or even just the grocery store fall display.

2. Check out the pumpkins and squash. There are so many wonderful and varied types of both.

3. Touch, smell, and compare the pumpkins.

4. Use all the words you can think of to describe the pumpkins - smooth, lined, warty, bumpy, striped, fat, flat, huge, petite, and so on. Make a long list.

5. Let your child choose a favorite pumpkin to take home.

6. Describe the pumpkin using vocabulary words. Make it exciting!

7. Happy pumpkin day!

I can't wait to go visit a pumpkin patch and find pumpkins to use for decorations.

Pumpkin Town! ~ Picture Book & KID KANDY

Pumpkin Town! (Or, Nothing Is Better and Worse Than Pumpkins)
By Katie McKy
Illustrated by Pablo Bernasconi
(Scholastic, Inc., 2006)

It's pumpkin time! Jose and his family grow pumpkins in a variety of sizes, from too small all the way to giant and too big to carry.

Before the pumpkins could be hauled off to market, Jose and his brothers had to find the biggest and best seeds from a few choice pumpkins.The rest of the seeds could then be tossed off the hill overlooking the town.

One very windy day, the tossed seeds were carried over the town and fell like rain. What happens next is too funny!

Readers will love this tale of pumpkins. Clever illustrations tell the rest of the tale. It's time for Pumpkin Town! (Or, Nothing Is Better and Worse Than Pumpkins).

KID KANDY:

Save Some Seeds

Jose and his family saved seeds every year for the next year's crop of pumpkins.

Let's do the same thing.

1. Visit a pumpkin patch or farmers market. Choose a pumpkin. There are so many varieties to choose from, I know it will be a difficult choice.

2. Decorate your porch or yard with your pumpkin until it is time to carve it. (Hint: If you carve a jack-o-lantern too early, it will rot before the end of October.)

3. Carve (with help) your pumpkin to make a jack-o-lantern. Save the seeds!

4. Before you cook the seeds (you have to cook them - they are fantastic to eat), choose 5 or 6 of the biggest, best seeds. Let them dry and keep them in an envelope until next spring.

5. In the spring, plant your pumpkin seeds in the garden. You will have your own pumpkin patch!

What is your favorite thing you do with pumpkins?

One Child, One Seed, A South African Counting Book - Terrific Tuesday Picture Book & KID KANDY

One Child, One Seed, A South African Counting Book
Written by Kathryn Cave
Photographs by Gisele Wulfsohn
(Henry Holt and Company, 2002)

One Child, One Seed, A South African Counting Book is a beautifully photographed counting book based on children, families, and people in South Africa.

Nothando lives in South Africa with her aunt and grandmother. The story tells the tale of Nothando planting a pumpkin seed. Each subsequent page continues counting higher and higher and show many scenes in South Africa. Sidebars tell more about the lives of Nothando, her family, and her friends.

One Child, One Seed, A South African Counting Book is filled with interesting cultural information. A pumpkin seed graph, numbers, and number words are features in this picture book. Children who are learning to count will enjoy this book. Anyone who wants to learn more about other countries and the lives of other children will learn much from reading One Child, One Seed, A South African Counting Book.

KID KANDY:

Make a seed graph.

1. Find some seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, or other large seeds).

2. Print numbers 1-10 down the left side of a piece of paper.

3. Print the number words (or ask a parent or older sibling to help you) beside each number.

4. Place the correct number of seeds in a row beside each number.

5. Read your graph! Count the seeds, read the number words, and have fun sharing your graph.