Pumpkins Day 2

Continuing our pumpkin craze. Yesterday I shared with you our pumpkin muffins and some easy pumpkin crafts. Today it is pumpkin bread and some more pumpkin crafts and lessons.

Pumpkins Day 1: Crafts, Baking and More!

We have had pumpkin on the brain. Did you know pumpkins are a member of the vine crop family called cucurbits? How about the name pumpkin comes from the Greek word "pepon" meaning large melon? Or pumpkins are 90% water and their flowers are edible? Or pumpkins originated in Central America? Or in 1883 the US Supreme Court officially determined a tomato and a pumpkin are vegetables. Botanically speaking they are fruit because they have seeds. (Source: Pumpkin Fact Sheet from Topsfield Fair)

We baked the other two pumpkins after using the smallest one in our Harvest Soup for Michaelmas. Then we needed to find time to do some baking. Finally this weekend, we found some time. We started with pumpkin muffins. We started with this recipe from All Recipes. I cut the recipe in half since I did not want to make 36 muffins and made a few changes.

We did not have any raisins so we skipped those. We used 2 cups of whole wheat flour and 3/4 cup of oatmeal. We were low on sugar, so we used 2 cups of brown sugar very lightly packed. We used a teaspoon of all the powders that called for 1 1/2 and used 15 ounces of pumpkin puree from our pumpkins. Otherwise we followed the recipe by cutting in half. They came out delicious!

We also made some pumpkin crafts. Today I will share the ones we made out of ribbon and paper. We tried the paper ones last year and as I was looking at the ribbons this year, I thought how fun would those be, so I tried them. 

You start with four equal in length piece of ribbon (I found the wired ones work best), two brass brads, some brown and green construction paper and some glue. To start find the approximate center of one ribbon and stick a brad through it and then add the other three ribbons in similar fashion and close the brad. Then bend the ribbons up and taking the outside ribbon first stick each end into the second brad until all the ribbon edges are secured. Close the brad and turn your pumpkin over. Now you can add your stem, leaves and tendrils. See below for that tutorial. For an easier version for kids, the paper works since you can punch the holes where the brads go (three holes in each strip). Otherwise the instructions are the same.

To make the stem, take a strip of brown construction paper and roll it. Put a little glue to secure the edge. Cut the leaves from the green construction paper. I cut mine on a fold so the two leaves would be one piece. Then take a very thin strip of the green paper and roll it around a pencil tightly to curl it for the tendril. A piece of curling ribbon could also be used.

Then you just glue the leaves and tendrils together and then onto your pumpkin and then glue the stem. Hold the stem for a bit for the glue to set and then leave it alone until it dries.

If you use ribbon without wire, you may need to add some support on the inside to get your pumpkin to stand up on its own.  I used a rolled piece of orange construction paper in the top left one and the one directly underneath it shows you the pumpkin without it.

Well that is enough pumpkin for tonight, but stay tuned. I will share more tomorrow!!

Happy Family Times #40--Country Fair

Have you done something fun with your family this week? Kelly from Happy Whimsical Hearts and I would love to hear about it. We are collecting all the different activities we do so we can all be inspired to have more quality family time. Please share below. (Be sure to check out Kelly's post as well to read what her family did!)

The first week in October until Columbus Day is always the Topsfield Fair. Steve usually takes a day off during the week so we can take Hazel. We do not like dealing with the crowds on the weekends. This fair is a typical country fair. It has the animals, the 4-H club, as well as rides and food. It has been going on since 1818 though it was once a cattle show. They have been holding it in its existing location since 1910. (Source) The fairgrounds are large and are rented for different events throughout the year, but many organizations have their booths at the Topsfield Fair and they are permanent. In Greater Boston, it is one of the biggest and closest fairs around.

Having grown up in Connecticut I find it strange since the Big E is also in Massachusetts, but it is over an hour away from Boston. The Big E is the country fair of New England and New York. Each state has a pavilion and there are tractor pull competition, animal competitions, etc. However on the Boston radio stations, etc. you always hear talk about the Topsfield Fair. So this is where we head each autumn.

This year the theme for the Topsfield Fair was "It's All About the Food!" And it is a traditional fair with all the fair food--fried dough, kettle corn, etc. Plus all the fall traditional food--apple cider, apple pie, etc. We did not focus too much on food though. I bought us a bag of kettle corn to snack on and we had lunch. We were a little short on time since we went on Friday and Hazel has dance class in the early afternoon, but it was the only day Steve could get off this past week and it ended up being the nicest weather day of the week (since it rained just about every other day).

We walked in at the entrance at KiddieLand. Hazel of course wanted to go on the rides. We bought five tickets (one for me to go on the carousel with her and the rest for her). However they did not charge me on the carousel since she is so young, so she got to go on five rides. We started with the carousel. Then she went on the small train. Then she tried the flying bears and loved it! So she went on the flying elephants. Then with her last ticket she went on the pink sparkly jeep/car ride. She had a blast. Then we went over to the duck races which started in ten minutes, but we just bought some food and fed the ducks and took off. Like I said we knew our time was limited so we didn't want to wait for things.

Next we went to see some of the animals. We saw some alpaca (and they had beautiful yarn they were selling, but I resisted buying it) and some sheep. The ones I took the picture of had already been used for the shearing demonstration. Then we saw the cows. Later on we cut through the poultry, but it was really crowded so we didn't look too much. The pig barn had a long line so we did not wait. And we had specific things we knew we wanted to see so we did not stop at the bees or the rabbits.

Making international news this year was the largest pumpkin. It actually broke the world record. We went to check it out. Hazel wanted to know why there was a large rock in this special glass house. It was of course the pumpkin. I have to admit if it wasn't a world record breaker, we probably would have skipped this area. While there however I picked up some literature on how to grow giant pumpkins, a fact sheet on pumpkins and some coloring pages for Hazel. You can see them all above along with the information we got with the show times, advertisements and map.

We were rushing because this year Hazel had expressed interest in pony rides and she said she wanted to ride the elephant. I rode the elephant with her and Steve did his best to take some pictures. She rode the pony on her own and told me she did not want me to hold on to her. Last year she did not want to go near these animals, so this was a huge improvement.

After riding the animals we made a pit stop at the bathrooms and then got lunch. Besides a few bees trying to get the apple cider, lunch was enjoyable. Then we headed back to the car. Overall it was a wonderful fair day!

Now it is your turn to share how your family has spent some quality time lately.

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Ok, now for our PARTY!! Please share your FUN Family Times!!

Columbus Day--What does it mean to you?

This Monday is a holiday in much of the United States. The second Monday of October is the day which we celebrate Columbus Day. It is to mark the day in which Christopher Columbus "discovered" the Americas on October 12, 1492. Now this holiday is celebrated in many of the "New World" countries, however it also has much controversy around it. And I will admit I believe in the controversy more than the holiday. However it will be nice to have my husband home on Monday with us.

I thought talking about this day, its history and the controversy would be a great way to celebrate Multicultural Monday as well as Columbus Day. So this day is to mark when Italian Christopher Columbus guided three ships, the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria to the "New World" backed by the Spanish monarchs King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. He of course was looking for China and did not know the Pacific Ocean existed. It is said he was the first European since the Vikings (who came in the 10th century) to come to the New World. And thus "discovered" the Americas in 1492. 

Columbus first landed in the Bahamas. Later that month he spotted Cuba and thought it was China and later he claimed Hispaniola which he believed might be Japan. He established the first Spanish colony there with 39 of his men. He returned to Spain  in 1493 triumphant bringing gold, spices and "Indians". He traveled across the Atlantic several more times in his life. By his third journey he realized he had not found a new route to Asia, but that he "discovered" a new land that was unknown to Europeans. (Source)

Columbus Day became a national holiday in 1937 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. This was due to much lobbying by Knights of Columbus. The holiday was celebrated on October 12 until 1971 when it was moved to the second Monday in October to give people a three-day weekend. However Columbus Day had been celebrated in different parts of the United States. One source says it was first celebrated in New York City in 1792. (Source) I found another source that says it was first celebrated in San Francisco in 1869. The first state to celebrate it was Colorado in 1907. (Source)

Hazel's telescope we made from a cardboard roll from parchment paper, toilet paper roll, duct tape and yarn.

The controversy is that the settlement of Europeans lead to the death of many of the indigenous people in the Americas. There are some stories that say that Columbus and his men handed the native people blankets known to be carrying many deadly diseases like smallpox. As a result there are states, California, Nevada and Hawaii, that do not celebrate Columbus Day. Native American Day is celebrated in South Dakota and Indigenous People's Day is celebrated in Berkley, California. (Source) Opposition to Columbus Day began in the 19th century. Native Americans spoke the loudest about celebrating a day that lead to colonizing the Americas and thus killing so many of their people. Plus to celebrate a man who captured the native people and forced them into slavery is rather upsetting. There are also stories of his punishments being rather torturous when he was governor. (Source)

 

Hazel and Daddy's Ships including one drawn completely by Hazel.

 

However we look at the holiday, it is a day off. And Christopher Columbus landing in the Americas is part of my country's history. So if you are looking for some crafts to do with your children to teach them about the day, here are a few resources for you. All of the places we got the above projects are listed here.

• From Enchanted Learning: crafts, coloring pages, lessons, puzzles (including Native American crafts)
• Also from Enchanted Learning: Lessons on Christopher Columbus, the Explorer
• From Apple4the Teacher: Round up of many sources
• From Kaboose: Many activities, crafts and food
• From DLTK's Kids: Many activities, crafts, and everything you need to play the part of explorer
• From DLTK's Kids: Native American crafts
• From 123 Holiday: crafts
• From Kid Craft Zone: Games and Crafts
• From First School: Boat crafts
• From About.com: Crafts, games, activities including ocean crafts
• From Artist Helping Children: Many different crafts including Native American crafts.
• From A to Z Teacher Stuff: Activities, lessons, crafts (all with appropriate grade level)
• From All Kids Network: Boat craft for preschoolers with template
• From Bright Hub Education: Three Fun Activities to do with Preschoolers
• From Holly's Preschool Place: Lessons and Activities for Columbus Day for Preschoolers

Ok, that is enough to keep you busy! Happy Columbus Day or whatever you want to call it holiday! 

Nature Walk = Leaf Crafts Galore!

Sharing Saturday is still open! Please stop by to share your child-oriented crafts and activities and to see this week's features or just to be inspired by all the amazing ideas already shared!!

The other day Hazel and I went on a short nature walk with the intention of collecting some autumn leaves for crafts. Since it has been raining so much, we observed many mushrooms. We have been trying to decide which ones would make the best fairy houses. What do you think? We also noticed these green seed pods on our neighbors trumpet bush. We thought they looked like green bananas and found them rather interesting.

While picking up leaves, Hazel noticed that the oak leaves have a soft and fuzzy back whereas the maple and a few others do not. I noticed that the oak leaves were mostly brown or green. Now only one neighbor has an oak tree and almost every neighbor has a maple so our choices for oak are limited. 

I recently read on Gingerbread Snowflakes that you can preserve the colors of leaves with Mod Podge. Have I mentioned lately how much I love Mod Podge? So that night while Hazel slept, I painted each one with Mod Podge and left them to dry overnight. The result is slightly shiny leaves (even though I used a matte finish) that still have all their beauty. Hazel was better this year at picking up prettier and not so dry leaves though a few dry ones made their way in our bag.

Today we had fun making some crafts. When we were picking up all the red, yellow and orange (though not too many orange ones around) leaves we thought how they reminded us of a fire, so we decided to make a leaf fire picture. I cut Hazel some brown strips and gave her some glue and a piece of black paper and she made a beautiful leaf fire.  She also used glue and made a leaf man who has berries for eyes and an acorn--not sure what it is for. Though I guess accurately it is a leaf woman since she was describing some parts of it as she made it. I also cut a paper plate in a spiral and had her glue on some leaves so we can hang it like a mobile and let it spin to look like falling leaves. She used a lot of glue so it will take awhile to dry. 

Our final craft was a wreath. I used a straw wreath I bought ages ago and wrapped it with some ribbon I got a the dollar store. Then I stuck some of the leaves in the ribbon and I topped it with Hazel's craft from Lakeshore Learning the other week. It is an Indian corn welcome sign. They had the corn, husks and signs cut and she glued on pieces of tissue paper to be the kernels and then we decorated the welcome part. It is now on our door. Above is a close up of it.

I will save the rest of our crafts from today for another day. What nature crafts have you been up to? I know I'm finally getting in the fall mood here! And if you want more leaf craft ideas check out these posts (mostly from last autumn)!