Playing with Pumpkin Seeds

         Some moments are just too cute not to love and to stop especially when it is a child's first time at the age of 3 or older. I had another one of those moments today that I planned and it went over pretty well, I think. Most of the children loved it and didn't want to stop. Again this is a memory note for me but you are welcome to read it.
           I cut open a pumpkin, that we brought at the pumpkin patch the Monday before, with the children today at my job and at first they were scared about what was inside the pumpkin. They would dig the seeds out with spoons, not their hands. Of course, I got in there with my hands and started digging in it. It did take them a few mins. to get brave enough to stick their hands in it but once they did they loved it.
          They loved playing with the wet seeds more then inside of the pumpkin. We put the seeds in a bowl after they dug them out of the pumpkin. Everyone wanted to play in the bowl of seeds. When they did they all laughed, smiled, and said, "Ewwwwww......". It was great! They wanted to eat them but I told them they have to be cooked first. I could not get the bowl away from them to put it up so we played with the seeds for awhile.
           They said the seeds felt cold and wet. They also liked the smell of the pumpkin. It was just fun to watch how at first no one would be their hands in the pumpkin and I would touch them with my yucky hands and they would tell me to stop. Once they found out that they could play in the bowl of seeds, they loved it. They would play in that and then stick their hands in the pumpkin a few times. They still liked playing with the seeds better, though. Even the little toddlers liked to play in the pumpkin and seeds. They were actually the first ones in the pumpkin but they didn't last too long because they started eating the seeds.
            I was going to do everything inside at our dining tables but then I thought how fun would it be to do a "lesson" outside so we did it outside on the playground. It was a cool, Fall morning to do something Fally like cut and dig in a pumpkin so we did and it was spent mostly outside until it started to rain a little bit on us and then we had to go back inside and play with the toys. The children got sidetracked with them.
            Something new they get to do and yet for me I get to see those smiles on their faces. It is, again, moments like those they will remember forever. The time when they got to try and experience something new and unusual, something from nature, not just when they were playing with toys. That is a whole other entry for me or could be but I won't drag you down with it.