Yesterday I shared some Baby Play ideas

Using pumpkins

Today I have three more ideas

That are fun for all the family to try

These are great activities to do

Alongside pumpkin carving

Daddy is the main carver in our house

And this year had to carve five main pumpkins

One for each of our children

And a whole host of others as lanterns

For our Halloween Party

We also tried out some

No carve pumpkin decoration ideas

If you are looking for pumpkin inspiration

Families Online have lots of seasonal ideas

Including how to carve a bat!

Here are three further ideas for playing with your pumpkins

Before, after and while you carve them

Pumpkins and Pretty Lights
Edie loves pumpkins

And has loved exploring them in different ways

Over the past few days

Today it was still quite dark

When we all came downstairs

So I set up some pumpkins

Some Halloween board books

And some pretty lights

Edie loved the lights

All my babies have loved lights

These rope lights are great

As they are safe for baby to handle

They are battery powered

So can be moved around easily

Without trailing wires

They added something a little different to our play

Edie loved feeling the pumpkins

She also loved the wooden arcs

From our Grimms Rainbow

She loved the books

Turning the pages and looking at the pictures

She also adored being read to

By big sister Bea

This play is going to slowly change this week

To be more about fireworks

Light and colour

In readiness for Edie’s christening

On Bonfire Night

November 5th

Pumpkin Potions
We are currently reading Harry Potter

Esther and William are potion mad

We have done lots of potion experiments recently

As part of our home education

And our current role play corner

Is a potion shop

Today we carved out pumpkins

To be our cauldrons

And I set up the following ingredients

Crushed werewolf bones – baking powder and bicarbonate of soda

Witches wee – vinegar

Bats blood – vinegar and orange food colouring

Dragon blood – red food colouring and water

Mountain troll snot – green food colouring and water

Skeleton dust – silver glitter

Pixie blow offs – gold glitter

The children all had wands and stirring sticks

And free reign over their ingredients

They had such fun

Making their pumpkin potions

Seeing how violently they could get them to explode

With colour and glitter

We definitely needed the gardening trays

That we had sat the pumpkins in

To catch the fizzing bubbling concoctions

This really was such good fun

Even us grown ups were joining in

And squealing with delight

When things went well

This is definitely a play

That we will be exploring again

Pumpkin Window Play
This activity used our pumpkin insides sensory bag again

Only this time taped to the patio doors

The sunlight shining through the innards

Added a new dimension to this mess free messy play

Having the bag taped to the window

Also meant that Edie was encouraged to sit up

Straight and strong

This activity was initially set up for Edie

But actually Esther and Bea really enjoyed it too

Pushing the pulp and seeds around the bag

Is a strangely soothing thing to do

For added spook and challenge for the older children

I added eyeballs for them to find and count

This is still taped up ready for more

Discovery and play tomorrow

Happy Halloween!

This is a collaborative post