Learning about Pumpkins and how they grow is a good experience and a great process to intake with a child. It was a fun day, where the girls played, performed different activities such as wagon rides, hay rides, and plenty of pumpkin fun.
We showed the girls, pumpkin seeds and explained the process of how to plant and take care of them, the basics being:
Seeds if at all possible should be planted directly in the ground, providing breading and expanding area. However depending on where you live you may want to plant them first in pots and keep them indoors till 2 or 3 weeks before the last frost of the season, making sure the soil is approximately 70ºF before sowing the seeds.
Now here is the thing, our girls are not the most patient and now they have been asking when are the seeds going to give pumpkins. Here is the second lesson of the day: While there are a number of variety of Pumpkins most of them take about to 4 months to fully form sometimes a bit longer. That being said, if your plan is to carve some Pumpkins for halloween, make sure to plant them ahead of time.
Tip: Plant seeds in small groups of 3 to 5 in one space, spaced groups at about 6 feet apart in each direction (it seems big, but you need to leave space for the pumpkins to grow), you can add compost before and after planting the seeds. While you may end up with a number of baby pumpkins in one vine, if you are looking to grow larger ones after they have reached the size of 2 hands, purge the vines, keeping only 2 or 3 at most per vine.
There is more to Pumpkins that meet the eye and remember there is always an opportunity to add more learning activities to every field-trip that you take. On that note Kaylee our 4 year old counted a number of groups of pumpkins and then was adding them up all while having a great time at the Pumpkin patch.
In overall a great Field Day filled with fun activities and a great learning experience for children.
