Sunflower Exploration

Sunflower Exploration!

 

 

Thank you so much to Chris' Farm Stand who donated this lovely sunflower to our school.

 

 

The children have been having lots of fun learning some fun facts about the happy looking sunflower such as...

 

**The French word for sunflower is tournesol, which translates literally to "turned sun," referring to the plant's ability to turn itself to face the sun.

**Not all sunflower petals are yellow. There are more than 60 varieties of sunflowers that live around the world—some of these varieties have striped petals. Some sunflowers also have different interior shades.
**There are two kinds of sunflower seeds. Sunflower oil which is used in cooking and in margarines is made from black seeds and snack food is made from the striped seeds. The seeds can also be used as bird feed.
**As of 2012, the Guinness World Record for the tallest sunflower is 8.23 m (27 ft) for a sunflower grown in Germany
**Sunflowers attract bees, making them useful in areas where people are beekeeping and looking to attract more bees.
**Kansas is often known as the Sunflower state and the flower is in fact Kansas's state flower. The sunflower is also the national flower of Ukraine.
Fun facts found on sciencekids.

The children have been using their fine motor muscles to use tweezers to take the seeds out of the flower. We are planning on planting the seeds in our garden out front to see if we can grow our own sunflowers and have the children learn about the life cycle of the flower first hand! 

 

 

So much Fall fun happening here at Haverhill Day Care!

 

Hands on learning is minds on learning!



Pumpkin Exploration!

Pumpkin / Gourd Exploration!

The children have been very busy exploring the wonders of pumpkins and gourds.

Such a humble object with so many learning possibilities! Here is a list of a few of the things the children have been doing with them...

*Discussing the textures that they feel and expanding their sensory vocabulary.

*Looking for the color variations in each one.

*Learning where food comes from and how to be respectful/resourceful.

*Discussing different recipes that call for pumpkin or squash.

*Cooking in the classroom and using measuring cups. (Discussing sanitation and hygiene while cooking).

Check out the recipe for Pumpkin squares that Marcie's class made here

*Comparing and contrasting.

*Measuring the pumpkins / gourds with a ruler.

*Measuring how tall they are and the length of objects in the room using the pumpkins and gourds as non standard units of measurement.

*Weighing the pumpkins using the classroom scale.

 

*Comparing the weight of the pumpkin to other items in the classroom. Does it weigh more or less than a pumpkin?

 

*Using links to measure the circumference of the pumpkins.

*Experimenting to see if they sink or float.

*Experimenting to see if they roll down a ramp.

*Learning about the life cycle from seed to pumpkin.

*Learning about the parts of a pumpkin.

 

*Using their senses to feel and describe the inside squishy guts of the pumpkin!

*Painting/drawing pictures of what they look like and learning to pay attention to the small details.

*Working their fine motor muscles by wrapping yarn/rubber bands around a pumpkin.

*Discussing what we know, what we want to know and what we learned about pumpkins and gourds.

*Singing and acting out various songs such as, "The 5 Little Pumpkins."

*Composting and estimating how long it takes for a pumpkin to rot after its cut open.

 

*Growing and planting a pumpkin seed.

 

*Working their motor skills by hammering golf tees into the pumpkin.

 

*Using the pumpkin like a geo board after the golf tees are hammered into it.

 

*Estimating how many seeds are inside the pumpkin.

and so many more!!!