Well hi there!
It’s mid-October and I have now officially turned my attention to all things Pumpkin and Halloween-y. 🙂
We’ve secured all the items for Piper’s Halloween costume (after learning that Elphaba from the Original Cast Recording of Wicked is the same voice as Elsa from Frozen, she’s been obsessed with Wicked and will be a very green Wicked Witch Of The West!). And have been decorating as well as taking walks around the neighborhood to admire other people’s decorations.
For the past several years I’ve managed to make and/or deliver a new version of my take on Five Little Pumpkins during the Halloween season. But this year I decided to embrace some new songs! I turned to one of my favorite resources, Jbrary on YouTube (a channel by two children’s librarians teaching oodles of story time songs and activities) and learned the “Pumpkin Chant”.
This is a chant created by Jane Wills Johnston and you can read her blog post about it and may other great Halloween & Pumpkin activities here: JANE’S BLOG.
This chant is accompanied by a gentle slap, slap on the legs and clap, clap of the hands, as well as some easy motions. Check it out:
It’s simple enough for toddlers to follow along, but still lots of fun for older preschoolers and Kindergartners to master. Here are the lyrics and motions:
PUMPKIN CHANT
Pumpkin, pumpkin,
Pumpkin bread!
(Hold hands flat in front, palms up, on lying on top of the other)
Pumpkin, pumpkin,
Pumpkin head!
(Put hands on head)
Pumpkin, pumpkin,
Pumpkin pie!
(Hold hands in a big circle)
Pumpkin, pumpkin,
Pumpkin eye!
(Curve hands around eyes)
Pumpkin, pumpkin,
Pumpkin cake!
(Hold Hands flat, one palm up, one palm down five inches above the other)
Pumpkin, pumpkin,
Pumpkin shake!
(Hold fists up close to years and shake hard)
Pumpkin, pumpkin,
Pumpkin stew!
(Pretend to stir stew)
Pumpkin, pumpkin,
Pumpkin BOO!
I hope the kids in your life enjoy it! I hope you do, too!
Have a great week and I’ll see you in your inbox next Tuesday with some  Halloween move-along fun!
xoxo
Miss Nina
