This pumpkin shape sorter is a great, hands-on way for toddlers and preschoolers to learn shapes! My little guys loved matching up the shapes and placing them back into the pumpkin.
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After we roasted pumpkin seeds, I was wondering what we should to with our pumpkin. My toddler’s favorite part of getting the seeds from the pumpkin was putting the top on and off. I thought it would be fun for him to do that with more places on the pumpkin, so I decided to make this shape sorter. This is quick and easy and my toddler thought it was so much fun. Not to mention he got to practice shapes and motor skills at the same time! I didn’t want to leave an opened pumpkin sitting around the house, so after he was finished playing with it, we make a jack-o-lantern which is now on display outside! Three activities in one?! Win-win-win!
To Make Your Pumpkin Shape Sorter:
- Clean and dry the surface of the pumpkin.
- Using a permanent marker, draw the shapes you would like to make.
- Using a knife (adult’s only), cut the shapes out of the pumpkin. Try to make clean, straight cuts. This makes the shapes fit nicely back into the pumpkin.
- Pop the shapes out.
- Cut off and clean up any flesh or strings that are hanging off of the pumpkin and the pieces.
Time to play!
The pieces should fit right into where they were cut from. I didn’t cut the pieces perfectly, so some of them took some turning to get in just the right spot. It was fun to watch my toddler experiment with this.
Almost finished!
Big Bro wanted to get involved too.
After we were finished, we put the pieces back in, turned it around, and carved a jack-o-lantern face on the other side. Now we have a Halloween decoration outside. Yay!
Earlier in our post with the Kids Virtual Book Club, we roasted pumpkin seeds and used our Five Senses:
[…] to make pumpkin butter, but wanted to try something different this time. So we turned ours into a pumpkin shape sorter and […]