Now that it’s been pumpkin and Halloween season for some time, the children are diving deep into stories that include spooky creatures or harvesting fall fruits and vegetables. One story that the preschool group grew fond of is called Big Pumpkin by Erica Silverman. This story is about a witch who wants to make pumpkin pie for Halloween night. She goes through a series of events where she plants the seeds and watches the pumpkin grow and grow and grow into the biggest pumpkin she’s ever seen! When she tries to pull the pumpkin from its vine, she realizes that she is not big or strong enough to do it on her own. The story progresses where different “spooky” characters come to help. The thing is, these characters have quite an ego saying things like, “I’m bigger than you, let me try!” or “I’m stronger than you, let me try!” In the end, it becomes a lesson about working together as a group to reach a shared goal (picking the pumpkin from its vine). First, the witch tried on her own, then a ghost, vampire, and mummy all take turns trying to break the pumpkin free. A bat then comes into the scene. The creatures laughed at the bat when the bat showed up, but little did they know that the bat had a grand idea to help solve their problem. The bat suggested that they all try pulling on the pumpkin at once so they can combine their strength as one. If it weren’t for the bat, the spooky creatures wouldn’t have shared this moment together and they wouldn’t have been able to accompany one another for a pumpkin pie feast!
Not only does this story provide a great message about working together as a team, but it also provides great practice for story sequencing and concepts of print. Since the group was so into the characters and even memorized the words that each creature said throughout the story, Courtney asked if the children would like to act the story out. They were thrilled with the idea that they could pretend to be the characters in the story. We began to make a plan as a group about what we should do first. The children noted that they should practice playing the characters before they decide which one they wanted to be for the final showcase. In order to practice different roles, Courtney suggested felt characters for the felt board. The group was intrigued by this concept so we went through the book together to make a list of the characters and important props. The following is the list of characters and props the children named:
Characters:
Witch
Ghost
Vampire
Mummy
Bat
Props:
Pumpkin Seeds
Watering can
A BIG pumpkin
Pumpkin vine
The following week Courtney brought the felt characters to the classroom for children to use while exploring the book during free play, and so children can actively participate in the story during circle time. The first time Courtney brought the felt characters to circle she modeled how to manipulate the felt on the felt board and invited the children to say the words they memorized as she acted out the scenes. The second time we used the felt characters at circle, the children were invited to choose a felt character they would like to act out. They took turns playing different characters while sharing the role of saying the words together (their favorite is when the witch, ghost, vampire, and mummy say “DRAT!” when they couldn’t pull the pumpkin from the vine).
To extend the story even further, the children decided that they wanted to be the characters in the story and to perform a play at our Halloween celebration. We created a list of characters and asked who wanted to be which character. When two children both wanted to be the witch, Nora offered a kind suggestion that there could be two witches! Nora’s suggestion prompted children to collaborate to become a team in order to portray a certain character. This is a great example of collaboration through the eyes of children and how they can work together to become one instead of competing against each other (similar to the hidden message in the story!). When we ran out of characters to choose from, the group suggested for the kids who didn’t have a role yet play different spooky characters as background props - like a cat, spider, or someone could even be the pumpkin! The final role play list consisted of the following (subject to change):
Witch - Georgina and Eila
Ghost - Dylan, Jaxon, and Tadhg
Vampire - Sage and Nora
Mummy - Grace, Elias, and Wilder
Bat - Xavi, Ollie, and Leif
Pumpkin - Maggie
Cat - Frankie
Spider - Dominic
After deciding who wanted to be which character, we discussed costumes and how we can make our own. Their initial plan was as follows:
Mummy - cut butcher paper into strips and tape it around bodies
Ghost - use white blankets
Witch - Green paper for the face (draw a face with mouth/nose, cut out eye holes), black paper for the hat, and a blanket for the cape.
Vampire - Black coat and red paper for a bow tie
Bat - Black blanket
Pumpkin - orange paper on a cardboard box
Stage setting - the witches house, tables to eat the pumpkin pie
Pie - plastic pie from play kitchen
Courtney wrote all of the children’s ideas and words on paper so the children felt ownership of their ideas and felt like they contributed to the planning of the play. This helps build autonomy and confidence when collaborating with a group of peers. On Friday the 23rd, the actors began making their costumes and formed character groups to practice playing their role. This was a learning opportunity for children to follow through with a plan they already made, and an opportunity to learn from mistakes and how plans don’t always happen the way we expected them to. Great practice for flexibility and understanding that plans might need to change based on the materials available to them. Eila made a witches hat out of purple paper and a witch’s face out of black paper. She cute holes in the paper for eyes, and a hole with a flap to create the witches nose. Elias and Wilder cut multiple unique strips out of butcher paper and decided they would tape it to their bodies once it’s showtime.
Throughout the week before Halloween, the children explored the story using the felt characters and practiced playing their role with the costumes throughout free play. On Tuesday and Wednesday, Courtney used second circle as an opportunity to rehearse the play together as one big group. She read the story as the children played along in their costumes where they announced the words they memorized when appropriate. Children are not required to participate at any time but are encouraged to join if they are feeling up for it. Once the props and costumes were complete the children were eager to show their families. We assured them that we will video record their play and share it on the blog. They were thrilled to hear that they would be in their very own movie. We hope you enjoy this child-led and child-created play as much as we did! It was a lot of fun seeing them excited about a shared experience and we hope that it’s something that makes them feel proud and accomplished.
