Pumpkin Rocks Alphabet Matching
The Virtual Book Club for Kids is featuring Five Little Pumpkins by Dan Yaccarino this week. We painted pumpkin rocks and created an alphabet matching game using the pumpkins. Affiliate links are included in this post. Clicking on the book titles or covers will take you to Amazon.
Five Little Pumpkins by Dan Yaccarino
Five Little Pumpkins
Pumpkin Rocks Alphabet Matching
For this activity you’ll need:
- Rocks
- Paint (acrylic or tempera)
- Permanent marker
- Paper
- Alphabet squares printable (for personal or classroom use only)
- Alphabet stickers (optional)
We have a large rock collection. Aiden has been collecting them since he was a toddler. Painting some of them to look like pumpkins is a fun idea for this time of year. You can buy a bag of rocks in the craft section if you don’t have a collection of your own (or your child doesn’t want to paint the rocks he has.)
We used acrylic paint this time. Just be warned that it stains clothes and doesn’t wash off of some surfaces very easily. Be sure you cover your work surface (and maybe even the floor) and wear paint clothes. You can also use washable tempera paint but it will require more coats of paint and the colors are not as vibrant. (That’s totally fine though.) Light colored rocks cover more easily than dark colored rocks.
After you paint your rocks orange, use a permanent marker to draw on the faces. (You could also use black paint.)
Next, attach alphabet stickers to the bottom of your rocks. You can use all 26 letters or you can choose just a handful of letters to work on with your child. If you don’t have alphabet stickers, you can write on the bottom of the rocks with a permanent marker. (Side note: Taking off the stickers may also remove some paint from your rocks.)
Print out a copy of the alphabet squares (or write down the letters you are working on).
Have your child match the letters on the rocks to the letters on the paper.
In addition to the alphabet matching, use the pumpkin rocks to play other games as well. Call out a letter and have your child find the pumpkin that has that letter. Or call out a letter sound and have your child cover that letter with a pumpkin.
For older kids, you could spell words with the letters on the pumpkin rocks. (Aiden wants to practice his next set of spelling words this way.)
More Ideas from the Virtual Book Club for Kids
See more pumpkin themed activities inspired by Five Little Pumpkins
Pumpkin Patch Name Spelling Activity from Still Playing School
Pumpkin Patch Picking Numbers from Rainy Day Mum
Pumpkin Counting Printable from CraftCreateCalm
Pumpkin Math: How Many Segments? from Teach Beside Me
Pumpkin Sensory Play with Water from The Educators’ Spin On It
Roasting Pumpkin Seeds With Kids: A Five Senses Experience from To be a Kid Again
Kid-Made Pumpkin Spice Cookies from Sugar, Spice & Glitter
Do Pumpkins Float? from JDaniel4’s Mom
Preschool Pumpkin Skin Experiment from Preschool Powol Packets
Easy Colorful Mosaic Pumpkins for Kids from Toddler Approved
5 Little Pumpkins Fine Motor Busy Bag from Views From a Step Stool
Retelling with Finger Puppets from Chickadee Lit
Pumpkin Suncatchers from Clare’s Little Tots
Make a Felt Pumpkin Face from Mama Smiles
Free Printable Pumpkin Shape Puzzles from School time Snippets
Pumpkin Light Box Letter Formation from Adventures of Adam
Also stop by the Virtual Book Club for Kids Facebook page to see what others are sharing!
See our entire Virtual Book Club for Kids book list here.
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