Pounding Pumpkins
Oct 19th, 2008 by Alicia
Today was a gorgeous day so we headed outside with our pumpkins to do some pumpkin homeschool and some jack-o-lantern carving.
The kids had the neat idea of weighing them before we headed out, and started estimating weights, adding them together and so on. How cool, I thought, they’re homeschooling themselves! 
We set up on the picnic table and I gathered some supplies. The kids had already traced their patterns with pencil the night before and I told them they could hammer nails in along the design (or anywhere else) if they wanted. We’ve been nailing pumpkins for years because it is so darn fun.
I gave them clothespins to hold the nails if they were afraid of pounding their fingers. They weren’t, but I made Anna use one to show the basic idea. 
Jack had lots of fun yanking his back in and making patterns
while Victoria went to work scooping and carving her pumpkin.
Even Alex got into the action.
Before long, the girls’ friend Addie came by with two little girls and they all wanted to know what we were doing. When they saw Jack hammering a pumpkin one little girl asked why. I asked if she’d ever hammered a pumpkin and she said no, so I explained it’s just fun!
Then I went and found an extra pumpkin that had been destined for pie and handed out hammers and a bag of nails so they could hammer a pumpkin too. Addie and the older girl wandered off and climbed trees and played before long, but the younger girl happily hammered nails into the pumpkin for over an hour. Then she picked some asters and hammered those in as well. Her final creation was so pretty I told her she could take it home.
Before long, two little boys stopped by too and we ended up with a yard full of kids all day long. I brought out a watermelon and cut it up, and they spent the day carving, pounding, snacking, pretending, climbing, bickering, talking, jumping and playing.
I never did get to all those pumpkin homeschool activities I wanted to do but it was a fun day.
Tomorrow all the neighborhood kids will be in school. And I have more pumpkins… 
That looks like lots of fun. We haven’t ever “pounded” a pumpkin, and perhaps we’ll have to try that this year.
Fun! We’ve done the nailing of the pumpkins too, but as a way to make it easier to cut our designs. We draw the face on, then nail along those lines, then cut. Never thought of doing it just for the heck of it. I have a feeling some of our gourds are in for it. ;o)
it’s always good when *too much fun* is what keeps you from finishing your to-do list :^)