Rieke – The Pumpkin Jamboree!

Regional Supervisors Jon Meyers and Cara Haaga (the gator and cat, respectively) dive into the carving madness while teacher Amanda P. (penguin) helps prevent a stencil war.

This October, Vermont Hills made plans to put on an event that would not only keep children, their families, and staff busy with festive fall activities – but would also incorporate the educational elements key to our VHFLC programs. And so it was that the VHFLC Pumpkin Jamboree was born.

Our planning came to fruition this Halloween on a quiet down day at Rieke elementary. Kids hovered around us as we set up our monstrously icky sensory table – i.e. buckets of brains (wet cauliflower), worms (spaghetti noodles), newt eyes (soggy marshmallows), skin and tongues (tortillas and pumpkin slices), and teeth (wet corn kernels). There were a lot of "Eeeewwww"s and "What?? Really?!?" until we diverted attention to the "pumpkin patch" assembled in the corner of the room...
 

"Our Pumpkin Patch" (featuring the infamous red raffle pumpkin)

When we dropped off the pumpkins the day prior, generously provided by Plumper Pumpkin Patch & Tree Farm and West Union Gardens (and quickly dubbed "Our Pumpkin Patch" by the kids), every pumpkin – squat, smooth, warty, or twisted – was immediately "claimed" by a wide-eyed child. And as we began to dismantle the patch for the purpose of slicing off the tops (to help expedite the soon-to-be carving frenzy), everyone magically seemed to remember their pick.

Rieke teachers and Regional Supervisors Jon Myers and Cara Haaga (or just a very helpful alligator and a cat who happened to stop by) began to cut the pumpkins as kids buzzed around, planning their next course of action. In order to carve, we asked the children to try their hand at a round of Pumpkin Cornhole. We had barely gotten the sentence out when a line was formed and our wooden cornhole Jack-o-lantern was fed to the brim with bean bags.

Peace N. waits at a safe distance while Lola Q. gears up for the throw.

Lola is flabbergasted at her natural skills!

Kids then moved on to the "guts" table, where they brought their pumpkins and were tasked with scooping out the seeds and "gross orange goo" (as a grimacing curly-haired little lady so aptly put it). There was no shortage of fun and excitement (and mess) as hands were made dirty scooping out globs of slippery slime.

George B. (left) and Abe S. (right) were not at all shy about these guts...

Premade stencils of ghosts, flaming skulls, cats, Frankenstein and more were scattered about and quickly snatched up. Some creative young mavericks elected to make their own designs and a few more impulsive ones even decided to wing it. All turned out splendid, leaving us impressed and questioning our own pumpkin carving skills. Under the guidance of our troupe of dedicated, pumpkin guts-covered staff, everyone was able to carve to completion.

Elias A. cheekily displays his toothy design

Ben's creative spin on a self portrait

Following the carving extravaganza, students were then able to dive deep into the sensory buckets (and they really did manage to squeeze as much of their bodies in as possible...) and to explore the other activities. Students loved trying to figure out exactly what was contained within the boxes, and some even tried to create their own Frankensteins from "eyes", "skin", "teeth" and "tongues" they mischievously extracted. 

Eyeballs, teeth and tongues – oh my!!

We polished off the day by setting aside a special red pumpkin for a raffle and by posing proud for pics with our "VHFLC Pumpkin Jamboree" sign (that the kids got a chance to exercise their creative direction skills with). If the success of the day was measured by the amount of compost we now have to nourish our gardens, then I think we did a-ok! Thanks again to Plumper Pumpkin Patch & Tree Farm and West Union Gardens, and to our dedicated VHFLC teachers for helping to make this special day possible.