Perfect Pumpkin Pages: Books About Pumpkins

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As we countdown to Halloween

We are picking and carving pumpkins

Enjoying ALL the pumpkin play

And reading ALL the pumpkin books

I love autumn and the traditions we have made

And continue to make as our little family unit

Now I want to share some of our favourite pumpkin pages with you

A collection of our best loved pumpkin books

For you x

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From Seed To Pumpkin is a wonderful narrative non fiction book and is part of a series called Let’s Read and Find Out published by @harpercollinsch The story takes you on the journey of a pumpkin seed. Starting in spring when the farmer plants hundreds of pumpkin seeds. Detailed illustrations show how the seeds begin to grow and how they take water in through their roots. We follow the seed as it sprouts up through the earth and the shoots become seedlings. We learn about why plants need sunlight and how they make their food. We learn about the importance of tending and weeding the pumpkin patch. We learn about the bright orange umbrella flowers that grow on the vines. We see the hard fruits that the flowers leave behind. The book is really well written and engaging for children of all ages. As we travel through summer to autumn we see the pumpkins grow larger and ripen. We learn that these amazing fruits come in all shapes and sizes, in a range of colours. We then see how pumpkins can be used once fully grown. Jack o’ Lanterns, Pumpkin Pies and seeds saved to be planted again in spring. From seed to pumpkin, pumpkin to seed. A wonderful book to share with children in autumn to show where pumpkins come from. This always makes me think of Farmer Charlie @pumpkinmoonuk and all the work he does on his farm throughout the year to supply us all with pumpkins. It has also given me lots of ideas for home education activities we could do with Farmer Charlie at the farm throughout the year. Learning about planting, growing, pollination, weeding, harvesting, carving and cooking, saving seeds and planting again. A year of wonderful learning all started from one tiny seed #natureisamazing #natureismagic #pumpkinmoon #pumpkinpatch #growingpumpkins #fromseedtopumpkin

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This is a super short, super sparkly pumpkin rhyming story that follows four trick or treaters to their Halloween parade. With bright illustrations offering lots for little ones to spot this is a playful readaloud. This book is great for introducing opposites as the story begins with pumpkin happy, pumpkin sad. Creating some pumpkin shaped opposites cards would be a great activity to go with this book. There is also a page of musical sound words including rattle, hoot, jangle and toot which could lead to the children drumming a rhythm on pumpkins or creating a pumpkin rap, rhyme or song. Lots of playful learning possibilities with this little book. @parragon_publishing #pumpkinspumpkinspumpkins #pumpkinspumpkinseverywhere #pumpkinbook #pumpkinbooks #halloweenbooks #halloweenbooksforkids #halloweenbooksforchildren #playfullyraisingreaders #halloweenathome #edspirereads #childrensbooksofinstagram #kidsbooksofinstagram #raisingreaders #littlereaders #littlebookworms #bookishlearning

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The Roll-Away Pumpkin by @juniawonders is edie’s favourite pumpkin book. It is a charming vintage styled story that has elements of some of our favourite classics The Gingerbread Man and The Elephant and The Bad Baby. The rich warm illustrations are perfectly autumnal. The stylised characters look perfect for becoming a Pixar animated short. The story is all about Marla Little and her enormous roll away pumpkin. It rolls and turns with no signs of stopping. Past the Farmer, past the baker, past the milkman, past the butcher toward the parade marchers!! Everyone joins the chase trying to stop the roll-away pumpkin. Diddle-Dee-doo! Oh, what shall I do? Marla’s repeated refrain is perfect for little ones to join in with. The pumpkin rolls toward the chefs’ cauldron where they are busy preparing a feast. Marla knows just how to stop the pumpkin and save the feast! Pumpkin soup!! This is such a joyful story, perfect for pumpkin season and a wonderful way to introduce little readers to the joy of storytelling as you can add your own characters for the pumpkin to roll by. Perfect pumpkin pages!

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Today we read one of my favourite stories, Too Many Pumpkins. The pictures are delightful and the story is sweet and uplifting. Rebecca Estelle loves to plant and grow fruits and vegetables. She grows everything except pumpkins. A time in her childhood when her family did not have much food apart from pumpkins means she can no longer stand the sight of them. One day an enormous pumpkin falls off a passing truck. Rebecca tries to cover it up and ignore it but the seeds spread and start to grow. Rebecca tried to ignore the seedlings and the plants, she refuses to water them, tries to destroy them but still they grow. Rebecca is not happy when she ends up with too many pumpkins! She does not know what to do. She wants to give them away but they are too big and heavy so she decides to make the pumpkins into pies and pasties, cakes and cookies, tarts and puddings. Rebecca is too tired to deliver so many pumpkin treats so she comes up with a very clever and seasonal way to bring the people from the village to her. Soon they come and tney all have a wonderful time eating pumpkin treats and drinking warmed apple cider. The community comes together and Rebecca makes her peace with pumpkins and plans to plant more next year. A wonderful story of planting seeds, growing pumpkins and bringing a community together. This lovely book has given us lots of pumpkin recipe ideas to try and has inspired us to plant our own pumpkins to share with friends and family next year. While listening to the story the children made lovely pumpkin patches with @littlebrianpaintsticks and filled them with too many pumpkins of their own x @bakerrossltd #toomanypumpkins #pumpkinbooks #pumpkinseason #pumpkinstories #enwcpumpkinweek #booksforautumn #timetoread #readalongplayalong #ourbookishplay #bookishplay #bookstagram #kidsbookstagram #kidsbooksofinstagram #childrensbooksofinstagram #booksforchildren #booksforkids

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We have been doing some messy maths this morning inspired by this wonderful book, How Many Seeds In A Pumpkin? Charlie likes school but he does not like lining up as they do so in height order and Charlie is always at the end of the line as he is the smallest in his class. One autumn morning Charlie’s teacher brings three pumpkins into class. One big, one medium and one small. The teacher sets the children the challenge of finding out how many seeds there are in a pumpkin. First they make predictions and the children think that the biggest pumpkin will be the one with the most seeds. After predictions are made the children begin the messy business of scooping all the goo out of the pumpkins and collecting the seeds. Mr Tiffin the teacher dries the seeds ready for the children to count. Some children count in twos, one group in fives and Charlie counts the seeds from the small pumpkin in tens. After the big count Charlie and all his classmates are surprised to find that Charlie’s pumpkin, the smallest pumpkin, has the most seeds. Mr Tiffin tells the children that there are things we can notice on pumpkins to help us predict which might have the most seeds. Pumpkins that are darker in colour and have more lines on the outside, tend to have more seeds. The longer a pumpkin is on the vine the more seeds. It is about much more than size. In this beautified and uplifting book the children in Charlie’s class and the reader learns about pumpkins, seeds, step counting and most important of all, that size is not important. It is okay to be small. “Small things can have a lot going on inside them.” I bought this book with William in mind. He is very small for his age and much smaller than Esther, his twin. This is to reassure him that being small is not a bad thing and he can do big things no matter his size x This is a lovely readaloud, perfect for inspiring some autumnal pumpkin messy maths. It is a fun book with an important message. The illustrations are detailed and add another layer to the story. A perfect pumpkin book for home reading and for the early years and KS1 classroom. #howmanyseedsinapumpkin #pumpkinmaths #messymaths #pumpkinbooks #enwcpumpkinweek

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We are getting in the Halloween spirit here at Edspire HQ. Ordinarily we have a combined Halloween and firework party for our family and friends in October but that is not to be this year. Instead it will just be us and a whole host of @pumpkinmoonuk pumpkins, our favourite old and new Halloween books, arts and crafts, silly songs, fire cooked feasts and lots of hot choc. This fab book from @nosycrow is one way to bring some high octane fun to your Halloween readalouds. Edie LOVES this book just as she loves the original Bear Hunt. This is a neon bright pumpkin hunt, with three festively dressed children searching for a pumpkin and having to negotiate cats, bats, cobwebs, ghosts and a haunted house! This is such a fun book and we love putting actions and sounds to the words. This is a book where everyone can join in and learn the playful text off by heart. Brilliant inspiration for small world play and for getting outside to search for pumpkins in the garden, with torches, after dark!! We love this joyful rhyming story filled with spooky but not scary surprises. Perfect preschool fun, perfect for pumpkin season @angierozelaar #weregoingonapumpkinhunt #pumpkinmoon #pumpkinhunting #pumpkinhunt #welovehalloweenplay #bookishwaytoplay #bookishplay #playfulreaders #playfulreading #playfullyraisingreaders #raisingreaders #littlebookworm #littlereaders #preschoolathome #edspirereads #picturebook #picturebooksofinstagram #childrensbooksofinstagram #kidsbooksofinstagram #autumnbooks #halloweenbooksforkids #halloweenbookstagram

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Here is my littlest bookworm, my little pumpkin pie. She is being quite challenging at the moment. I think she is struggling to find her place among her big siblings. And we are all feeling the affects of being stuck at home more than usual and missing visits with friends and family. Often Edie will climb on to my lap for a cuddle and we will watch some telly or read some books. You’re My Little Pumpkin Pie from @silverdolphinbooks is one of her favourites. Perhaps because of the peep through pages, perhaps because of the cute characters, perhaps because of the easy to remember rhyming text or maybe, just maybe, because it is a love letter penned from a parent to a little one. This book tells little readers they are sweet and special, they are magical, they are safe. Through the cute seasonal characters including bats and cats, spiders and ghosts children are reassured that they are loved, that they are special. This is a lovely little board book for your pumpkin pie, your bedtime bat to let them know that they are safe from harm and loved unconditionally. A cuddle and a book fixes all things even if it’s for a moment x x x x #youremylittlepumpkinpie #halloweenbooks #autumnbooks #booksfortoddlers #booksforpreschoolers #booksforlittles #booksforlittleones #booksforchildren #childrensbooks #childrensbooksofinstagram #kidsbookswelove #bookface #booksaremagic #readingtogether #readaloudfamily #edspirereads

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Yesterday we went to @pumpkinmoonuk where Farmer Charlie told us that he planted 65000 pumpkin seeds in the spring. Farmer Charlie ended up with a few thousand pumpkins but not as many as he planted. The weather was against him this year and there were other contributing factors too. Do you know what a pumpkin seed needs to grow into a pumpkin? This lovely book from @robramsden_illustrator will tell you and your little ones everything you need to know so that you can plant and grow a pumpkin of your own in time for next Halloween. Seeds need sunshine to help them grow. With water and sunshine the seed begins to grow. The roots push down into the Earth and the stem and leaves shoot up. You have to be very patient and tend to your plants in all weathers. The bees and butterflies will visit your pumpkin plant flowers and pollinate them to make the blooms become pumpkins. First a small green bump with sunshine and water your green bumpkin will grow and grow into a large orange plumpkin! Edie loves joining in with the children as they talk to their pumpkin and urge it to grow. Edie shouts at the book “go go pumpkin, grow grow pumpkin!” With rain and sunshine and lots of encouragement the pumpkin is ready just in time to be carved for Halloween. We have successfully grown our own pumpkins for the last few years with seeds from our Pumpkin Moon pumpkins. Do you grow your own? This lovely book from @scallywagpress might encourage you and your little ones to have a go. This book is such fun to read out loud and is a lovely addition to Rob’s series including I Saw A Bee and We Found A Seed. #weplantedapumpkin #pumpkinmoon #pumpkinseason #pumpkinpatch #pumpkinseeds #pumpkinbooks #halloweenbooks #enwcpumpkinweek #exploringnaturewithchildren #autumnbooks #childrensbooksofinstagram #kidsbooksofinstagram #picturebooksofinstagram #edspirereads

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Tomorrow, come rain or shine, we are going pumpkin picking. The children are so so so excited and I have to admit that I am too. I love this time of year!! I love choosing our pumpkins! This glorious book is perfect for pumpkin picking eve! The lovely rhythmic rhyming text tells of a mummy taking two children to the farm to pick pumpkins. The illustrations are wonderful and give you a lovely warm feeling inside. Edie and Bea call out when they see something that is the same or similar to what we do at our favourite pumpkin patch. The text is so lovely. “Pumpkin snugly In your arms Wheel a wagon Through the farm” This is a book that addresses your senses, the sights and sounds and tastes of a family ritual. The book makes you feel nostalgic for autumns and Halloweens past. It builds excitement and anticipation for this Halloween to come. Sometimes books really are magic. The mum and children arrive home to daddy and baby laden with pumpkins. They clean their treasures, scoop them out and carve them. Family and friends come together to create their pumpkin lanterns, ready for Halloween. The carving pictures get great squeals of excitement from my littlest ones as we recall the gooey mess and the wonder of choosing what to draw and carve then seeing your pumpkin come to life. The language is just wonderful! “Carve the eyes Giant circles of surprise A triangle. A pinprick. A nose that grows From thin to thick A kiss. A frown. A toothy grin A zigzag gap Cut long and thin For anyone who has ever picked and carved a pumpkin with their children this book is a must read Pumpkins carved, the family decorate the house, they get dressed up and get ready for trick or treating along their street with family and friends and lit by amazing Jack O’ Lanterns. I adore this book! Really really love it. And this year it feels even more special as our Halloween celebrations will be different. This book is a memory of Halloween last and a promise of Halloween future. It is also a reminder to make the ordinary extraordinary and to cherish every moment. Tis the season!! @patriciatoht @booksbyjarvis @walkerbooksuk @bigpicturebooks #pickapumpkin #pumpkinmoon

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