Pumpkin Hammer & "Nails"

We were drawn to this activity for its focus on fine motor skills....and what child doesn't love using a hammer? We can tell you with certainty, the toy children are most drawn to in our toy lending library has a hammer. Since large jack o' lantern pumpkins are grown for carving and fun rather than food, we felt great about boring into ours with golf tees.

It should go without saying but.....adequate adult supervision will be needed during this activity due the nature of the activity in addition to the objects used. 

You will need:
a pumpkin
a wooden hammer or tack hammer
golf tees

Some useful tips:

Get a pumpkin that sits evenly on the floor. You won't want your pumpkin moving easily when nails are being hammered in. Ours was crooked so we rested it up against a hard surface to stabilize it.

You can use a plain pumpkin or even one that has already been carved. Ours had a paint tape face because we had attempted a tape resist face but found the tempera paint just flaked off as it dried. We left the tape because we couldn't part with the smile.

If children have difficulty with the bilateral coordination for this activity (holding the tee in one hand and hammering with the other) help them by holding the tee- or better yet....to protect your fingers...get a small shallow hole started for them and let them drive the tee in further. 

After children hammer the tees all the way in, they can pull them out one by one- a great task for strengthening their tripod grasp needed for writing.

The tees in the pumpkins reminded us of Frankenstein. They would look great on a green pumpkin too.

After the hammering,,,you still have the guts and seeds inside to explore!

Update: 10/12/16
We used this activity at play group today using sugar pumpkins. While is was a bit of a challenge to get them in, they kids were successful. The bonus was they could take their pumpkin home and bake it! For more information on the nutrition of pumpkins see our post Pumpkins: Fruit/Vegetable of the Month.