This week marks a new unit in my classroom, which means I get to change up the dramatic play center. Seeing as it’s October, what’s better than turning it into a pumpkin patch!

It is easy to add a bunch of pumpkins to a center, and call it a day. However I wanted to make this center more dynamic for the kiddos filled with multiple learning opportunities.

First, I began setting up with organization in mind.

When setting up a center with lots of pieces, it is important to have labels so the students can easily clean up. In this case, the labels provide the students with an opportunity to sort (which is a skill we are working on in pre k). I only have so many pumpkins, so I had to limit my labels to small pumpkins, round pumpkins and gourds.

I also have 2 big pumpkins on little straw bales.

These are the only fake pumpkins, as REAL big pumpkins splatter and make a mess when they break! The mini’s can fall over and over again and usually won’t break, and if so..make minimal mess.

I also forgot to mention these 2 cute pumpkins. These are real, however I had no where to sort them…so they just go on the “counter”.

I also added some measuring tools to this center:

The students can either compare pumpkins by seeing which one is heavier on the balance, or they can use the little gram measurement pieces to measure how heavy a pumpkin is.

Lastly, the student can use the links in the tiny cylinder box to measure how round each pumpkin is.

After measuring how round the pumpkin is, the student count the links. Later we will do a class activity where we will measure three different pumpkins with the links and compare how round they are by hanging the links on the wall.

So far this center has only been open for one day, but that one day has been a huge success! The most important thing to remember with this center is that it will need a facilitator! My students are aged 3 and 4 and need guidance using these tools. I had a lot of fun introducing this center to my first group of students and going over all the activities they can do. The little ones also just love exploring the pumpkins and putting them in baskets.

Hope y’all enjoyed a look into our new center! If you are interested in creating this center in your classroom, you can buy  and download the same printables I used from Pre K Pages. I absolutely LOVE their website and always find my purchases VERY worthwhile!