Orange, white, pink, green. Smooth, bumpy, round, flat. When it comes to choosing a pumpkin, the options are endless — and totally up to your style tastes. Have you ever wondered what it takes to be a pumpkin grower?
Mini Pumpkin Patch Play Scene
We’ve had one kid under the weather this week so it seemed like the perfect time to set up a little invitation to play and this mini pumpkin patch was a huge hit!
I gathered up a few supplies and got started crafting! If you’re a rule follower like me, it’s probably a little hard to create things without exact instructions, but I encourage you to just use what you have on hand and let the creativity flow. One amazing thing about kids is that it really doesn’t take much to impress them!
Materials:
- Scrap cardboard
- Scissors
- Craft sticks
- Hot glue gun & hot glue
- Black permanent marker
- Miniature pumpkins, hay bales, fall figurines
- Craft paint & paint brushes
- Play dough
I started by cutting out the cardboard to form a three sided base for the pumpkin patch stand. I glued craft sticks to the front piece of cardboard and then added another piece of cardboard to create a “counter” or “shelf.”
I painted the sticks to hold up the roof orange and then cut out the scalloped roof. The roof didn’t lay perfectly, but I didn’t measure a thing so I’m not surprised!
My 9yo made the cute “FALL” bunting from scraps of cardboard and strand of yarn.
Next, I made a little three-sided corral for the pumpkins. I snipped the ends of the sticks for the vertical posts and then used two sticks as horizontal crossbars.
I had some little wooden shapes leftover from a stamp making project (part of the Rooted Childhood July Collection) so I grabbed an oval and wrote “pumpkin patch” on it with a permanent marker. I glued it to a stick and used a pinch of play dough to hold it up.
We gathered up some miniature figurines I found at Michaels and some things we already had on hand to set up the pumpkin patch!
I just love how it turned out!
Setting Up An Invitation to Play
I set the scene up on a low, kids table in our dining room and it will provide countless hours of fun! I usually leave invitations set up for about 10 days before the thrill wears off. I’ll spice this up with homemade spiced play dough (from the Rooted Childhood September Collection), some felt play mats, and some more fall themed play items over the next few days to keep it fresh.
My kids often play with setups like this first thing in the morning or while I prepare meals. It’s great to have an option that engages the imagination and gives them a creative, hands-on outlet for play.
So what are you waiting for? If you make a mini pumpkin patch, tag me so I can share it!
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Welcome
Hi, I’m Meghann, the voice behind Rooted Childhood and mama to three littles.
I believe that every child deserves to know the deep roots of connection and that you can create opportunities to nourish your child’s head, heart, and hands without feeling rushed and overwhelmed. Read More…
How did you get started growing pumpkins?
The Farmer’s Daughter’s Pumpkins truly began out of a need in our community. To purchase fun and unique ornamental pumpkins, you would have to travel at least 60 miles to get them. There was a basic supply at our local grocery store, but if you wanted to recreate a Pinterest picture, those pumpkins wouldn’t cut it! We had a little bit of ground on the farm that wasn’t being used and I pitched the idea to my husband, Clint. At first, he thought I was crazy, but being the good husband that he is, we gave it a try. The first year we didn’t plant as many ornamental varieties because my husband was still a little leery. Once he saw how quickly those went, he was on board.
Who is involved in growing the pumpkins?
Our pumpkin patch takes the whole family, including our kids: Delaney, 14, Calli, 12, and Jury, 6. Clint usually “works” the ground; just like a garden, the soil needs to be tilled (we just use a little bigger piece of machinery). We also use our chicken poop (technical term, of course) to fertilize it. We build up mounds or rows to begin the planting process. Clint created a tool that helps make the holes while keeping the space between the plants even. One kiddo will walk down the rows making the holes, while the others drop in the seeds and gently cover them with soil. After all the seeds are planted, we will lay out a drip hose and secure it so the western Kansas wind doesn’t blow it away. We usually try to stagger planting over a few weeks to keep the supply going.
When harvest comes around, we bring in everyone! This includes our grown children — Caleb and his wife Kennedie, and Madi. This really is the fun part! It’s like a treasure hunt. The shapes, sizes and colors never cease to amaze us. We will form an assembly line from the patch to the trailer. Several of us will go through the patch clipping the pumpkins from the vines, then the next group comes in and begins tossing from one person to the next until it gets loaded on to the trailer.
The last two years we’ve battled grasshoppers. These giant grasshoppers will eat the leaves off the plants the second they emerge. This year was especially challenging. We replanted our pumpkin crop threedifferent times. Our crop was substantially smaller as a result. The pumpkin crop isn’t any different from other big field crops like corn, wheat and grain sorghum. Nature makes us or breaks us! But we keep improving from year to year. The pumpkin patch is really my “farm” and I’m a beginning farmer with lots of help from farmers who are smarter and wiser than me. I love watching our family’s efforts and hard work pay off, not necessarily monetarily, but in lessons learned. We do it together from beginning to end.
What varieties of pumpkins do you grow?
We plant a wide variety of pumpkins and truly haven’t made a science of it yet. We began with buying packets of seeds we liked, and we still do it that way four years later. We also harvest the seeds from our own pumpkins to be replanted the following year. Our favorites are definitely the odd-looking ones! Some of the varieties we grow are: Hooligans (small, multicolored), Baby Boos (small, white), Full Moon and Cotton Candy (both white), Jarrahdale (grey-blue), Cinderella (varies in color, more flattened but still round), Porcelain Doll Pink (light pink), Knuckle Head, Goosebumps and Warty Goblin (bumpy, warty texture). There are some regular jack-o’-lantern seeds in the mix, too. No two pumpkins are ever the same!
