Harvest a great fall unit!
"Good Gourd!"
Continuing on in our homeschool lessons themed around fall, I was searching for something in-season to study. We had previously spent time on the traditional lessons like pumpkins, leaves, acorns, and seasons- but now, what else...
Gourds came to mind, and once I began preparing my own knowledge on the topic, I was overwhelmed at just how much produce fell under the category of gourd. There are so many different types, colors, and sizes of gourds. Beyond that, so many other fruits that are related to the gourd! It became so broad a topic that I'll admit, I struggled with where to lay roots on this one.
Ideas Growing
Fortunately, I didn't choose to uproot this unit altogether, but instead found inspiration to narrow my direction. With the aid of a great story book, a coordinating field trip, and some store bought gourds, I plowed into the planning and what grew was an immersive and informative lesson plan ripe for the learning.
So if you're walking the farm looking for an interesting and fun lesson plan, plant the seed here for some great gourd ideas.
*GET THE COMPLETE GOURD LESSON PLAN FILLED WITH ACTIVITIES, GAMES, AND PAIRED WORKSHEETS HERE!*
Plant the Seeds
Plant the seed for a great lesson by starting with some great stories and facts about gourds. These books will entertain and inspire not only your young learners, but you as well!
The Magic Gourd by Baba Wague Diakite, is an African folklore that shares a tale of a rabbit that outwits a greedy king, thanks to his giving chameleon friend. This book will help to inspire core learning topics like capacity, measuring, and syllables. It also invites the social and emotional development subject of generosity. Be sure to include this great read in your gourd lesson plan.
*GET THE READ ALOUD BY JESS HERE*
Grandma and the Great Gourd by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is another fantastic folklore that encourages language learning topics like onomatopoeias and introducing other cultures.
After receiving a letter from her daughter, the main character (Grandma) decides to set out to go visit her. After encountering hungry animals trying to eat her, a plan must be devised before the trek back home. Kids will love the rhythmic patterns and the colorful illustrations.
For a more thorough look into gourds, Gourds in Your Garden by Ginger Summit includes all the information you will ever need on the cucurbitaceae plants. Wonderful aid in how gourds are grown and the various types. Having this book will engage the science involved with gourds.
Sprout the Learning
What's sprouting? Learning of course! Get it sprouting by infusing gourds into the learning activities. Theme up learning games all about gourds, so that they get to know more about them as they learn their core subjects' material too. Take a look at a few of the really "gourd" learning activities we played.
Sometimes keeping an activity simple is where the fun in learning shines. All it took was a couple of real gourds and some prepared word cards to play, "Beat the Gourd". In this fun syllables game, word cards are drawn and the players pound their gourd on the desk to show how many beats the word has. To my pleasant surprise, my kids had us continuing to play even after the word cards were all used!
What better way to get your kids involved with spelling than with "Squash the Squash"? As one of our spelling activities, I created this hands on, squish, and mash it out game. In this activity, they had to identify the gourd leaf with the incorrect spelling, and once they did, look out! They were squishing and flattening out all the gourds with the misspelled leaves left and right. Some paper and homemade dough is all you'll need to get this garden growing.
Another easy to prepare, yet effective, activity I created for them was "Fill the Gourd". A few various sized containers along with the paired game worksheet, and they were practicing more than capacity when it came to math. This activity was filled to the gourd with math topics like estimation and measurement too.
Harvest Fun!
Plow into fun by including all the little extras. Make a visit to a farm to get a closer look at a gourd's life cycle, how they are measured, and bring some home to create your very own works of art. Enjoy getting hands on while learning the process of washing, cleaning, and preparing a gourd for artwork. More fun ideas to include in this lesson is an easy kitchen creation like squash chips and dissecting a gourd. The fun just grew and grew in this gourd lesson plan!
Check out our trip to Welburn Gourd Farm. My kids absolutely loved exploring the multitude of gourds, measuring them, and taking one home.
Squash chips required little effort, which kept this kitchen creation fun and offered a much needed brain break!
There's More Out Of Your Gourd Fun To Be Had!
Harvest The Complete Gourd Lesson Plan Here.
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