Pumpkin Hammering

This is something that I have seen around preschools for many years and I was excited to try it with Liza this fall.

I love presenting Liza with activities that she will enjoy and at the same time promote her development. Pumpkin hammering is a wonderful way to promote fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination.

Here is what you need:

• Pumpkin
• Golf Tees
• Hammer (we used the play hammer from Liza's tool set)

For this activity, I showed Liza exactly what to do because I knew she would need some direction.
It was difficult for Liza to hold the golf tee and hammer at the same time, so I helped out by holding the tee for her.

With a little practice, she was able to hit the top of the tee with her hammer. I also stuck the tee into the pumpkin skin a little bit so she would be able to hammer it in easier.

Older children wouldn't need as much assistance. In fact, I've only ever seen this activity done with preschool aged children (or older), but Liza rocked it. She sat at her table for an hour and hammered the tees in then pulled them out.

She soon figured out that she could re-hammer the tees into previously made holes without any assistance from me. It was extra fine motor practice that I had not thought about beforehand!

We did this last week and she has gone back to it almost everyday. You can see the holes are looking a little gross now! I bet it would look cute carved out with a candle inside. A polka dot pumpkin!

And that's how we spent last Sunday morning! I hope you get the chance to try this out with your littles!

Have a wonderful day!!!

XOXO Sarah