Pumpkin Scrubbing

I like having a small scrubbing work available.  I start the year off with a baby to be washed, but I find that I need to change the scrubbing object every few days in order to maintain the children's interest in the work.  One extension of baby washing is scrubbing a pumpkin. 


If you offer drawing faces on a pumpkin with a dry erase marker, or using play dough to make faces on a pumpkin then you have an authentic reason to scrub the pumpkin.  Otherwise, I am content to let the work be a sensory exploration of water.

 Pumpkin Scrubbing

 

The child gets the work from the shelf

 

The work is placed on the chair to make it easier for the child to place the materials on the table.

The child first lays out the rug, then places the tub, towel, pumpkin and sponge on top of the rug.

 

Using a special pitcher kept next to the sink, the child carefully pours in one pitcher of water into the tub.  Soon we will add the step of adding dish soap with an eyedropper. For now if the child wants soap, we add it in for them.  The child then washes the pumpkin with the sponge.

When finished, the child dries the pumpkin with the towel.  The tub is carefully carried to the sink in order to pour out the water. The tub is returned to the table to be dried with the towel. (If the order of the last two steps is mixed up, the wet towel is placed in the laundry hamper and a new towel is retrieved.)  The items are put back into the tub so that the next child can take things out in the correct order.