In the book Pumpkin Pumpkin by Jeanne Titherington, Jamie plants a pumpkin seed and watches it grow all summer. His plan is to carve it for a Jack-o-lantern. Then he saves some seeds to plant again next spring. I’m not into Halloween by any means but I do think pumpkin carving offers a great opportunity to give a visual of how Jesus changes us when we ask for His salvation.

I tried to find a way to help my preschoolers understand what a real pumpkin patch looks like since we don’t have a school garden this year. I also want them to understand pumpkin/plant lifecycles. I tried making a video to go with Pumpkin, Pumpkin using the pumpkin patch in my own garden. I apologize for not adding the video but it was too big to upload, but let me encourage you to make your own video. Since the flowers withered quickly I didn’t have a chance to make a new shorter video. I will use my video with my preschoolers. But back to the classroom plans.

I always start by letting the children see what’s on the inside. There’s lots of oooo’s and yuck. Then I encourage them to pull out as much of the insides as possible. I tell them Jesus takes out the yucky stuff, the bad stuff, the sin in our hearts. We can’t get it out by ourselves. After we scoop out the insides, each child counts his/her handful of seeds (usually less than 10). I add a candle and replace the lid. I ask if we can see the light? No! Then what do we need to do? Carve a face they all say. We always talk about a happy face because Jesus makes us happy.

After carving, we re-light the candle. Can we see the light now? Yes! How? It shows through the face! When we let Jesus take away our sin, His light shines through our faces and in our actions. We end our lesson by singing, “This Little Light of Mine”. If you work in a public school like me, there is a secular version of the song that talks about ways to show kindness. And oh yes, we save six seeds to plant next year in our own gardens. 

All wrapped up in a single hands-on science lesson is reading, lifecycles, math, and a devotion. There are dirty hands and taste tests and memories that hopefully last a lifetime. When they are old enough to understand the real concept of sin hopefully this little memory will help bring the Light into their lives.