My social media feeds and email inbox are proclaiming that Fall has arrived and with it comes an abundance of pumpkin spice products. There are pumpkin spice lattes, cookies, candies, protein shakes, soaps, air fresheners, and candles. There is pumpkin-themed clothing in rich oranges with cute sayings like ‘pumpkin spice and everything nice’ and ‘you had me at pumpkin spice’. There’s really no escaping a pumpkin encounter this time of year.
Embrace this craze as an opportunity to explore potential spiritual themes linked to the smells, colors, and sayings of the pumpkin spice season. Use one or more of the following activities with children three and older and see what new things you might discover together.
Color I. Explore the vivid orange color of pumpkins. Ask children: When you see the color orange, what do you think of? Make a list together of all the things that come to mind. Then ask, What emotions do you associate with the color orange? (With preschoolers, ask: When you see orange, how do you feel?) Make a list of those as well, and then compare your two lists to see if the things you associate with orange elicit the emotions you named. Wonder about the reasons for the connections and disconnections you notice.
Color II. Another way to explore the color orange is to invite children to draw their favorite things using only an orange marker, crayon, or colored pencil. Then ask: How does coloring these things orange affect the way you see them? What is strange and/or interesting about this transformation? If children are interested, encourage them to try drawing their items solely in another color (e.g., red, blue) and explore how those colors affect their connection with the items.
Smell. Smell something made with pumpkin spice (or sniff a spice container). Ask children: How do you feel when you experience this smell? Invite them to use their bodies to communicate their feelings. For example, if pumpkin spice feels calming, they might relax their body, close their eyes, or stretch out on the floor. If the spice energizes them, they might jump up and down or do jazz hands. If it reminds them of happy times with an aunt, they might smile widely and mime a hug. Encourage them to express multiple emotions they might have related to the smell of pumpkin spice.
Sayings. Invite children to share sayings about pumpkin spice that they may have heard. (If necessary, seed the conversation with the sayings in the post intro.) Then encourage them to brainstorm their own sayings that express how they feel about pumpkin spice. They might focus on the sensations they experience when eating or drinking a pumpkin spice treat or they could represent ways that pumpkin spice connects people and/or things with one another. Create flyers or social media posts with your sayings and share them with others.
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