Pumpkin Washing

 

Last weekend, we went to the pumpkin patch and picked out two beautiful pumpkins. While they weren’t extremely dirty, some dirt was on them where they’d lain on the ground, so before we were able to paint them, we needed to wash them.

 

(E was 3 years and 11 months old.)

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.

 

 

 

For pumpkin washing, you’ll need:

• Pumpkins.
• Plastic box, large bowl, sink, or similar, depending on the size of your pumpkins.
• Sponges, microfiber cloths, dish scrubbers, towels, whatever you have on hand.
• Water.
• Dish soap.
• Liquid watercolors.  {Optional but fun!}

 

 

 

E carried the plastic bin into the backyard, started filling it with water, then added a squirt of dish soap before topping it off with more water.

 

 

She gently placed the smaller pumpkin in the water and swished it around a bit.

 

 

When she let go, she noted that the pumpkin floated but turned over, with the stem pointing down.

 

 

Just for fun, she added a bit of orange liquid watercolors at this point.

 

 

When she was satisfied with the  water’s color, she was ready to get started with the actual pumpkin washing.

She chose a dish scrubber to start with and gave the pumpkin a good scrubbing,

 

 

then removed the pumpkin from the water and used a microfiber cloth to dry it thoroughly.

 

 

As it turned out, she wasn’t nearly done cleaning the pumpkin, and took a few moments to decide on the proper tools for the job.

 

 

She settled on the blue sponge,

 

 

and finally dried the pumpkin again with the same microfiber cloth she’d used before.

 

 

Now it was time to get to work on the large pumpkin. At the pumpkin patch, she’d bravely carried it about 15 feet until she was able to drop it right at Papa’s feet but she couldn’t get it into the water herself, so I gave her a hand. The water made it easy for her to handle the large pumpkin despite its size.

For this one, she decided to get the microfiber cloth wet and wash the pumpkin that way.

 

 

She gave the scrub brush

 

 

and the orange sponge a turn

 

 

before doing a few more sink or float experiments.

 

 

When she was ready to dry the large pumpkin, she was a bit dismayed to find that the green microfiber cloth didn’t do a very good job of drying anymore, since it was soaking wet.

She finally settled on the purple microfiber cloth that she hadn’t used before to finish the job.

 

 

Now both our pumpkins were sparkly clean and ready to be decorated!

 

 

 

Did you go to the pumpkin patch to pick out your pumpkins this year? Did you do any pumpkin washing? How did you decorate and/or use your pumpkins? Leave a comment below!

 

 

 

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