Pumpkin Tales

October brings to mind bats, ghosts, Halloween, and ... pumpkins! It is so much fun to take a hayride and choose your very own pumpkin. This Fall you can also try making a delicious pumpkin-shaped snack.

You will need:

3 cups of mini marshmallows

5 cups of Apple Cinnamon CheeriOs®

¼ cup of butter or margarine

Green Gumdrops 

Yellow and red food coloring

Cooking spray

Wax paper   

1. In a microwave-safe bowl, heat butter and marshmallows on HIGH for about 2 minutes.
2. To turn the marshmallow mixture orange, stir in 1 drop of red food coloring and 2 drops of yellow food coloring. You may need to add more food coloring if you want a darker shade of orange.
3. Gradually fold in 5 cups of Apple Cinnamon CheeriOs®.
4. Allow the mixture to cool slightly.
5. Spray each child’s hand with cooking spray.
6. Give each child ½ a cup of the mixture to shape into pumpkin.
7. Press a green gumdrop on top of the “pumpkin” to act as the stem.
8. Set the snacks on wax paper until they are firm.

Enjoy some pumpkin stories while you wait!

Five Little Pumpkins by Iris Van Rynbach - The traditional finger rhyme illustrated with lively watercolors.

Big Pumpkin by Erica Silverman - A witch trying to pick a big pumpkin on Halloween discovers the value of cooperation when she gets help from a series of monsters.

Pumpkin, Pumpkin by Jeanne Titherington - Jamie plants a pumpkin seed and, after watching it grow, carves it and saves some seeds to plant in the spring.

It's Pumpkin Time! by Zoe Hall - A sister and brother plant and tend their own pumpkin patch so they will have jack-o-lanterns for Halloween.

The Bumpy Little Pumpkin by Margery Cuyler - Little Nell chooses an unusual pumpkin for her Halloween jack-o-lantern, despite her big sisters' criticisms.

- Michelle C.