Have you ever thought about turning the classic volcano experiment into a bubbling Halloween pumpkin eruption? This simple magic potion recipe creates a fun, fizzy Halloween activity for the family to enjoy. In this post, you’ll find speech therapy ideas to support your preschooler’s speech and language development.

Pumpkanoes are a fantastic Halloween activity that builds anticipation, capturing and sustaining your preschooler’s (and older) attention. The magic potion recipe that you toss into the small Halloween pumpkin also supports these speech therapy targets:

• sequencing and following step-by-step directions 
• describing a Halloween pumpkin
• explaining what’s happened or predicting what will happen next
• building vocabulary and exploring word associations 
• waiting and taking turns 

Please note: Use your discretion when introducing Pumpkanoes to your preschooler. It’s not recommended for children under 3. Be sure to supervise them closely while experimenting with these ingredients. 

Halloween Pumpkin Ingredients

How to Make a Pumpkano

1. Prepare the Halloween Pumpkin: Cut around the stem of the small pumpkin and remove the pulp and seeds. Place the pumpkin on a tray or plate.
2. Make the Magic Potion Recipe: Fill half the Halloween pumpkin with water, then add the baking soda, washing liquid and food colouring
3. Time for the Eruption: Pour in the vinegar and watch the pumpkano erupt

Speech Therapy Ideas

Here are some speech therapy ideas that you can incorporate into your Pumpkano fun. 

Building Vocabulary

Pumpkanoes introduce your preschooler to new words and concepts. Encourage your preschoolers to label and describe what they see. You can also join in by modelling new vocabulary. Start with simple words, like “pumpkin” and “bubbles” and use sounds like “whoosh.” Alternatively, talk about the colour, texture, and movement of the eruption. 

Here are some examples:

Mitigable Gestalts and Short Phrases

This Halloween activity also creates opportunities to naturally model mitigable gestalts and short phrases. Gestalts are scripted language or chunks of language.

Following a Sequence

This Halloween activity involves organising, sequencing and following multi-step directions. While preparing the pumpkin, talk through each part. For example, “I’m cutting the stem… next, I’m pulling out the pulp and seeds… now the pumpkin is ready.” 

Modelling language for each step helps your preschooler understand how to organise information. It also guides them to follow the multi-step sequence in a motivating and fun way. 

If your preschooler finds it difficult to follow multi-step directions, break down the instructions. Explain each step individually and simplify your language. You could use a visual sequence for how to make this magic potion recipe. Point to each step along the way.

Recalling Information and Sequences
Before you start this Halloween activity, visit the shop together. Find the ingredients you need. This creates an opportunity to model remembering items. For example, “Let’s remember, what do we need? … we need 5 things… a Halloween pumpkin, washing liquid, baking soda, vinegar and food colouring”

At the end of this Halloween activity or end of the day, you can model sequential language, like ‘First…, next…, and then…, and finally…’ when remembering what you needed to do to make the Halloween pumpkin erupt. For example, “First we prepared the pumpkin, next, we put the magic potion recipe in, and then we poured some vinegar in, and finally we watched it erupt!”

Predicting and Problem Solving

Predicting What Will Happen
Before the eruption, ask your preschooler to predict what could occur. For example, ‘What might happen when you add vinegar to the magic potion recipe?’

If your preschooler finds it difficult to make predictions, use this opportunity to model predictions and “I think…” sentences. For example, “I think it will bubble and fizz”

Problem-Solving
After the eruption, ask your preschooler ‘why did the Halloween pumpkin erupt?’ If your preschooler finds it difficult to answer this question, use this opportunity to model ‘why and because’ language. For example, “It erupted because we put baking soda, washing liquid and vinegar together”

Extra Speech Therapy Ideas

Halloween Scientist

Dress up as Halloween scientists. Experiment with different quantities of baking soda, washing liquid, and vinegar. Which combination produces a bigger Halloween pumpkin eruption? Here you can describe and talk about speech therapy and language concepts, such as “bigger/biggest” “smaller/smallest” “more” “less” “same” “different”

Halloween Artists

Dress up as Halloween artists and experiment with food colouring. Mix different combinations to see what colour erupts. This can be a wonderful way to model prediction language structures. It also encourages different opinions, such as “I think it will be [colour]… what do you think?” You can also label and describe different colours and shades. 

Halloween Pumpkin Storytelling

Witch’s Brew

Pretend the Pumpkano is part of a witch’s spell and magic potion recipe. Add in the ingredients and say a magic spell, then watch the potion bubble and brew. Find other ideas for potions to create this Halloween season here.

Speech Sounds with a Halloween Pumpkin

Focusing on a specific speech sound during a Halloween pumpkin activity can make listening fun. It also helps with practising speech sounds enjoyable. First start with modelling lots of words with a specific speech sound.

Here’s an Example

We use our lips for the sounds /p, b, m/, here are some examples of words beginning with these sounds.

This post was about a Halloween pumpkin activity with a magic potion recipe – Pumpkanoes! It included some speech therapy ideas to incorporate into this Halloween activity. Remember to follow your child’s lead in the interaction. Model language before, during and afterwards. Will you be trying this over the spooky season?