Summer Story Time Ideas with The Watermelon Seed

My kids are crazy about watermelon! They seriously can’t get enough of this summer time staple, and I can’t say I blame them. It was only natural that I create some fun learning opportunities inspired by Greg Pizzoli’s bright The Watermelon Seed. Read on for a few fun ideas to share with your  kids that benefit math, creative thinking, and fine motor skills.

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READING THE WATERMELON SEED

This quick fun tale from Greg Pizzoli shares the story of a watermelon loving crocodile. Kids will love the vivid, simple illustrations. The images effectively relay the emotions of the main character- his love for the sweet fruit, his panic when he suspects he has swallowed a seed, and the intense worry that follows. The Watermelon Seed has been one of #thebigone’s favorites for quite a while. He convinced me to pick it up after reading it with his dad and telling me all about it.

Sewing with The Watermelon Seed

Inspired by the super cute chick Rachel at I Heart Crafty Things created this spring (for Red Ted Art), my kids and I put together an adorable watermelon sewing project.

• Sturdy green paper plates.
• Scissors.
• Pencil.
• Hole punch.
• Red or pink yarn.
• Black pony beads.
• Tape.

1. Using a pencil, sketch out a rough circle on the back of the plate. You’ll want to leave around an inch or so of green ‘rind’ to sew later.
2. Using scissors carefully, cut out the circle. Be sure to cut from the center, leaving the outer edge of the plate in tact.
3. Use the hole punch to punch holes around the edge of the circle you just cut out.
4. Cut a few yards of yarn. Tape one end to the back of the paper plate. Randomly sew your plate, filling the center of the watermelon with overlapping yarn.
   1. If your yarn becomes frayed, you can wrap the end with tape, or use a large plastic yarn needle.
5. While sewing, stop at some points to add black pony beads to the yarn. It wouldn’t stay true to The Watermelon Seed without seeds, right?!
6. When the plate is sewn to your satisfaction, tape the second end of the yarn to the back of the plate.
7. Be sure to admire your summery fruit craft! They’re perfect for decorating during the warm months, and would be perfect for a summer barbecue.

Counting with The Watermelon Seed

I used some of the leftover green plates from the sewing project to create a fun math matching activity. I paired the larger green plates with some smaller pink paper plates. Using a permanent marker, I added watermelon seeds to the small plates, and numbers to the larger ones. Encourage kids to match the numbers correctly by counting the seeds. When stacked, the plate pairs look like adorable watermelons!

I created these free printables to encourage 1:1 counting up to 20. (Scroll down to grab your copies!) Print them out, and cut out each piece of watermelon. Using dried black beans or black pony beads, encourage your child to add the correct number of seeds to each piece of watermelon.

Fine Motor with The Watermelon Seed

#thelittleone loved this activity and spent a long afternoon playing with it. I set out a watermelon ice cube tray, some plastic spoons, and a bowl of dried black beans. (Pony beads would also work well). He loved transferring ‘watermelon seeds’ from the bowl to the tray, experimenting with different approaches. Going forward, we’ll introduce a greater variety of tools so he can experiment more.

Does your family have any favorite books about summer foods? Tell me about them in the comments!

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