Montessori Pumpkin Puzzle

This unique Montessori Pumpkin puzzle was created from original drawings and designs by Puzzle Heads Educational Products. It features the parts of a pumpkin. This pumpkin puzzle is a perfect addition to your fall and harvest themed activities, leading up to Halloween.  Although this puzzle was designed with Montessori principles in mind, the learning features incorporated are equally valuable in any educational environment from preschools to homeschools and everything in between. Check out the pumpkin digital download bundle and the all new pumpkin watercolour paper for some additional exciting materials for your classroom.

How the Puzzles Are Made

As with all Puzzle Heads Originals products, each one begins as hand drawn artwork created in our studios. Sometimes ideas may evolve from rough sketches with good old paper and pencil. And sometimes the ideas come from you! In the case of the pumpkin puzzle, it was created in response to a contest we ran over 10 years ago asking our customers to vote on what puzzle they would love us to create. The pumpkin puzzle has proven to be a perennial favourite and best seller. Thank you for the suggestion! We are always open to exploring new product ideas. Contact us!

The original pumpkin design has been updated and modified over the years. And it has just had another major refresh in 2021! Thanks to some updates in our printing capabilities, the pumpkin image now has much greater detail and realism.

Each puzzle is first digitally printed and varnished. Then each puzzle is cut into the parts of a pumpkin. Finally each piece is carefully sanded to silky smoothness.

These puzzles are constructed from solid Baltic Birch plywood, not pressboard or Masonite. As a result, they will never get rounded corners or “fraying” on the edges. You are purchasing an heirloom quality product that withstands rugged classroom use and will last through many hand-me downs at home. Check out the digital download pumpkin bundle with matching control charts and nomenclature 3 part cards.

The Pincer Grip

The knobs used on Puzzle Heads wooden puzzles are an important feature designed to encourage the development of the pincer grip. The pincer grip is the action of grasping an object with the thumb and first finger.

Babies begin developing this skill between 6-12 months of age. When you think about it, it takes an amazing amount of hand eye coordination, concentration, precise movements and muscle strength to succeed in picking up and manipulating a small object.

Dr. Maria Montessori recognized the need to encourage the development of this skill and designed many  activities and materials for the classroom with this in mind. The pincer grip is the foundation of so many actions that will come as babies and toddlers grow.

You may still be perfecting your pincer grip through your adult life if you being learning a new skill, like painting with a fine brush, knitting or threading a needle.

Young children need to perfect the pincer grip in preparation for things like holding a pencil, learning to write, buttoning, zipping and snapping. A Montessori classroom has many materials and activities to help develop this skill.

Features

• 8 knobbed pieces
  • Pieces cut to match the pumpkin nomenclature 3 part card sets (Rind, Pulp, Fibrous Strands, Seeds, Leaf, Stem, Blossom end/Calyx, Tendril)
• Size: 9-1/4″ x 10-3/4″ (23.5cm x 27.5cm)

Matching Nomenclature 3 Part Cards

Nomenclature 3 part cards and control charts are now available as a newly expanded digital download available here. This versatile bundle gives the flexibility of choosing from full colour 3 part cards, or the more traditional red shaded part cards. Control charts, both labelled and unlabelled are also included. Finally, as an added bonus, this bundle also includes the colouring booklet. Both the nomenclature 3 part cards and the colouring booklet feature different versions of the pumpkin, both as the whole fruit and with the pumpkin sliced in half.

Recommended Age

3 years+

Preschool, Homeschool and Montessori Casa programs

Handmade in Canada.