Fall Decorations and the Pumpkin Fairy

This morning we woke up to quite a thunder storm. It was loud and I think that is what really woke Hazel up this morning. Now the storm seems to have passed, but the forecast doesn't look great for today. Hazel wanted to start some crafts this morning, so we made some fall crafts. We started with some Indian corn. The button Indian corn came from All Kids Network. They have the template there so all you have to do is cut out the shapes. Hazel enjoyed this one.  The fingerprint Indian corn also came from All Kids Network. Again they provide a template. And again Hazel enjoyed this. We have a nice fingerprint ink set that I got her at Lakeshore Learning Store.

Then we made strip apples and pumpkins. This Hazel did not enjoy as much as the other activities and she found it a bit hard. I think next year will be better for this craft.

Have to share with you this wonderful competition at Nestled Under Rainbows. She is giving away the Waldorf doll pictured here. Isn't he adorable? Go visit her and see how to give him a new home.

I have read over at The Magic Onions about the Pumpkin Fairy. She mentions it here but does not provide a story, so I googled it. And could not find a story that I wanted to use (and really could not find the story written out to read to a child). For those of you who do not know about the Pumpkin Fairy, she comes and leaves the children a fairymade toy in exchange for some of their Halloween candy. I found several references to her on line, but no story written out. This one had a bit more of a story of the fairy trying to save the kids from eating too much unhealthy candy and the kids help her by gathering up the unhealthy candy on Halloween. I didn't really like the emphasis on the unhealthy candy, so I'm not going to use this one. And this one shares the story with her diabetic daughter who goes above and beyond and makes the pumpkin fairy a pumpkin house.

So anyway, I did not find a version of the story to read to Hazel, so I wrote one. I made a nice pdf one with a bit of decorations. You can download it here. But for those who don't care about decorations here is the story. I wrote it so it would just be one page. Enjoy!

The Story of the Pumpkin Fairy by Carrie
Once upon a time a little fairy was awakened into life on a pumpkin. Her job was to protect her pumpkin, so it could grow big and plump and be picked as a Halloween Jack-o-lantern or used in a pumpkin pie or some yummy creation.
Being young, she was frightened, but soon she met other fairies who helped her figure out what to do. She made clothes for herself out of the pumpkin blossoms, after they had fallen to the ground so not to hurt another pumpkin. She did her best to protect her pumpkin. She played with the other fairies in the pumpkin patch during the day inbetween their naps, and guarded her pumpkin at night.

As the days grew colder she saw children come and pick some of the pumpkins. With each pumpkin gone she lost one of fairy friends. Each day more and more pumpkins were taken. She felt lonely in the pumpkin patch since most of her friends were gone, and her pumpkin was one of only a few that remained.
Then one night as soon as it got dark she saw all the children leave their houses in different outfits--ones she had never seen before. One little girl even looked like a fairy. They went up to the other houses and said, "Trick or treat." Then the people at the other house gave them something. She was very curious about what they were being given.  The children seemed to be having fun, giggling, dancing and cheering. She just wanted to see what they were doing so she left the pumpkin patch to get a closer look. This was the first time she left the pumpkin patch. While she was watching behind a group of children and she saw a piece of candy fall to the ground and she picked it up. She didn't know what it was but saw some of the children eating their candy so she tried it. She loved it. She wanted more. She followed the kids around and tried to get more, but she didn't see anymore fall. She knew fairies were not allowed to take things from children, so she came up with a plan.

She went back to her pumpkin patch and made some lovely toys for the children. That night she snuck into the houses of some of the children and took some of their candy and left them a fairymade toy in exchange for it. She was able to gather enough candy to keep her satisfied for the year.

Now pumpkin fairies do not die when their pumpkin is picked as some believe. They actually are much like the bears who hibernate through the winter. They return to their fairy houses away from the pumpkin patches and see all of their friends and family and return when a pumpkin arrives that needs to be guarded. Eventually our fairy's pumpkin was picked to be used in a Thanksgiving pie, so she got to return to her home. She shared her candy with her family and friends and they all loved it as much as she did. So the next Halloween, they all brought fairymade gifts for the children and exchanged them for candy. The word got out to the children as well and some of them left specific candy for the fairies.
So on Halloween night enjoy trick-or-treating and leave some of your candy for the pumpkin fairies. The more you leave the nicer fairymade gift you will get. Happy Halloween!!