The staff and tots at EduKids Child Care Centre in Bradford had a chance to pick and paint their own pumpkins Friday morning, as part of the centre's yearly pumpkin patch experience.
Every October the tots and staff at EduKids usually venture out on a field trip to a local pumpkin patch, but this year with COVID-19, staff decided it would be best to create their own fall farm experience right at the centre instead.
The centre's director Cindy Paulus wanted to make the day just as special and fun for the kids as previous years, and reached out to Peter Reali, owner of Bradford's No Frills to see if he would be willing to help supply them with pumpkins for their patch.
Reali was more than happy to donate 60 pumpkins to the child care centre, which staff used to scatter throughout the leaves in the centre's play yard on Friday morning for the kids to pick, paint and take home.
"This is awesome for them (the kids)," said Paulus.
The pumpkins were spread out in different sections of the yard for each cohort of children to pick.
Since reopening the centre after lockdowns, Paulus says it is nice to see the families and children coming back again.
"Every family that's come back, they're happy," said Paulus.
"They need this," she said about the socialization for children.
She noted that the centre is following strict screening and COVID-19 protocols to keep the staff and students safe.
"We keep a tight knit group, the staff do an amazing job," she said.
Paulus says she and her staff have been taking advantage of the nice fall weather to get the kids outside as much as possible and Friday was a perfect day for the fall pumpkin patch experience, which also included festive fall decor like hay bales and scarecrows and even mini wagon rides around the yard.
After the pumpkin picking, the kids headed inside to paint and decorate their small pumpkins which each got to take home at the end of the day.
