Fun in the pumpkin patch

Balboa Elementary School students crowded around smiling scarecrows and a pile of pumpkins in the kindergarten yard after school on Monday for the fourth annual Pumpkin Patch event.

“I’m a princess,” said kindergartener Evelyn Moradian, dressed as Sleeping Beauty.

“I have the movie and I have the pajamas too. She’s the best actor ever.”

Not all the children were dressed up, but some notable participants included a white ninja, Tigger, a fireman and a smattering of princesses.

“I’m too old,” said 9-year-old Kenneth Traquena,

“There’s only little kids with costumes running around.”

Kindergarten students, who got out 15 minutes earlier than the rest of the school, had first shot at the games, face-painting, pizza, popcorn and drinks.

The Halloween-themed games awarded prizes for all participants.

“We’re just calling it ‘Bucket of Bones,’” volunteer Angela Laws said of one game.

“If they put the bones in the bucket, they get a prize.”

Prizes included fake fangs and necklaces.

Second-grader Erin Asadourian, wearing an orange-and-black jump suit, showed off a necklace with a Frankenstein medallion.

“I’m a race car driver,” he said. “Because I go fast.”

He won the prize at the jack-o-lantern toss, a game where kids toss rope rings at wooden pegs on a pumpkin-shaped panel.

The event also offered pumpkins for sale, pictures with a 150-pound pumpkin that Trader Joe’s donated, Balboa PTA treasurer Lorna Lopez said.

“The proceeds go to the PTA, which goes directly into the school to benefit students,” she said.

The PTA event raises money to help school programs such as the art-docent program, which brings parent volunteers to teach children about art, Lopez said.

“Today we’re expecting about a couple hundred [students],” said Lisa Deyell, PTA executive vice president.

Parents, teachers, and PTA members all lent their help to put the even together.

Dawn Dunkin, who has a son in kindergarten, volunteered to paint the children’s faces.

“I’m getting better,” Dunkin said as she painted a skull on a little Snow White’s cheek.