Posted by It’s pumpkin palooza this month! Love teaching with pumpkins and taking a trip to the pumpkin patch! Here are some of my favorite educational pumpkin activities:
Pumpkin Science
Allow students to explore and touch the outside of a pumpkin. Ask them to describe it. Write their responses on an anchor chart or large pumpkin cut out.
(This idea was inspired by students. We had done sink or float with apples and they wanted to do it with pumpkins too). Have students predict whether a pumpkin will sink or float. Have them write their predictions in their science journals or make a graph of their predictions. Place pumpkins in a tub of water deep enough to lift the pumpkin off the bottom (they should float). Have students draw a picture and record their findings.
Place a piece of string around the middle of the pumpkin to measure it’s girth.
Cut several more pieces of string, some shorter and some longer. Lay all the pieces of string on a table or hang them up on the wall. Label each piece of string with a letter or number. Have students guess which piece of string is the correct measurement of the girth of the pumpkin.
Ask students to guess the weight of the pumpkin. Record their answers on an anchor chart or graph or have them write their predictions in their science journals. Weigh the pumpkin and compare the results. Cut out the pumpkin (see pumpkin carving idea below). Ask students to predict the weight of the pumpkin after the seeds and pulp have been removed. Record their responses. Re-weigh the pumpkin and compare the results.
After removing the pulp and seeds from the pumpkin, allow students to explore and touch the insides of the pumpkin and look at it through magnifying glasses. Ask them to describe it. Record their responses on an anchor chart or large pumpkin cut out.
Supply students with either a paper plate or a pumpkin cut-out, pieces of orange or yellow string, pumpkin seeds (real or paper), and glue. Allow them to create their own representations of the inside of a pumpkin. If you have been learning about the parts of a pumpkin, students can label the parts of their crafts.
Read From Seed to Pumpkin by Wendy Pfeffer and/or It’s Pumpkin Time by Zoe Hall.
Plant some of the pumpkin seeds from your pumpkin. Take photos of each stage of the pumpkin life cycle. Click here for a free set of pumpkin life cycle cards.
Discuss the pumpkin life cycle. Click here for ideas and tips on teaching the pumpkin life cycle to students in a fun and meaningful way.
Dye Pumpkin Seeds
Dyed pumpkin seeds make great manipulatives for learning and can also be used for fall art projects. Click here directions on how to dye pumpkin seeds as well as fun learning activities and art projects.
Pumpkin Volcano
This fun pumpkin science activity is always a hit with students. They love watching the pumpkin volcano explode and erupt! I usually add it as an activity on the day we are carving/exploring pumpkins, but it can be done anytime during the fall season. Click here for step by step directions on how to make a pumpkin volcano.
P is for pumpkin
This is a fun, hands-on activity to practice letter recognition. Create a letter recognition pumpkin patch in your room by labeling some pumpkins with letter Ps and other pumpkins with other letters of the alphabet. Create vines (green yarn, ribbon, or pipe cleaners) and leaves and lay them on the floor along with the pumpkins to resemble a pumpkin patch. Have students go in the pumpkin patch and pick “P” pumpkins. To practice letter sounds (beginning sounds) glue pictures on the pumpkins and have students pick pumpkins with pictures that begin with p.
Letter and Letter Sound Match in the Pumpkin Patch
I love creating seasonal centers and activities for festive and fun learning since young students are very motivated by seasonal and holiday materials.
I was in need of a fun way to assess my students’ letter and letter sound knowledge and since my students’ were very excited about visiting the pumpkin patch later in the month I decided to make a letter match in the pumpkin patch activity.
Students loved hunting and picking the pumpkins in the colorful pumpkin patch and I loved how easily I could assess them and differentiate their practice.
Pumpkin Counting
Create a fun, hands-on counting center that students will be “pumped” to use! Program pumpkins with numbers. Provide a long piece of green yarn or ribbon and recording sheets (optional). Students visit the center and lay the yarn or ribbon on the floor to resemble a vine. They then take the pile of numbered pumpkin cards and lay them in sequential order along the vine and record their answers on the recording sheet. They can then shuffle them up and lay them on the vine in reverse order. Students can practice counting by ones or skip counting. (Our Pumpkin Math Center contains pumpkins, recording pages, and a pumpkin hundred chart with ideas for use.)
Christian Pumpkin Carving Activity
This special way to carve a pumpkin is perfect for Christian schools, Sunday School classes, etc. It relates the pumpkin carving experience with Jesus. Click here for step by step instructions with pictures.
Pumpkin Games
Ring Around the Pumpkin – Purchase some small pumpkins and spread them around the room or an outdoor area. Label them with numbers. Have students toss several hula-hoops to try and ring pumpkins. Have each student add their score.
Use these fun pumpkin games to help with transition times. They work great prior to bathroom time or washing up for snack.
Pumpkin Hot Potato – play like the classic Hot Potato game except pass around a small pumpkin or gourd. When a student gets caught with the pumpkin when the music stops, they go to the next activity or line up or go to the bathroom, etc.
Pin the Nose on the Pumpkin – played like the classic game Pin the Tail on the Donkey except the students try to place the nose on a jack-o-lantern.
Pumpkin Books
It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
Five Little Pumpkins 
Pumpkin Pumpkin
The Biggest Pumpkin Ever
The Berenstain Bears and the Prize Pumpkin
The Berenstain Bears’ Harvest Festival by Stan and Jan Berenstain
Too Many Pumpkins
Pumpkin Patch by Elizabeth King
It’s Pumpkin Time!
Jeb Scarecrow’s Pumpkin Patch
From Seed to Pumpkin
Creative Expression
As part of our field trip to our local pumpkin farm the students get to pick a small pumpkin to take home. We then allow the students to paint their pumpkins during our Fall Festival.
If you are unable to get pumpkins for every child another alternative is to draw faces on several pumpkins and place them in a center with various hats, scarves, and clothing. Students can “dress up” the pumpkins.
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