Do you want to try some pumpkin activities for kids but you aren't sure where to start? There are so many fun ways to introduce the world of pumpkins to your kindergarten and first-grade students! Let's take a look at some of the best pumpkin activities that kids will love.
Pumpkin Activities For Kids
One of the first things you want to do is show your class that there are many varieties of pumpkins. Head to your local grocery store or pumpkin patch and pick up a few real pumpkins. When kids think of pumpkins they probably think of the standard orange color but do they know that they come in a variety of colors, shapes, and sizes?
Once you've gathered all your pumpkins there are so many things you can do with them! A great book to read to introduce students to pumpkins is called Pumpkins by Gail Gibbons. This realistic fiction book shows students how pumpkins grow and the many different shapes and colors.
Teaching Grammar With Pumpkins
Pumpkins can be lumpy, bumpy, big, small, round, flat, orange, green, and white pumpkins. The list is endless. So why not use this as an opportunity to introduce your students to pumpkin adjectives? Gather your students together on the carpet where you have a variety of big and little pumpkins displayed on a small table. Show all of the pumpkins to your class. Let them pass them around the circle and look closely at each one.
Then, have students think of different adjectives that would describe pumpkins and work together to write them on a large anchor chart. When you're finished with this whole group activity, have students make a simple pumpkin craft and use a pumpkin template to write words to describe all around the pumpkin.
Teaching Writing With Pumpkins
Writing and pumpkins may not seem to go together, but I can assure you they do! What's one of the best things about pumpkins? You can eat them! Get a can of pumpkin filling, a graham cracker crust, some pumpkin spice, and make a no-bake pumpkin pie with your class. Your students will have so much fun helping you mix together all of the ingredients in a big bowl. Then pour it all into the crust and pop it in the freezer. This will definitely be one of your favorite pumpkin activities for kids.
While you're waiting for your pie to be ready, have your students help you write the steps for how to make a pumpkin pie. Model for your students how to do procedural writing using the temporal words first, next, then, and last. When you're finished, give each student a how-to writing template and have students write the steps on their own.
Another great activity that kids will love is carving your own classroom jack-o-lantern from one of your pumpkins. Choose a couple of students to help you draw a face on your pumpkin with permanent marker and then use a kid-friendly pumpkin carving knife to cut the hole at the top.
Let each student dig their little hands into the pumpkin to scoop out some of the pulp and seeds. Next, it's time to carve pumpkin features on the front for a face. This is fantastic fun during pumpkin season which kids of all ages love to do!
When your jack-o-lantern is carved work with your students to write the steps for how to carve a pumpkin. This is another easy way to practice procedural writing and kids can practice on their own with a simple writing template like this one. This little project is sure to be one of your student's favorites all year!
Have you read the book Spookley The Square Pumpkin? It's a great story that's great for retelling and procedural writing. Students can make a cute Spookley the pumpkin shape book and retell the story using procedural writing.
Teaching Science With Pumpkins
Want to add some pumpkin science to your day? Start off with the book Pumpkin, Pumpkin by Jean Titherington. This is a great book with beautiful watercolor pictures with will introduce your students to the life cycle of a pumpkin.
Next, have your students make their own pumpkin life cycle with a pumpkin-shaped accordion book. Students will love using orange paint, yellow tissue paper. and real pumpkin seeds to show the life cycle. When they are finished you can take an assessment to see how much your students have learned.
Another great science activity is having students label the parts of the pumpkin. You can make a large class pumpkin and have your students work together in shared writing to label the stem, vine. shell. and pulp. Then students can make their own pumpkin and label the parts.
Do pumpkins sink or float? This is another fun way to learn about science and pumpkins. All you need for this activity is a small tub of water, a pumpkin, and the Pumpkin Investigation Mini Book. A clear tub of water works the best because students will be able to see the results better. This is always a fun activity because most students will predict that the pumpkin will sink since it's so heavy.
Sensory Play With Pumpkins
The fall season is the perfect time to create a pumpkin-themed sensory bin in your kindergarten or preschool classroom. You can add all sorts of fall items to your bin – small mini craft pumpkins, orange and green beads, fall leaves, pumpkin seeds, twigs, and acorns. Add some little bits of orange and yellow craft filler and have kids sort through the sensory bin to see what they can find. This simple activity will keep young kids happy and exploring for quite a long time.
Another fun sensory activity is to make pumpkin-scented play dough. For this activity, all you need are a few kitchen items and your students will be ready to have lots of fun and build their fine motor strength!
Playdough Recipe
Mix the following ingredients in a microwave safe bowl:
- 1 cup of flour
- 1/3 cup of canned pumpkin
- 2/3 cup of water
- 2 TB cream of tartar
- 1/2 cup of salt
- 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
- 2 TB oil
- 2/3 drops of orange food coloring
Microwave for 1 minute and stir. Continue microwaving for an additional 30 minutes and stir. Continue to microwave in 15-second intervals until the dough begins to form.
Teaching Math With Pumpkins
Pumpkins lend themselves to some great math activities for the classroom. One of my favorite activities is pumpkin tasting. Grab a few of your favorite pumpkin foods that are readily available in the fall – pumpkin pie, donuts, cake, or even pumpkin seeds. Give each student a little taste of each item and then work together to make a class graph to see which were the favorites!
Another great way to include math in your pumpkin unit is by measuring. You can have students measure how much a pumpkin weighs and measure the height and circumference of small pumpkins and big pumpkins. These are all fun ideas to add to your pumpkin-themed activities for math.
Teaching Reading Comprehension With Pumpkins
Did you know you can even teach literacy skills with pumpkins? There are many great pumpkin-themed books that kids love but one of my favorites is Spookley The Square Pumpkin. It has a great message that teaches kids “You can't judge a book (or a pumpkin) by its cover.” After reading the story to your students you can introduce students to story elements. Use these anchor charts to teach students about characters, setting, and plot.
Work together to create a story elements anchor chart where you can discuss the problem and solution in the story. Then have students complete their own story elements worksheet. Finally, work on retelling with these pocket chart cards and matching worksheet.
Fun And Easy Pumpkin Crafts
Finish up your pumpkin unit with some hands-on fun pumpkin crafts Students will love making this simple jack-o-lantern craft. All you need is some orange and green paper. Add a polka dot bow to make your jack-o-lantern look even cuter!
Another fun activity is this paper plate pumpkin craft that looks like a piece of pie. Cut a white paper plate into 6 pieces. Give each student one piece of the plate and have them tear bits of orange paper.
This activity is great for strenghtening fine motor skills Have them color the edge of the paper with a brown crayon and glue the orange paper in the middle to look like a piece of pumpkin pie. Add a cotton ball to look like a dollop of whipped cream for a cute pumpkin pie craft.
You can add these pumpkin craft ideas to your fall art center or have them ready for students to work on when they first get to school. It's a fun way to fit some paper crafts into your schedule and have a crafty morning!
If you're excited to get started, this collection of pumpkin activities has everything you need. First-grade and kindergarten students will love learning about pumpkins through reading, writing, and math! Click here to view this resource.
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Take a minute to save these ideas to your favorite fall Pinterest board so you can remember them later!
