Let’s Learn About Pumpkins

Children find pumpkins naturally interesting so the elementary years are a great age for a special pumpkin unit with crafts, fun read alouds, writing activities, and more. Here are lots of ideas ideas for young learners that will enable you to have fun as you learn all about pumpkins while still practicing important learning skills.

Pumpkin Unit With Life Cycle Craft

I created this Pumpkins Unit to provide a solid resource for your pumpkin learning activities. It includes:

• life cycle craft
• 35+ printables for writing, math, reading, science, and more
• posters, mini books

Just add picture books to your book basket to read aloud and you are ready to get started.

Hands-On Pumpkin Activities

In addition to the fun activities in the above pack. here are some more hands-on and creative learning ideas featuring pumpkins.

Predicting Pumpkin Weights Activity: Gather an assortment of pumpkins of various shapes and sizes. Weigh the pumpkin your children think is the “middle-sized” pumpkin using a kitchen scale. Based on that information, have the children predict what the other pumpkins will weigh. See who can get the closest! Then have fun decorating outside your home.

Torn Paper Pumpkin Craft: For this easy craft, each child needs a small paper plate, orange construction paper, and glue. Tear the paper into ragged edged pieces roughly the size of a quarter. Glue the orange pieces on to the paper plate. When the plate is covered with overlapping orange paper, add a green chenille stem. Use the individual pumpkins for a wall display and connect them all with green vines.

Pumpkin Sticker Story: Give each child a sheet of pumpkin stickers. Have your child write a short story using a sticker instead of the word “pumpkin” each time it comes up in the story. Children who aren’t able to write their own story can dictate to a parent or older sibling.

Pumpkin Fun Fact Cards & Copywork

Children love these Pumpkin Fun Fact Cards and the coordinating Pumpkins Copywork. I’ve filled the cards with fascinating facts your children will remember for a long time and eagerly share with others. If you do a morning time, these are a great addition to your basket.

You can also practice print and cursive handwriting with the same facts.

Picture Books Featuring Pumpkins

There are so many pumpkin-themed books available. Here are a few that are favorites in our home.

From Seed to Pumpkin (Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Science, Stage 1) by Wendy Pfeffer is a great introduction to the science behind pumpkins. Written at a level appropriate for early elementary, the book traces the growth of a pumpkin from the beginning to the harvest. The story focuses on the farmer and three children who help him plant his hundreds of pumpkin seeds. The warm and inviting illustrations are likely to produce a very positive response from young children.

Seed, Sprout, Pumpkin, Pie is part of the National Geographic Kids Picture the Seasons series. Full of great photos, it shows both the life cycle of pumpkins as well as the various ways pumpkins are used such as in food and for Halloween.

Don’t forget this fun Little House story! In County Fair, Almanzo Wilder competes for the blue ribbon by entering the pumpkin he has carefully grown all summer. This is a great book for tying in a bit of history to your lesson.

Apples and Pumpkins by Anne Rockwell follows the outing of a little girl and her parents as they go out to a farm to pick apples and pumpkins. The little girl selects her pumpkin and takes it home to carve it. They light it in celebration of Halloween when the little girl goes out trick or treating with her dad. The book is warmly illustrated and the story is told simply and briefly.

Picking Apples and Pumpkins by Amy and Richard Hutchings is the story of Kristy, her family, and friends as they go on an outing to an orchard and pumpkin patch. Told through nicely done photographs, the children and adults have a great time picking apples and then selecting pumpkins to bring home. Once they arrive home, they carve the pumpkins and illuminate them with candles.

Have fun learning about pumpkins!