Fall is one of my favorite times of the year, and I love to celebrate it with my students.  As you know, fall is pumpkin season, and there are tons of engaging pumpkin activities you can do in the classroom.  Although I do enjoy throwing in various fall and pumpkin activities throughout the season, it is also fun to have one day dedicated to pumpkin activities.  To make things even more exciting, the activities in this post (except morning work and lunch) involve a REAL PUMPKIN!  Students love working with an actual pumpkin, and it makes the lessons much more interesting and hands-on.  Keep reading to learn about pumpkin activities you can do for morning work, language arts, science, math, and lunch (as well as worksheets to go along with the activities)!

Getting Prepped

For these pumpkin activities, you will need one pumpkin for each group of students.  I recommend groups of 2-4 kids, depending on your class.  That way, students have a chance to work with the pumpkin instead of just watching the teacher.  For the math section, you will also need to cover the desks or tables with newspaper or butcher paper for easy clean-up.

Pumpkin Activities

Morning Work

To start off the day, I like to choose some fun pumpkin activities that are low-key, accessible to all of my students, and do not take a lot of time to set up (since the rest of the day will have plenty of that!).  Some ideas are a pumpkin word search or a pumpkin coloring sheet.  These fun pumpkin worksheets are perfect!

Language Arts

Pumpkin Story Writing

What you need: pumpkins for each group, writing paper for each student

1. Give each group time to look over their pumpkin.  If time allows, you can have groups draws faces on or otherwise decorate their pumpkins.  If not, tell students to observe the details about their pumpkin and think about what it looks like to them.
2. Hand out writing paper and have students write a story about their pumpkins (bonus if they add illustrations!).  They can write whatever they want: a narrative about a real pumpkin, a poem, a description of the pumpkin, a fictional story, or whatever comes to mind.  This is a great chance for kids to be creative!
3. Have students read their stories to the class or to their group.

Describe That Pumpkin!

What you need: pumpkins for each group, paper or adjectives worksheet for each student

1. Hand out pieces of paper or the adjectives worksheet to each student.
2. Tell students that they need to come up with as many adjectives as possible for their pumpkin.  (Remind kids that adjectives are describing words.  Depending on your grade level, you may want to come up with a couple adjectives as a class before letting them work on their own.)
3. Give students a set amount of time to work. (I like putting on a timer so kids know how long they have left.)
4. After time is up, see who came up with most adjectives OR make a class list of all the adjectives and see how many you thought of as a class.  (Some groups like competition and some are more sensitive to it….use your teacher judgment!)

Do you want the printable worksheets that go with these activities?  Get them here!  (Although you can definitely do these activities without the pre-formatted worksheets.)

Math

Pumpkin Seed Counting and Analysis

What you need: newspaper or butcher paper to cover tables, a carving knife (teacher use only), a bowl for each group, paper or pumpkin math worksheet for each student

1. Cut the top off of each groups pumpkin and let students look inside (but don’t touch yet!)
2. Student estimate how many seeds are inside their pumpkin and write it down (on the worksheet or on a piece of paper).
3. After everyone in the group has made an estimate, students take all of the seeds out of their pumpkin (which is why you should cover the tables – it’s a BIG mess otherwise!).
4. Each group counts how many seeds are in their pumpkin and writes it down.  Students should think about whether their estimate was close or not close to the actual number of seeds.  They also record the number of seeds using tally marks.
5. Then, students put their seeds into groups of 10 and write it down.  (I recommend drawing circles with a sharpie on the newspaper or butcher paper to help your kids with grouping their seeds.)
6. Next, students put their seeds into groups of 100 and write it down (although they may not have 100 seeds, which means they have 0 groups of 100 seeds).
7. After each group is done counting and recording, have the class come together and let each group share how many seeds were in their pumpkins.  Make a class chart with the group name/number and how many pumpkin seeds they had.  (Depending on your grade level, you can have students record this information in their own charts as well.). Discuss and record which group had the MOST seeds and which group had the LEAST seeds.
8. When your chart is complete, create a bar graph of each groups number of seeds.  (Once again, depending on your grade level, you can have students create their own bar graphs or just do one as a class.). Discuss what you can learn from the bar graph.
9. Time to clean up!

Do you want the printable worksheets that go with these activities?  Get them here!  (Although you can definitely do these activities without the pre-formatted worksheets.)

Science

Pumpkin Sensory Exploration

What you need: pumpkins for each group, paper or 5 senses worksheet for each student

1. Let each group explore their pumpkin while thinking about the five senses (sight, sound, taste, touch, smell).  **For taste, you may want to have some pumpkin seeds or another pumpkin flavored item for kids to taste, since they can’t actual taste their pumpkin.**
2. Have students write or draw what they experience from each of the senses.
3. Students share what they wrote/drew with the class or with their group.

Pumpkin Estimating

What you need: pumpkins for each group, a scale, a recording sheet for each student

1. Give each group time to hold their pumpkin (with adult help, depending on the age).
2. Have every student make an estimate about how much the pumpkin weighs and write it down.  (Choose the units based on your grade level and what kids are expected to know.)
3. Weigh the pumpkins.  (If students are old enough, they can do this themselves.  For the younger grades, have an adult do the weighing while students watch.)
4. Students record the actual weight and discuss how close their estimates were.

Do you want the printable worksheets that go with these activities?  Get them here!  (Although you can definitely do these activities without the pre-formatted worksheets.)

Lunch

On our pumpkin day, I like to invite my students to have lunch in the classroom.  Then, we watch a pumpkin-related movie or video.  My favorite is “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” (watch it on youtube here!) because it is such a classic and my students usually love it.  I also provide a pumpkin treat for them, such as pumpkin cookies or roasted pumpkin seeds.

 

I hope you and your students enjoy your day filled with fun pumpkin activities!  Have a comment, question, or concern?  Leave a comment below or shoot me an email!

 

Are you looking for other ways to celebrate the fall season?  Check out this exciting Halloween memory book activity or take a look at these great non-candy Halloween treats to give your students!