All About Pumpkins
Age Group: Preschool – Kindergarten
Time: 1 ½ hours
Standards of Learning
Science: K.1a, K.2, K.4, K.6, K.8c
Social Studies: K.6, K.7
Objectives
1. Students will make observations of different types of pumpkins.
(Science K.1a)
2. Students will investigate pumpkins using their five senses. (Science K.2)
3. Students will investigate and describe pumpkins using physical properties of color, shape, texture, size and weight. (Science K.4)
4. Students will understand basic needs and the life process of the pumpkin. Science (Science K.6)
5. Students will investigate simple patterns in plant growth of a pumpkin.
Science (Science K.8c)
6. Students will understand the job of a farmer and the importance of a
farm in producing food which is a basic need for survival.
(Social Studies K.6 and K.7)
Book List
Growing a Pumpkin Helen Lepp Friesen
The Pumpkin Patch Elizabeth King
From Seed to Pumpkin Wendy Pfeffer
From Seed to Pumpkin Jan Kottke
The Pumpkin Book Gail Gibbons
Pumpkin Day, Pumpkin Night Anne Rockwell
Apples and Pumpkins Anne Rockwell
The Bumpy Little Pumpkin Margery Cuyler
Pumpkin Circle: The Story of a Garden George Levenson (also in Spanish)
Pumpkins: A Story for a Field Mary LynRay
Pumpkin Pumpkin Jeanne Titherington
Building Background Knowledge
Suggested pre-field trip activities to build background knowledge.
1. Read any of the books on the book list. Discuss the life cycle of the pumpkin and various uses of pumpkins. There are worksheets for the life cycle
of the pumpkin on www.EnchantedLearning.com or www.AtoZTeacherStuff.com.
2. Pumpkin Tasting
1. Cut open a pumpkin and ask the students to predict which part of the pumpkin is eaten.
2. Have a variety of foods such as pumpkin pie, pumpkin soup, pumpkin pudding, pumpkin cookies and pumpkin seeds for the students to sample during snack. * See recipes under Enrichment activities
3. Math Activity
1. Show the students a large pumpkin and a small pumpkin.
Have them predict what they will find inside each pumpkin
and predict which pumpkin will have the most seeds.
2. Allow the students to open pumpkins and predict the number of
seeds. Remove the seeds and count. Compare the actual
number of seeds to the predicted number.
3. Compare the number of seeds in the large pumpkin to the number
of seeds in the small pumpkin. Compare the result to the predictions made prior.
4. Read How Many Seeds Are in a Pumpkin? by Margaret
McNamara. Then compare the class results and the results in
4. Tell the children they will be visiting a farm. Ask them to draw a
picture of what they predict the farm will look like and where the
pumpkins will be growing on the farm. Read The Pumpkin Patch
by Elizabeth King. Then compare their predictions to the story.
Enrichment Activities
1. Allow the students to plant the seeds they collected from the pumpkins
they used in the experiment. Review the importance of soil, sunlight
and water to the growth of the seeds. * Seeds will need to be dried for two
weeks prior to planting. Place the seeds on a paper towel in a sunny window to dry.
2. Pumpkin Mural
1. Roll out long sheets of brown butcher paper (to represent dirt) and have
students paint pumpkin vines using green paint.
2. Use orange tissue paper to make the blossoms.
Female blossoms: Paint a small Styrofoam ball green. Pinch the
middle of a 4” square of tissue paper to form the blossom. Wrap one
end of a green pipe cleaner around the blossom. Stick the other end
of the pipe cleaner through the center of the Styrofoam ball. Then
attach to the mural.
Male Blossoms: Pinch the middle of a 4” square of tissue paper to form
the blossom. Wrap one end of a green pipe cleaner around the
blossom. Then attach to the mural.
3. Blow up green and orange balloons to varying sizes and attach to
vine to represent the different stages of development of the pumpkins.
4. Have the students identify and label the following parts: vine, leaves,
blossoms, stems, young pumpkins and mature pumpkins.
3. Read Pumpkin Soup by Helen Cooper. Make pumpkin soup using pumpkins from the field trip.
Simple Pumpkin Soup
½ cup onion
3tbsp. butter
2 cups mashed cooked pumpkin
1 tsp. salt
¼ tsp. nutmeg
¼ tsp. ground pepper
3 cups chicken broth
½ cup half and half
Chop the onions and gently brown with butter in a pan. Put mashed pumpkin with onions in pan. Add the salt, sugar, nutmeg, and pepper. Slowly add chicken broth and heat thoroughly, but do not boil. To serve,
Pour into a large serving bowl and add the cream. Makes 4-6 small servings.
4. Math Activity for Measurement
Pumpkin Pudding Pie Materials
2 and 2/3 cups cold milk measuring cups
2 packages instant vanilla pudding mix measuring spoons
1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin can opener
1 tsp. cinnamon 2 one gallon Ziploc bags
½ tps. ginger small plastic cups
1 box graham cracker crumbs plastic spoons
whipped cream
1. Have students measure out the milk.
2. Place a one gallon Ziploc freezer bag inside another one gallon Ziploc freezer bag.
3. Add the milk and the instant pudding to the inside Ziploc bag. Remove the air and zip closed.
4. Have the students take turns kneading with their hands until the mixture is well blended.
5. Add the can of pumpkin, the cinnamon and ginger to the bag. Remove the air and zip closed.
6. Have the students knead the mixture again until well blended.
7. Place ½ tbsp. of graham cracker crumbs in the bottom of each plastic cup.
8. Cut the corner of the freezer bag and squeeze pie filling into the cups on top of the graham cracker crumbs. Garnish with whipped cream.
Enjoy!
4. Have each student draw a picture about their field trip. Students will write
or dictate a sentence about their picture. Put all the pictures together to
make a class book. The students will enjoy the memories for many days
to come. * Variation: Use photographs taken on the field trip instead of children
drawing pictures.
Websites
www.urbanext.edu/pumpkins
www.pumpkinnook.com
www.pumpkin-patch.com
www.lil-fingers.com preschool - kindergarten
Videos
www.youtube.com
Field Trip Activities
Materials:
1 pumpkin for each child Pumpkins
1 cutter per adult by Ken Robbins
Procedure
1. Whole Group: (20 minutes)
1. Read Pumpkins by Ken Robbins
2. Teach the hand signs for the life cycle.
2. Visit Pumpkin Patch: (30 minutes)
1. Identify each part of the plant and its purpose.
Root – supports the plant, collects water and nutrients from the soil
Vine – supports the leaves and carries water to the leaves and
pumpkins
Leaves – take in carbon dioxide and produce oxygen
- First two are seed leaves found in the seed.
- They use sunshine and air to make food for the plant.
- Big leaves have prickly edges that shelter pumpkins from
the sun and keep the soil moist
Blossoms – male and female one needs the other. Females have
little ball at the end of the blossom
Stem – the part of the vine where the pumpkin grows
Basic Needs:
Soil – provides nutrients and water to the plant
Water – makes the plant grow: 90% of a pumpkin is water
Sunlight – heats the soil in the spring and makes the
Seeds grow; helps the leaves
take carbon dioxide and make oxygen.
3. Hayride and Farm Visit: (30 minutes)