5 Pumpkin Activities for Preschoolers & Toddlers: A Week of Fall Learning
Does it smell like pumpkin spice in here to you? I sure think it does! Pumpkins are everywhere in the fall, making them the perfect theme for a week of preschool learning! From science and art to literacy and creativity, here are 5 simple pumpkin-themed activities to try with your preschooler.
Why a Pumpkin Makes the Perfect Preschool Theme
Pumpkins are the perfect way to introduce life science into your home preschool routine, while making it seem like you’re simply celebrating fall!
Pumpkins are recognizable, fun and during this time of the year, everywhere. So take advantage of that opportunity and try out one (or more) of these pumpkin lessons and activities!
1. Plant a Pumpkin Seed – Science
Start your pumpkin-learning-journey by planting pumpkin seeds! They are quick to sprout, easy to care for, and get them prepped and ready for the upcoming pumpkin life cycle lesson. Here’s how we made planting seeds a preschool-friendly activity:
- Have your child put a few pumpkin seeds on a paper towel, then spray them with water till they are damp.
- Put that wet paper towel in a Ziploc bag, and place that sealed bag in a sunny window.
- Check on their growth over the course of a few days, till you see roots and small sprouts peeking through! 🌱
- Work together to carefully transfer the sprouts to soil, and make sure they keep watering them daily.
*Disclaimer – These plants will not produce pumpkins this fall. But they will see multiple stages of a pumpkins life cycle!*
2. Explore the Pumpkin Life Cycle – Science
Using the knowledge your little pumpkin just gained from watching a seed turn into a sprout, you can jump right into this pumpkin life cycle pictorial! Here’s each stage, and how I explained it to my preschooler:
- Seed: This is where a pumpkin’s journey starts. This little seed needs water and sunlight to grow, just like ours had!
- Sprout: Once the plant is strong enough, it breaks out of it’s seed casing and turns into a small sprout! The little leaves help catch sunlight and it works to grow stronger roots.
- Vine: As the sprout and it’s roots grow bigger and bigger, you’ll begin to see leaves and vines! They trail along the ground.
- Flower: The plant has continued to grow and absorb nutrients, and now it’s ready to change. The flower of a plant will eventually turn into our pumpkin!
- Green Pumpkin: Before a pumpkin is fully ready, the plant will grow a smaller green pumpkin. It will expand and change colors over the course of days.
- Pumpkin: Once a pumpkin is big, round, and orange it’s ready to be picked! If we cut open the pumpkin, we’d find it’s full of seeds! We could plant these to restart the whole cycle over again.
3. Paint a Pumpkin Patch – Art
Now that we have done the heavy-science-lifting in this lesson series, we can get to more abstract and creative activities. This pumpkin patch art project uses only two colors of paint, some preschooler fingers, and a sponge! Here’s how I set up this art project:
- Have your child fingerpaint vines and leaves in green paint all over the paper.
- Cut an old kitchen sponge into roughly a circle shape, then cut slits into the circle. (As seen in picture)
- Once the green paint has dried, have your child dip the sponge into the orange paint to stamp the pumpkins!
That’s all it takes! You can make this as big as you’d like to, I can see a whole classroom making a pumpkin patch with rows of pumpkins! 🧡🧡🧡
4. A Pumpkin Read-Aloud (Stumpkin) – Literacy
Now that we understand how pumpkins grow, and how they look, let’s take a dive into how they feel! Stumpkin is an adorable story told through the lens of grocery store pumpkins, all wanting to be turned into jack o’ lanterns.
Our main character, Stumpkin, is a stumpless pumpkin who has grown self conscious of his lack of a stump. He worries no one will pick him, and he won’t have a home for Halloween.
Check out this Halloween read aloud that’s full of feelings, self-worth, and finding your home!
Fall is filled with great reads, if you’re interested in more I wrote about 5 Fall Books here!
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5. Jack-o’-Lantern Create Station – Art & Fine Motor
The best way to close out our week of pumpkin learning? By making a keepsake that doubles as spooky decor! These jack o’ lantern give your little one creative freedom and you’ll be blown away at how cute they turn out! Here’s how I turned 3 sheets of paper into a craft that kept my son busy for 45 min:
- Prepare the materials: I precut the funky pumpkin shapes, as well as all of their facial features. Most of them I just cut random shapes, not caring if it was a nose or eye, but I made sure to make 5 mouths. My son cut the stems himself!
- Give them the glue: The other great thing about this activity is that its totally okay if their faces look a little crooked or funky. Let them glue them wherever! My son made one that looked like stumpkin first, so he used that as a guide I think. 😅
Final Thoughts
Whether you’re looking for a fun fall activity or planning a whole week of preschool learning, pumpkins make the perfect theme! I hope you and your little learner have fun exploring these activities together, and hopefully get your hands on a pumpkin-flavored treat too 😜🎃
❤️ Until Next Time,
