TEACH PRESCHOOL SCIENCE
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      • Comparing Leaves
      • Exploring Pumpkins
      • Shucking Corn
      • Earthworm Observation
      • Parent and Baby Animals
      • Collecting Ants
      • Spider Season
      • Visit to a Pet Store
      • Living and Non Living Things
      • Animals Come in Many Shapes, Sizes and Colors
      • Ways Animals Move
      • Animals Need to Eat
      • Difference Between Wild and Tame Animals
      • People Can Use Products Provided by Animals and Plants
      • Animal Coverings - Hair, Fur, Feathers, Scales and Skin
      • Animals Live in Different Places
      • Metamorphosis and Change in Biology
      • Nocturnal Animals
      • Egg Science
      • Exploring Fish
      • Tree Skin Bark
      • Roots Growing Potatoes in Water
      • Stems - Making Daisy and Clover Chains
      • Flowers
      • Digging in the Dirt
    • Life Science People Index >
      • Parts of Our Body and How We Use Them
      • Our Heart
      • Our Hands
      • Our Feet
      • Fun With Balance
      • Sound Search
      • Sense of Touch
      • Exploring the Sense of Sight
      • Follow That Scent
      • Stop That Germ!
      • Interesting Tools That Doctors Use
      • We Need Healthy Teeth
      • Keep Those Muscles Moving!
    • Physical Science Index >
      • Blowing Bubbles
      • Magnify!
      • Ways to Measure Time
      • Magnetic Attraction
      • Ramps in Motion
      • Ice Melting
      • Sink or Float a Boat
      • Sponges and water
      • Dropping Things Through the Air
      • Static Electricity
      • Battery Electricity
      • Properties of Soap and Water
      • Weights and Balances
      • How Can Heat Change Things?
      • Tools Can Help Us Do Things
      • Lifting with Levers
      • Earth and Sky Science Index >
        • Shadow Chasing
        • Sun Effects
        • The Night Sky
        • Kinds of Clouds
        • Dressing for the Season
        • Classifying Rocks
        • Colors of the Rainbow
        • Who Has Seen the Wind?
        • Rain
        • Snow
        • Litter Hunt
        • We Can Take Care of the Earth
      • Wheels
      • Predicting How Simple Machines Will Work
      • Computers and Other Devices
      • Discoveries With Straws
      • Different Ways of Making Light
  • Teaching Notes
  • Links
  • Contact

Exploring Pumpkins


Core Learning Experience + Supplies and Equipment

  •  A large pumpkin or squash with a hole in the top, with some metal spoons and a bowl for the innards.
  • OR a cut-up chunk of pumpkin or squash for each child, with the strings, seeds etc attached.
  • It would be super to have part of the vine, and some vine leaves to explore, and associate with whatever was growing on it.

Possible/Expected Discoveries

  • Pumpkins are the fruit of the pumpkin vine.
  •  Do you think this pumpkin is heavier than a chair? Heavier than a child?
  • Predict weather a piece of yarn will go all the way around the circumference of the pumpkin, predict whether the pumpkin will sink or float, describe how the pumpkin looks, smells and feels, scoop out the insides and examine them. Predict how many seeds will be inside, or in a certain part.
  • Vocabulary: squishy, slimy, mushy, stem, skin, meat, pulp, seeds, ribs
  • Cut up some pumpkin pieces and cook with a little water. What will happen? Why? 

Extended Learning and Other Curriculum Areas

  • Plant some seeds in plastic or paper cups.
  •  Count seeds. Create simple sets and compare: more, less; equal, not equal.
  • Stuff paper lunch bags with newspaper; tie the stem with yarn, and paint orange and green. Create a “pumpkin patch” on the wall or a table. Add vines and leaves. Write dictated “stories”, and read them together.
  • Draw some sequences for children to order: e.g. seed to pumpkin; making a pie.
Preschool science activities - pumpkins
Picture
Picture

Activity Packs and Printables

Pumpkins center/flashcards 0-10.
Pumpkins center/flashcards 0-10.
Make pumpkin seed sets to 10.
Make pumpkin seed sets to 10.
Pumpkins 1 - theme pack for preschool and pre-K. $3.75
Pumpkins 1 - theme pack for preschool and pre-K. $3.75
Pumpkins 2 - theme pack for preschool and pre-K
Pumpkins 2 - theme pack for preschool and pre-K. $3.75
Pumpkins life-cycle activities pack  - 42 pages
Pumpkins life-cycle activities pack - 42 pages. $4.50
Picture
Pumpkin bingo dauber printables to 15. $2.50

Websites

​http://www.pumpkinnook.com/cookbook.htm
http://www.creativekidsathome.com/activities/activity_41.shtml
http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/pumpkins/
​
Pumpkins theme activities and printables

Books

​Mousekin's Golden House, by Edna Miller
Growing Pumpkins Macmillan Early Science Books
Pumpkin, Pumpkin by Jeanne Titherington
Hello, Mr. Scarecrow by Rob Lewis
The Biggest Pumpkin Ever by Steven Kroll

USEFUL LINKS

Home
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Teaching notes
Resource links

Support

Contact
Privacy Policy
This site is sponsored and supported by the preschool themes site www.KidSparkz.com
Activities written by (c) Susan Portman
Pre-K, Kindergarten, First, Second, Third, Homeschooler - TeachersPayTeachers.com
Copyright © 2005-2023 Teach Preschool Science - Permission granted to reproduce for personal educational use only. Commercial copying or selling is prohibited. No part of this resource may be uploaded to, or published on, any other site for any reason.
  • Home
  • Lesson Plans Index
    • Life Science Plants and Animals >
      • Comparing Leaves
      • Exploring Pumpkins
      • Shucking Corn
      • Earthworm Observation
      • Parent and Baby Animals
      • Collecting Ants
      • Spider Season
      • Visit to a Pet Store
      • Living and Non Living Things
      • Animals Come in Many Shapes, Sizes and Colors
      • Ways Animals Move
      • Animals Need to Eat
      • Difference Between Wild and Tame Animals
      • People Can Use Products Provided by Animals and Plants
      • Animal Coverings - Hair, Fur, Feathers, Scales and Skin
      • Animals Live in Different Places
      • Metamorphosis and Change in Biology
      • Nocturnal Animals
      • Egg Science
      • Exploring Fish
      • Tree Skin Bark
      • Roots Growing Potatoes in Water
      • Stems - Making Daisy and Clover Chains
      • Flowers
      • Digging in the Dirt
    • Life Science People Index >
      • Parts of Our Body and How We Use Them
      • Our Heart
      • Our Hands
      • Our Feet
      • Fun With Balance
      • Sound Search
      • Sense of Touch
      • Exploring the Sense of Sight
      • Follow That Scent
      • Stop That Germ!
      • Interesting Tools That Doctors Use
      • We Need Healthy Teeth
      • Keep Those Muscles Moving!
    • Physical Science Index >
      • Blowing Bubbles
      • Magnify!
      • Ways to Measure Time
      • Magnetic Attraction
      • Ramps in Motion
      • Ice Melting
      • Sink or Float a Boat
      • Sponges and water
      • Dropping Things Through the Air
      • Static Electricity
      • Battery Electricity
      • Properties of Soap and Water
      • Weights and Balances
      • How Can Heat Change Things?
      • Tools Can Help Us Do Things
      • Lifting with Levers
      • Earth and Sky Science Index >
        • Shadow Chasing
        • Sun Effects
        • The Night Sky
        • Kinds of Clouds
        • Dressing for the Season
        • Classifying Rocks
        • Colors of the Rainbow
        • Who Has Seen the Wind?
        • Rain
        • Snow
        • Litter Hunt
        • We Can Take Care of the Earth
      • Wheels
      • Predicting How Simple Machines Will Work
      • Computers and Other Devices
      • Discoveries With Straws
      • Different Ways of Making Light
  • Teaching Notes
  • Links
  • Contact