Here are some Fall Science Activities with Pumpkins and Gourds for Pre-K and Preschool. Looking for the Gourds Science Center? It’s just below the
Exploring Pumpkins
We had several pumpkins of different sizes and colors for the children to observe, touch, and make observational drawings. After several weeks, these were cut in half for the children to observe the inside. Tweezers were placed in the science center with the pumpkins for children to pick out the seeds.
Gourds Science Center
This gourd science center display can be used in the Fall, especially around Thanksgiving.
Gourd Science Center
I bought a variety of gourds in the produce section of a store and set up this display in our science center. I added two baskets that children could use for sorting the gourds by texture: bumpy or smooth. Some children might simply explore and observe the gourds by feeling the different textures. I also added a poster with the display that said “Some gourds are bumpy. Some gourds are smooth.” (This adds environmental print to our center, and many children ask what the sign says.) I found the gourd photos used in the poster through an internet search.
Gourd Painting Extension Activity
You can also use the gourds for an observational drawing and painting activity. Children used black pens to draw the outlines and details of the gourds by observation, and then painted their gourd drawings with tempera paint. I mixed paint in a variety of hues in advance so the children could match the colors of the paints to the colors of the gourds. Thin paintbrushes work best.
Post originally published October 2007.
More Resources
Find more Pumpkin activities here!
You might also like this Pumpkin Life Cycle set, available in my shop.
Don't worry - we never sell or share email addresses!
I love this site. I have been in Prekindergarten for over 20 years and supervise our Parents as Teachers program in Northwest ISD in Texas. The ideas are great, and I, too am a supporter of play based learning for Prekindergarten. Great job!
thanks, Deanne
I was looking for science activities for my preK students and found this great site with easy and great ideas. Thanks Karen for sharing these activities with us.
Anne.
Love your ideas Karen! I have been teaching preschool 10 years and I love all your ideas. This website is easy to navigate, and follow. thank you.
I want to say thank you for your ideas. I want to share one activity I do with my Pre-k children. I dyed pumpkin seeds (various water colors and a bit of vinegar and I use zip plastic bags). I let the seeds over night of maybe two days to get dry. I use these colorful seeds to make mozaic with seeds, also sorting seeds by color, counting.
For Math the children glue seeds in a wooden stick and they count and write the equivalent number.
Thanks
Elizabeth Yutzy
San Mateo,CA
Thanks for sharing your idea, Elizabeth!
Good day!
I love the ideas! Your page is very simple to navigate and wonderful to gather inspiration from. I am interested in a little bit more about this activity. Would you mind sending me the “activity plan” you used to do the pumpkin exploration? What was your student learning outcome? What were the materials you used? and procedure? I am trying to come up with a fun and creative science activity for preschoolers. I’d love to know a little more in detail on this activity!
Thank you for your time!
-Adel
Thank you for visiting, but you have to do your own homework. š
I love this site. I discovered it last year and have incorporated so many things in our preschool. I was needing an update and our classroom arrangements have made it possible to have a science center now. It is so wonderful to watch our children sit and play and explore in the center. I change it out every week so all the children have time to explore at the table. Thanks so very much for sharing your wonderful ideas!
Love your ideas Karen, keep up the good work.
Being a prek teacher for last 17 yrs.I cannot tell you how much I appreciate
your site and getting some of the most wonderful ideas from this site.One
simple way I can describe is outstanding ideas !!
Thank you so much for helping out so many teachers like myself .
Sudipa