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Fall Science with Pumpkins and Gourds, Pre-K, Preschool

By Karen Cox | Affiliate Disclosure | Filed Under: Halloween Theme, Science Center Ideas

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 Pumkins.

Fall Science: Pumpkins & Gourds, Preschool

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.

pumpkin science center
pumpkin science center
Gourds Science Center Display

Gourds Science Center

This gourd science center display can be used in the Fall, especially around Thanksgiving.

Gourds Science Center Display

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.

Painting Gourds

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.

Pumpkin Life Cycle
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11 Comments Tagged With: Fall Activities for Pre-K

About Karen Cox

Karen is the founder of PreKinders.com. She also works as a full-time Pre-K teacher in Georgia. Read more...

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Deanne Colley says

    October 13, 2011 at 12:29 pm

    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!

    Reply
    • Karen says

      October 22, 2011 at 4:50 pm

      thanks, Deanne

      Reply
  2. Anne says

    August 24, 2012 at 8:08 pm

    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.

    Reply
  3. Lynda Hanvy says

    October 17, 2012 at 12:05 am

    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.

    Reply
  4. Elizabeth Yutzy says

    October 23, 2012 at 11:10 pm

    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

    Reply
    • Karen says

      October 26, 2012 at 8:53 pm

      Thanks for sharing your idea, Elizabeth!

      Reply
  5. Adelaide Long says

    October 25, 2012 at 7:56 pm

    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

    Reply
    • Karen says

      October 25, 2012 at 8:10 pm

      Thank you for visiting, but you have to do your own homework. šŸ™‚

      Reply
  6. Debra Lee says

    September 25, 2013 at 10:59 am

    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!

    Reply
  7. Beve says

    December 13, 2013 at 9:01 am

    Love your ideas Karen, keep up the good work.

    Reply
  8. sudipa says

    October 21, 2014 at 8:57 pm

    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

    Reply

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Welcome!

Glad you're here! You'll find hands-on learning activities, themes, and printables for Pre-K, Preschool, and Kindergarten kids. I'm Karen Cox, a Pre-K teacher in Georgia. I have taught 4-5 year olds for 20+ years! Read More…

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Join here to get weekly emails with free printables and activities for Pre-K!
We collect, use, and process your data according to our Privacy Policy.
Don't worry - we never sell or share email addresses!