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Mini Pumpkin Math

By Karen Cox | Affiliate Disclosure

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Mini pumpkins make great tools for science and math exploration in the Pre-K classroom. We used mini pumpkins for exploring weight, measurement, and estimation.

Mini Pumpkin Math

These activities can be added to your Science Center or Math Center as a learning display. Children love anything mini, and I like to include real pumpkins for children to explore in the Fall. These were also inexpensive. The orange pumpkins came in a bag of 5 for $3.00, so they were less than $1 each. (I got them at Walmart.)

I also like to add a sign to each display which asks a question or gives a direction to include some print in our center. To make each sign, I wrote on a piece of copy paper and slipped it into a clear plastic stand that I bought at an office supply store.

Pumpkin Math: Weighing

The varying sizes and weights of mini pumpkins make them perfect for a weighing activity. At this activity, children place two pumpkins in the balance scale to see which pumpkin is the heaviest. Once they find the heaviest one, they can compare it with another pumpkin. Our sign says, “Which pumpkin weighs the most?” Children can practice lots of vocabulary: weigh, scale, heavy, heavier, heaviest, light, bigger, large, small, most, least, etc.

Pumpkin Math: Measuring

With this activity, I placed the pumpkins on the table along with a basket containing a tape measurer. Our sign says, “Measure the pumpkins.” I used the type of tape measurer that people who sew use, not the kind from the hardware store. For the children’s use, I cut this tape measurer off at 20 inches. Children can wrap the tape measurer around the pumpkins to see how big around they are.

Pumpkin Math: Estimation

This is a measurement estimation activity. I picked out one of my larger mini pumpkins, but you could use any size, even a medium or large pumpkin. I only put one pumpkin in the display. I wrapped ribbon around the pumpkin and cut it off at exactly the right length, and I cut three more ribbons shorter. Our sign says, “Guess! Which ribbon will wrap around the pumpkin?” Children first guess which ribbon they think will fit around the pumpkin and then try each one to see whether it fits.

I have a small display table beside our Science Center shelf for different science displays like this throughout the year. All of these pumpkin activities are not out at the same time — I have one for awhile and then change to the next one.

Find more Pumpkin and Halloween activities here!

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39 Comments

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. Kelly says

    October 21, 2014 at 8:23 pm

    Thanks so much for sharing your wonderful ideas! Your website is one of my best resources!!

    Reply
    • Kim says

      October 22, 2014 at 9:19 pm

      Thank you for the adorable ideas for math, ELA and science. I am doing the pumpkin one for science as I have to do weight and measures for our standards

      Reply
  2. Jessica says

    October 21, 2014 at 8:29 pm

    Thank you for sharing. Kids will love~~~~that!

    Reply
  3. Delma Roman says

    October 21, 2014 at 8:40 pm

    Thank you nice ideas

    Reply
  4. Viva says

    October 21, 2014 at 8:41 pm

    Thanks for all of your wonderful information!! I look forward to getting your emails to see what you have to share!

    Reply
  5. Mimi Nicholson says

    October 21, 2014 at 8:53 pm

    This is great, Karen! I’m going to do this for sure!
    Aloha,
    Mimi

    Reply
  6. Carol says

    October 21, 2014 at 9:01 pm

    You are amazing! Thanks for sharing so much of what you do .
    I also use the small cubes to measure our pumpkins . Thanks again !!

    Reply
  7. Alma says

    October 21, 2014 at 9:18 pm

    Thanks so much u r # 1 🙂

    Reply
  8. Jacqueline ortiz says

    October 21, 2014 at 9:25 pm

    Thanks a lot for sharing, I’m thinking about to use different cardboard shapes to make faces on the pumkins, I think my students will enjoy it, too. Blessings and have a happy halloween.

    Reply
  9. Reyna says

    October 21, 2014 at 9:28 pm

    Thank you so much for sharing. The ideas are wonderful.

    Reply
  10. Pamela says

    October 21, 2014 at 9:42 pm

    Thank you so much for this awesome activity!

    Reply
  11. Leticia says

    October 21, 2014 at 10:03 pm

    Excellent ideas!!!
    Thanks so much for sharing. I will use them this Friday in my class!!!
    I’m sure children will enjoy these activities!!!
    Regards from Mexico!!!

    Reply
  12. Mimi says

    October 21, 2014 at 10:06 pm

    Woooow smart !!!

    Reply
  13. Ramah says

    October 21, 2014 at 11:30 pm

    Thanks 4 sharing nice ideas .. I am a teacher of kg1. . And u helping me a lot
    With love

    Reply
  14. shazia abbas says

    October 21, 2014 at 11:43 pm

    IT WAS REALLY VERY INNOVATIVE AND HELPUL . THANKS

    Reply
  15. lannaert says

    October 22, 2014 at 1:00 am

    Waouw, j’adore l’idée!!!! Merci à vous pour tous vos partages, même en Belgique ( Bruxelles) on pense à vous 🙂

    Reply
  16. CarolAnn says

    October 22, 2014 at 2:13 am

    I like these ideas! It’s nice to have lots of pumpkin activities that are just wholesome activities and there are no scary, spooky things here! Do you explain to the kids what each sign says since they probably do not read yet? I remember one person who was leading a teacher workshop, that I went to, had us all cut a piece of yarn as an estimate on how big we think it needs to be as a belt for the pumpkin. But I find preschoolers find yarn hard to cut through. But anyways, the leader of the workshop had three columns to attach our yarn to. Too Small, Just Right, Too Big. We used tape to get our yarn to hang down in the right column and then counted up were in each column.

    Reply
    • Karen Cox says

      October 22, 2014 at 7:14 pm

      Yes, I tell the class what the sign says. That’s a neat idea with the yarn, also, thanks for sharing.

      Reply
  17. Rokia shoeir says

    October 22, 2014 at 2:25 am

    Thank you very much it’s very good idea

    Reply
  18. carolina castillo says

    October 22, 2014 at 5:23 am

    Wow! I love the activities you suggest, thank you!

    Reply
  19. Odalys Torres says

    October 22, 2014 at 6:27 am

    I like all ideas you send,the help every time
    thanks

    Reply
  20. Denise silva says

    October 22, 2014 at 6:29 am

    Thank you for your wonderful ideas
    I really appreciate them.

    Reply
  21. Laurie Carver says

    October 22, 2014 at 7:55 am

    I love your ideas. Thank you for sharing with so many! Keep sending them. You are wonderful!

    Reply
  22. Maryellen says

    October 22, 2014 at 8:36 am

    I love your ideas! So simple to do and inexpensive, too! How can I NOT use them in my classroom! Thank you SO much for sharing!

    Reply
  23. JESSICA says

    October 22, 2014 at 8:41 am

    WHAT A GREAT IDEA!! THE KIDS WILL LOVE THIS….THANKS FOR SHARING!!!!

    Reply
  24. Lynn says

    October 22, 2014 at 4:26 pm

    Very great activity, thanks for sharing, I am heading to Walmart.

    Reply
  25. Jamie White says

    October 22, 2014 at 8:17 pm

    Your ideas are always spot-on… easy to implement, developmentally appropriate, and high interest. Genius! Thank you for sharing.

    ~Jamie
    Play to Learn Preschool

    Reply
  26. Dava says

    October 22, 2014 at 9:41 pm

    SUPER FUN IDEAS! I love it! Getting my scale and supplies out tomorrow for this great activity! Super thanks!

    Reply
  27. Rebecca Perera says

    October 23, 2014 at 12:49 am

    Dear Karen,

    Thank you again for sharing your interesting ideas .

    Reply
  28. Samantha says

    October 23, 2014 at 9:24 am

    Love this idea! Plan on using this with my pumpkin theme next week. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
  29. Karma Parker says

    October 23, 2014 at 6:24 pm

    I SO APPRECIATE YOUR WILLINGNESS TO SHARE YOUR IDEAS. YOU’VE GOT A GREAT BRAIN!

    Reply
  30. Florinda DelaCerda says

    October 24, 2014 at 12:56 am

    Mini pumpkin math. You make it fun to learn with simple ideas, for the teachers and less work in preparing these activities, as well as for the children to enjoy.

    Reply
  31. Panna Dey says

    October 24, 2014 at 1:39 am

    It is really interesting and different.

    Reply
  32. Marilyn Pamplin says

    October 26, 2014 at 2:35 pm

    Thanks for sharing. Very refreshing ideas.

    Reply
  33. rosalind says

    October 27, 2014 at 6:43 pm

    Karen, thank you for the great activities. They are always received with much enthusiasm the children are learning and having fun too. GREAT.

    Reply
  34. Tema Vesikuru says

    October 29, 2014 at 10:40 pm

    thanks for the help…begining to do this in school

    Reply
  35. Catherine Smith-Gayle says

    October 30, 2014 at 5:26 pm

    Thanks Karen, you have made my class more exciting!!!!!

    Reply
  36. Lupe says

    November 1, 2014 at 6:03 pm

    Thanks for all your Wonderful Ideas and activities!

    Reply
  37. Mireille Abimjahed says

    November 15, 2014 at 5:09 am

    this website is amazing. Thanks for your effort

    Reply

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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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Welcome!
Would you like to join my FREE weekly update newsletter? Join 85,000+ subscribers!
We collect, use, and process your data according to our Privacy Policy.
Don't worry - we never sell or share email addresses!