Preschool Pumpkin Theme
Activities and Ideas for Your Classroom

Preschool Pumpkin Theme Activities in Autumn!  There are so many activities available to teach so many concepts with this theme!  This page includes preschool lesson plans, activities and Interest Learning Center ideas for your Preschool Classroom!  

You'll find more themes to help you with your planning on my preschool themes page.

Let the Preschool Pumpkin Theme Activities Planning Begin!

Preschool Pumpkin Theme Art Activities

Pumpkin Patch

Materials Needed: white lunch-sized paper bags, orange and white paint, brushes, masking tape, green paper, leaf stencil, crayon, scissor, newspaper, LOTS of green yarn!

1. Have children trace a leaf onto green paper using the stencil, cut it out and then print their name on the leaf. Set aside.

2. Children should stuff their paper bags about 1/2 full with newspaper by crumpling the newspaper (tell them to use those hand muscles to scrunch up the paper!)

3. Help them to twist the top of the bag. Continue twisting to make it look like a stem on the top. Use masking tape to keep the top twisted.

4. The children paint their bags. Let them experiment with the orange and white paint to make different shades of orange on their bag pumpkins.

5. When dry, staple the child's leaf with their name on it to the stem of their pumpkin.

6. Connect all of the pumpkins together by using the green yarn and display the pumpkin patch on your wall or bulletin board!

Hand Pumpkins

Materials Needed: Brown construction paper, orange and green paint.

The children make a fist shape with their hand. Dip their knuckles into the orange paint and then print knuckles onto paper (it makes a pumpkin).

The children use their thumb to make a thumbprint on top of their pumpkin (it makes the leaf).

Pumpkin Printing

Materials: Small Gourds, paint and paper.

Cut gourds in half. Use the stems to hold while dipping in paint and use to make gourd prints on paper.

Preschool Pumpkin Theme Block Area Ideas

Orange Blocks

Cover some of your blocks with orange paper, wrapping paper, plastic wrap, etc. to make some fun textured constructions!

Pumpkin Patch

Provide farm items and small pumpkins or gourds for the children to recreate a pumpkin patch.

Preschool Pumpkin Theme Circle Time Activities & Ideas

Circle Time is such a great time for children to learn the social skills of being together as a large group AND to learn more about your theme!

5 Little Pumpkins Fingerplay

5 Little pumpkins sitting on a gate (hold up 5 fingers).

The 1st one said "Oh my! It's getting late!" (Hold up 1 finger. Then pretend to look at their watches)

The 2nd one said "It's very windy out here!" (Hold up 2 fingers. Then move hands in air like the wind)

The 3rd one said "But we don't care!" (Hold up 3 fingers. Then hold hands up as you do when saying I don't know)

The 4th one said "Let's run and run and run." (Hold up 4 fingers. Then place fingers on floor and have them move as if they are running).

The 5th one said "Let's have some fun." (Hold up 5 fingers. Then wave hands and arms in air as though dancing!)

WOOOOOSH went the wind. (Make a loud woosh sound with the kids!)

OUT went the lights. (Clap hand very loudly when you say OUT loudly---if your children can handle it, have someone shut out the lights!)

5 little pumpkins rolled out of sight. (Make a rolling motion with your hands).

Pass the Pumpkin

Bring a pumpkin to circle time. Pass it from child to child. Ask each child to say one word that describes the pumpkin and write them all down! (orange, heavy, dirty, smelly, etc.!)

Snack Recipe Ideas to Cook Up for Your Preschool Pumpkin Theme!

Cooking with children helps develop their math skills and helps them to learn how to follow directions. It also allows for some great conversation! Ask many questions while cooking with your children to encourage conversation! Be sure to ask specific themed questions while making these fun snacks!

Pumpkin Ice Cream

Ingredients and Items needed:

1 can pureed pumpkin (we use Libby's all natural)

1 gallon vanilla ice cream

1 clear, plastic cup per child

plastic spoons

half gallon of milk

orange food coloring (optional)

1. Talk to the kids about pie--do they like it? What's their favorite? Ask about pumpkin pie! Tell them about all the things made with pumpkin (cookies, bread, butter, soup, etc.). Tell them they are going to make their own ice cream!

2. Give each child their cup. Have them write their name on it(or you can pre-label the cups).

3. Each child should add once scoop of ice cream.

4. Have them add 2 tablespoons of milk and then stir (until it is like a milkshake)

5. Have them add 1 spoonful of pumpkin and stir that in (if they refuse to want to use it, you can use orange food coloring!) Enjoy!

And of course, a Preschool Pumpkin Activities Theme would NOT be complete without mentioning that you could simply cook pumpkin and check out the smell and texture and then use it to make your favorite pumpkin pie recipe with the kids!

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Preschool Pumpkin Theme Ideas
to Transform Your Dramatic Play Area

Dress A Scarecrow

Provide a large doll and many articles of clothing for the children to make their own scarecrow together. Include things like hats, overalls, boots, etc.

As mentioned before, use props and items that are common for your area and weather during your Preschool Pumpkin Activities Theme!

Preschool Pumpkin Theme Ideas for your Easel--

More Than Just Painting (Although that is always THE favorite in our classroom!)

Pumpkin Leaf Painting

Add pumpkin leaves or vines to use to paint with instead of brushes.

Preschool Pumpkin Theme Large Group Games To Help Your Preschoolers Build Their Muscles While They Have Fun Together

Pumpkin Toss

Decorate a trash can or laundry basket as a pumpkin. Use bean bags to toss into the "pumpkin".

Pumpkin Hunt Thank you, Nagwan, for this idea!

Cut as many as you want paper orange pumpkins shapes, 1-15 or 1-20, depending on your age group.

Hide them all over the classroom and let the children go for pumpkin hunt.

When they bring it to you they have to tell you what number is on the pumpkin. 

Preschool Plan-It's thoughts for an Extension Idea--In addition to printing the number on each pumpkin, draw pumpkin seeds on the back that correspond with the number printed on the front. This will allow those children who do not yet recognize their numbers to learn them AND it makes this a self-correcting math/number recognition activity you can add to the math table once done with the game!)

Have fun and you can do that with any shape you want it goes with so many themes.

Preschool Pumpkin Theme Ideas for Your Library

Book Suggestions for the Library

(I LOVE Amazon, and some of the links below will take you to the Amazon website.  If you do choose to purchase yours through Amazon, they do send me a few cents--which supports my coffee habit! )

I'm A Seed (level 1) (Hello Reader) by Jean Marzollo

It's Pumpkin Time! by Zoe Hall

Patty's pumpkin patch by Teri Sloat

The Pumpkin Blanket by by Turney Zagwyn

Pumpkin Pumpkin by Jeanne Titherington (Make pumpkin felt pieces to go with this story for circle time or story time).

Pumpkin Soup by Helen Cooper

The Pumpkin Book by Gail Gibbons

The Pumpkin Fair by Eve Bunting

Too Many Pumpkins by Linda White

Preschool Pumpkin Theme Ideas To Help Your Preschoolers Develop Their Math Skills and the Small Muscles In Their Hands!

Pumpkin Math

Materials: Dried pumpkin seeds (possibly from the Pumpkin Discovery activity below in the Science section!), Laminated programmed pumpkin shapes (see instructions below).

In advance, cut out matching pumpkin shapes (as shown in the picture). Add a leaf to each one. Program them with the numbers or one-to-one level you are working on. In preschool, you may be working on number recognition or on one-to-one correspondence. I'd recommend programming your pumpkins to accommodate both areas so that you can use them from year to year with whichever level each years' students are at.

On the front, print the numerals on the leaves and keep the pumpkin blank.

On the back, again print the numeral on the leaf. In addition, draw that number of pumpkin seeds on the pumpkin.

Laminate.

Provide these pumpkin cards and a small bowl of pumpkin seeds. This can be placed out as a self directed center where the children decide how to use the cards and seeds.

It can also be used in small group or one on one teaching groups with the children where you can guide the children to use their fine motor, counting and one-to-one correspondence skills as needed.

Gourd Sorting 

Provide many sizes of pumpkins and gourds for the children to sort and classify by shape, size, color, height, etc.

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Preschool Pumpkin Theme Music and Movement Activities and Ideas to get your Preschoolers Movin' and Groovin'!

P-U-M-P-K-I-N Song Thank you Cheryl W. for this song!

This son is sung to the tune of "Camp-town Races"

It's a rather Old Song, so perhaps folks will recognize the original words easier:

Camp-town Races sing this song, doo-dah, doo-dah,

Camp-town Races sing this song, Oh the doo-dah day!

Oh the doo-dah day!

Oh the doo-dah day!]

Camp-town Races sing this song, Oh the doo-dah day.

Okay, now you're ready! Let's sing the Pumpkin Song!

P-U-M-P-K-I-N, pumpkin, pumpkin.

P-U-M-P-K-I-N, pumpkin's what it spells.

Pumpkins grow on vines.

Pumpkin pie is fine.

P-U-M-P-K-I-N pumpkin's what it spells.

Pass the Pumpkin

Sitting in a circle, play some music and have the children pass a small pumpkin to the person next to them. Keep going in a circle and when the music stops, they stop passing. They then name one thing about the pumpkin to describe it.

Pumpkins are Growing

sung to the tune of Frere Jacques

Pumpkins are growing.

Pumpkins are growing,

In the patch.

In the patch.

Look at all the pumpkins.

Look at all the pumpkins.

Orange and Round!

Orange and Round!

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Preschool Pumpkin Theme Ideas For Your Sand and Water Table!

Sink or Float?

Provide different pumpkin items to see if they sink or float! Include small pumpkins, gourds, pumpkins seeds, pumpkin leaves, etc.

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Preschool Pumpkin Theme Science Ideas--
for your Preschool Scientists in Training!

Pumpkin Discovery

Materials: Small pumpkin for each child, 1 length of yarn for each child (the length should be 4 inches longer than their pumpkin), weight scale, My Pumpkin pages (described below), pumpkin carving knives, spoons to scoop out seeds, 2 pieces of orange construction paper, a ruler, glue, markers and your camera!

In advance, make pages for each child for their My Pumpkin book. We used plain 8 1/2 X 11 inch paper. The pages we made stated:

Page 1: My pumpkin looks like this.

Page 2: My pumpkin is this wide.

Page 3: My pumpkin is this __________________ inches tall.

Page 4: My pumpkin weighs ______________________ pounds.

Page 5: The inside of my pumpkin looks like this.

What to do:

1. Take a picture of each child holding their pumpkin.

2. Have each child draw a picture of their pumpkin on Page 1. Add the picture you took of them holding their pumpkin to this page.

3. Give each child a length of yarn. Show them how to wrap it around the pumpkin. Take a picture of each child doing this. Help them to cut it to reflect how wide the pumpkin is. The child then glues their length of yarn to Page 2 of their book along with the picture you took of them.

4. Have each child measure the height of their pumpkin with a ruler. Take a picture of each child doing this. Help them to write how many inches tall their pumpkin is on Page 3 of their book. Add the picture that you took to this page.

5. Have each child place their pumpkin (one at a time) on the scale. Take a picture of each child doing this. Help them to write how many pounds their pumpkin weighs on Page 4 of their book. Add the picture that you took to this page.

6. Help each child cut open their pumpkin (of course, take a picture of this!) and scoop it out! Help them to separate the seeds from the goop and save the seeds. Have each child draw a picture of what the inside of their pumpkin looks like and glue a few seeds (once they are dry) on Page 5, along with the picture that you took.

7. Use the orange paper as a cover and back page for your book. We named ours "__________'s Pumpkin Journal" and put the date and a picture of all the pumpkins they cut open! These books are a great keepsake for later years for your children and their families!

The Job of the Pumpkin Stem

Use this experiment to show what the pointy stem of the pumpkin used to do!

At your science table, place a pumpkin and also a plastic cup with water. You'll need a talk of celery and blue food coloring.

Explain to the children that celery is a stem that we eat and we do not eat the stem of a pumpkin. But, the job of a stem is to feed a plant!

Place the celery in a clear up. Fill half way with water. Drop many drops of blue food coloring in and mix.

Observe the changes over several days with the children. Make the connection that the pumpkin stem used to be connected to a stalk in the pumpkin patch and it used to help feed the pumpkin!

Let the children feel the celery stalk and the pumpkin stem. Compare differences and similarities.

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Writing Activity Ideas for Your Preschool Classroom's
Preschool Pumpkin Theme!

Pumpkin Masks

Materials: Orange construction paper, crayons; scissors.

Encourage the children to draw 2 eyes, a nose and a smile on the pumpkin.

Have them cut out a pumpkin.. (Let THEM decide on the shape!)

Have children use them to have a Pumpkin Parade after reading the book "The Pumpkin Parade" by Eve Bunting.

Pumpkin Face Shapes  

Provide paper and drawing utensils for the children to use.

The children print their names on the back of their paper for name printing practice.

The children draw pumpkins with faces or an entire pumpkin patch!  Be sure to write down their stories!

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Other Theme Pages You Might Be Interested In:

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Go to the MAIN THEMES Page for more theme ideas!

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Go to Preschool Plan It's Home Page

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