Pumpkin Science for Preschoolers and Toddlers
It would not be Halloween without pumpkins and pumpkin carving. Part of the fun of the holiday is reaching inside a pumpkin to scoop out the gunk, and then in our house, roasting the seeds. While preschoolers and toddlers may not be able to take part in the actual carving, exploring a pumpkin is a great fall sensory and science activity.
Description
Our little scientists got busy this morning learning all about outsides and insides of a pumpkin. First, we observed the way the outside of the pumpkin felt, and lifted it to see how much it weighed. If you have access to a scale, you can compare the weight of the pumpkin to other objects. A favourite book, a stack of blocks, and a carton of milk are great sorts of things to compare with the pumpkin. You can even have your kids weigh themselves, and then help them to figure out how many pumpkins it would take to equal their weights, sneaking in a little math.
Next, we cut off the top of the pumpkin (an adult's job), to see just what was inside. Placed inside a rubbermaid tote, the pumpkin became a perfect sensory bin, full of different things to see, textures to feel, and smells to discover:
Like all good scientists, we recorded our findings by making "What's Inside My Pumpkin?" collages:
Here is what you need to make your own pumpkin collage:
- white construction paper
- orange construction paper
- brown construction paper
- orange yarn, cut into small pieces
- pumpkin seeds
- liquid glue
1. Cut a pumpkin shate out of orange construction paper. Glue it onto a sheet of sturdy white paper:
2. Glue on pieces of orange yarn to represent the fiberous strands (the "stringy stuff", or "goo" inside the pumpkin) and pumpkin seeds to show what a pumpkin looks like on the inside:
3. Glue on a brown stem to finish your pumpkin:
Happy exploring!
