How To Celebrate Pumpkin Day in Pre-K This Year
Have you ever celebrated Pumpkin Day in Pre-K? It’s an entire day filled to the brim with pumpkin EVERYTHING! Let me show you how to make this day a day your little ones won’t forget anytime soon.
All About Pumpkin Day
This is a day to GO OVERBOARD with all things orange and pumpkins!
Encourage your little ones to all wear lots of orange. Grab pumpkin-themed snacks. Plan a pumpkin-themed sensory activity. Use orange-colored paper for morning work or art centers. Pumpkin-themed books and activities are a must! Pumpkin songs are fun too.
Art
Make pumpkin-themed art for your little learners on this special day!
Incorporating art into Pre-K is super important! Art enriches students’ cognitive skills and creative thinking. The impacts of art spread out into academic areas like literacy, math, and science as well!
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Spookley Craft
This craft is the perfect companion activity after reading Spookley the Square Pumpkin by Joe Trolano.
Have little ones sponge paint their own Spookley with square sponges. Then, they work on fine motor skills by gluing the remaining pieces on top. Easy peasy and so much fun!
Find this craft in the Pumpkin Shapes Activity Pack (you’ll also get an easy reader, 2 worksheets, and 3 other pumpkin shape crafts!).
Wood Pumpkin
Decoupage wooden pumpkins with your favorite little learners!
What You Need
- Wooden pumpkins (like these from Discount School Supply!)
- Mini bleeding tissue art squares (keep it easy on yourself with these precut pieces!)
- Water and paintbrushes
- Plastic bins or large project paper to keep the mess easy to clean!
Use code MEGAN10 for $10 off your $50 purchase on regular sale items at Discount School Supply.
How To
Little ones use water and paint brushes to stick the bleeding tissue paper onto the pumpkin. When the water dries, the ink from the bleeding tissue paper dyes the wood. So simple & SO FUN!
Math & Reading Activities
Incorporating pumpkins into math and reading activities is no sweat with these ideas!
Five Little Pumpkins Name Activity
This name activity is a great companion to Five Little Pumpkins by Tiger Tales.
Students practice letter identification, building their names in the correct order, and necessary fine motor skills while completing this activity.
BONUS: Encourage students to sing and dance along with the Five Little Pumpkins after they’ve completed their name activity. You’ll love to see all the silly moves and facial expressions each student comes up with.
Jack-o’-lantern Craft
After reading Pumpkin Feelings by Elizabeth Curtis, students make their own emotion jack-o’-lantern craft.
This activity is simple to prepare for students and includes the perfect amount of hands-on elements. Print on colored paper or print on white for students to color themselves.
Hang the completed projects in hallway for the perfect fall bulletin board!
Pumpkin Seed Names
Build names with pumpkin seeds!
If your little one isn’t quite ready for the gooey glue bottle, pour some glue in a small cup. Then, they can swipe the glue onto their name with a q-tip.
This activity is a great way to practice the pincer grasp, hand-eye coordination, gluing skills, letter and name formation, and creativity!
Pumpkin Shapes Painting
This pumpkin activity is perfect for little ones to practice shape identification and counting skills.
It’s so fun to see personalities shine through as they stamp and strategically (or not so much!) place the shapes onto their paper.
Sensory Activities
I cannot say enough about using sensory based activities in your Pre-K classroom! Any mess you make in sensory play is WELL WORTH the effort of prep and cleani up!
Learn more about why sensory activities are so amazing and how to create a great sensory bin in this post.
Fizzy Pumpkin Patch
Make this Fizzy Pumpkin Patch with your kids and watch them be enthralled!
How to:
- Dump some baking soda in a tray
- Students “plant” pumpkins in the patch
- Students squeeze dyed vinegar to watch the fizzy and colorful reactions.
Discount School Supply’s liquid watercolors work great for this activity!
*don’t forget to use my code MEGAN10 for a discount on your purchase
Pumpkin Scoop Sensory Bin
This sensory bin is perfect for little hands.
How to:
- Make a pumpkin out of a large egg crate
- Dye rice orange (read how HERE)
- Add some different-sized scoops and types of tools for endless scooping fun!
More Hands-On Fun for Pumpkin Day
Pumpkin Colors Reader
Use this Pumpkin Colors Reader to practice color words and basic sight words “I”, “see”, and “the”. It’s another great companion resource with Spookley the Square Pumpkin!
Pumpkin Patterns
This FREEBIE targets finishing simple AB patterns with pumpkin patch pictures. It’s perfect for TK/Pre-K students.
Pumpkin Cup Stacking
Practice hand-eye-coordination and motor skills while having hands-on building fun!
Give students orange cups to stack. Some students build big castles, while others build tall towers.
Pumpkins on the Vine Balance Walk
Have students walk with pumpkins balancing on popsicle sticks.
Start off with one, then add another as they become more confident. This is a fun activity that will have kids and pumpkins rolling all over the place!
Pumpkin Pie Tasting
Lastly, what kind of pumpkin day would it be without pie tasting?!
Swing by your local bakery or grocery store and pick up an inexpensive pumpkin pie to share with your students.
Send me a DM on IG after you celebrate Pumpkin Day to let me know all about the fun you had with your favorite Pre-K learners!
You might also be interested in:
The Top Halloween Books and Crafts for Preschoolers
3 BEST Halloween Sensory Bins for Preschoolers – Up & Away in Pre-K
5 Fun Ways to Celebrate Thanksgiving in Preschool
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