Pumpkins

Book Ideas:The Biggest Pumpkin Ever by Steven Kroll
"Once there were two mice who fell in love with the same pumpkin.... Desmond the field mouse wants to carve the biggest jack-o'-lantern in the neighborhood with his pumpkin. Clayton the house mouse wants to win the Biggest Pumpkin contest with his. But when they discover that their choice pumpkins are actually the same one, Desmond and Clayton decide to work together to grow the biggest pumpkin ever!"

Big Pumpkin by Erica Silverman
"The witch has grown the biggest pumpkin ever, and now she wants to make herself a pumpkin pie for Halloween. But the pumpkin is so big she can't get it off the vine.
It's so big the ghost can't move it, either. Neither can the vampire, nor the mummy. It looks as if there'll be no pumpkin pie for Halloween, until along comes the bat with an idea to save the day."



The Runaway Pumpkin by Kevin Lewis
"The Baxter brothers find a wonderful pumpkin for Halloween, but first they must catch up with it when it rolls down the hill."

Pumpkin Town! by Katie Mcky
"See what happens when a town has an accidental abundance of pumpkins."

Pumpkin Soup by Helen Cooper
"The Cat and the Squirrel come to blows with the Duck in arguing about who will perform what duty in preparing their pumpkin soup, and they almost lose the Duck's friendship when he decides to leave them."

Five Pesky Pumpkins by Marcia Vaughn
"Kids will delight as they open flaps to reveal five pesky pumpkins that disappear and pop-up on every page. As the text counts down from five, the pumpkins cause mischief on a spooky and scary night while readers practice counting."

Songs and Rhymes:

Mr. Pumpkin (tune: Where is thumpkin)

Mr. Pumpkin, Mr. Pumpkin,

Eyes so round, eyes so round

Halloween is coming, Halloween is coming

To my town, to my town.

Pumpkin, Pumpkin
Pumpkin, Pumpkin, sitting on the wall. Pumpkin, Pumpkin, tip and fall. Pumpkin, Pumpkin, Rolling down the street. Pumpkin, Pumpkin, good to eat!!

Pumpkin poem
One day I found two pumpkin seeds.

I planted one and pulled the weeds.

It sprouted roots and a big, long vine.

A pumpkin grew; I called it mine.

The pumpkin was quite round and fat.

(I really am quite proud of that.)

But there is something I'll admit

That has me worried just a bit.

I ate the other seed, you see.

Now will it grow inside of me?

(I'm so relieved since I have found

That pumpkins only grow in the ground!)

Pumpkin Song (tune: Have you ever seen a lassie?)
Have you ever seen a pumpkin, a pumpkin, a pumpkin,

Have you ever seen a pumpkin, that grows on a vine?

A round one, a tall one, a fat one, a small one.

Have you ever seen a pumpkin, that grows on a vine?

I Made A Jack-O-Lantern

I made a jack-o-lantern for Halloween night (form circle)

He has 3 crooked teeth but he wont bite (point to teeth and shake head)

He has 2 round eyes but cannot see (circle eyes)

He's a jolly jack-o-lantern as happy as can be.

Pumpkin, Pumpkin...
Pumpkin, Pumpkin
Sitting on a wall;
(have a child sit down)
Pumpkin, Pumpkin
Tip and Fall;
(have child tip over)
Pumpkin, Pumpkin
Rolling down the street;
(child rolls on floor)
Pumpkin, Pumpkin
Good to Eat!!!

Pumpkin, Pumpkin SONG (sung to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star)
Pumpkin pumpkin on the ground

How'd you get so big and round

Planted as a seed so small

Now you are a great big ball

Pumpkin pumpkin on the ground

How'd you get so big and round

Big Orange Pumpkin(Sung to I’m a Little Tea Pot)

I'm a big orange pumpkin fat and round

Growin' by the corn field on the ground

I will be a Jack-o-lantern with two big eyes

Or maybe I'll be baked into two pumpkin pies.

FIVE LITTLE PUMPKINS
Five little pumpkins
Sitting on a gate
The first one said,
"Oh, my, it's getting late!"
The second one said,
"There are witches in the air!"
The third one said,
"We don’t care.”
The fourth one said,
"Let’s run and run and run!"
The fifth one said,
"I’m ready for some fun!"
OOOOOOOH, went the wind
And OUT went the lights
And the five little pumpkins rolled out
of sight.

Jack-o-lantern (sung to frere Jacques)
Jack-o-lantern, jack-o-lantern,
Burn so bright, burn so bright.

You are burning brightly, you are burning brightly,
Through the night, through the night.

Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater

Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater
Had a wife and couldn't keep her.
He put her in a pumpkin shell
And there he kept her very well

Activity Ideas:

Pumpkin Ordering

Make a set of different sized pumpkins. Mix them up and have your child put them in order from smallest to largest and largest to smallest. You can also write numerals or ordinal numbers on them to practice additional skills.

Pumpkin Patterns

Find clip art of a pumpkin . Then save the image and insert it into a word document and make it smaller by dragging the image. Copy and paste it multiple times, making a row of pumpkins and print. Then I colored the pumpkins into a pattern leaving the last one empty. Have your child color in the last pumpkin to finish the pattern.

Pumpkin Growth Sequence

Cut out printable cards of the pumpkin plant cycle. Mix up the cards and have your child put the sequence in the right order. Asking them "What comes first?" "Then what?" etc.. Have them color each card and staple it into a book.

Jack-0-lantern Memory Game

Cut out 18 orange pumpkin shapes. Draw 9 different jack-o-lantern faces, making two of each face. Glue them on cardstock squares and play memory--trying to find two identical faces for a match.

Paper Plate Jack-o-lantern

Paint a paper plate orange, in advance. Let your child decorate their own jack-o-lantern face, using dried beans or paper cut-outs etc...

Pumpkin Stamping

Cut one miniature pumpkin in half. Let your child dip it in paint and use it to do real pumpkin stamping.