Awesome Hands-On Activities For A Pumpkin Unit Study

Pumpkins are orange, round, smooth, and oh so much fun!  They are the perfect way to get kids of all ages excited about learning. If you’re looking to get them even more excited about a pumpkin theme, try these Fun Pumpkin Themed Food Ideas Kids Will Love!

All of these activities include the use of some type of game, manipulative, or interactive component to really get your child involved in the activity.  The best part about these activities is there are no worksheets, just incredible hands on fun!

We have had fun with these activities and printables, sometimes more than once! We hope that your family will get as much enjoyment and learning opportunities as we have.

Why Should I Use Pumpkin Themed Activities?

There are endless benefits to using pumpkin themed activities with your preschoolers! 

Reasons to Use Pumpkin Themed Activities:

Hands on Learning: There are numerous opportunities for hands-on learning with a pumpkin theme!  Fun and engaging activities will get your child excited about learning.  These activities are so fun that they will feel like play, but secretly they will be learning and growing!

Sensory Exploration:  Pumpkins are a big sensory exploration activity all by themselves!  There are so many textures that make up a pumpkin and just a simple project like carving a pumpkin can be a huge learning experience!

Learn about Life Cycles:  Typically when we think about teaching life cycles, we automatically think of spring and all of the new life that comes during that season.  But, pumpkins provide a great opportunity to talk about life cycles during the fall season!  Read a pumpkin themed life cycle book, try this fun life cycle activity, or visit a pumpkin patch to extend your pumpkin life cycle learning!

Awesome Hands-On Activities For A Pumpkin Unit Study

Pumpkin Themed Art Activities

Pumpkins are one of the most popular fall decorations!  They come in all shapes and sizes and capture the beauty of fall and nature perfectly!  These pumpkin themed art activities will only add to the amazing pumpkin decor you already have.  Not only will you end up with super cute pumpkin projects, but kids will also be expressing their creativity, working on fine motor skills, and exploring different sensory textures while creating their arts and crafts projects!

1. Beautiful Pumpkin Suncatcher Melted Beads Craft

There is just something so incredible about the orange and red colors that surround us during fall.  Leaves changing colors, beautiful sunsets, and pumpkin patches are all full of these amazing fall colors!  This Beautiful Pumpkin Suncatcher Melted Beads Craft is an easy way to use the sun to capture the beauty of fall colors, and bring an adorable pumpkin decoration into your home this fall!

2. DIY Fall Pumpkin Wreath Crafts for Preschoolers

Another super cute and easy decoration for your home this fall are DIY Fall Pumpkin Wreath Crafts for Preschoolers.  Kids love tearing and gluing orange tissue paper and using it to assemble a fall wreath.  An added bonus is that this craft is good for fine motor skills and the texture and sound of the tissue paper crumpling is a great sensory experience for preschoolers.

3. Paper Plate Wreath Fall Craft for Preschoolers

Pumpkins and leaves go hand in hand during the fall season!  This Paper Plate Wreath Fall Craft for Preschoolers is another great craft that will go well with all your pumpkin decorations this fall!  My preschoolers always love this activity and enjoy ordering and placing the leaves in their own special way onto the paper plate to create an amazing fall wreath!

4. Fall Leaf Puppet Craft for Preschoolers

Puppets are not only a fun fall craft, but they also are fantastic for imaginary play and promoting language development for small children!  You can easily incorporate this Fall Leaf Puppet Craft for Preschoolers into your pumpkin themed unit this year. Add them to a sensory bin, use them as an accessory with play dough activities, or even use them for a math manipulative, the possibilities are endless!

5. Fall Coffee Filter Crafts for Preschoolers

I think that coffee filters are one of the most underrated craft supplies!  They are inexpensive, super versatile, and I feel like I always have a surplus of them lying around my house that aren’t being used!  Fall Coffee Filter Crafts for Preschoolers are another awesome way to get your preschoolers involved in the creation of decorations for your home this fall.  They will love painting the coffee filters and making their own pumpkin and leaf garland to hang up this year!

More Pumpkin Themed Art Activities for Kids

• Create a beautiful pumpkin with legos in this Lego Stamped Pumpkin activity.
• A great way to reuse a water bottle is a Water Bottle Cap Pumpkin Stamping Craft.
• Pumpkin Paper Plate Lacing Craft is especially good for fine motor skills!
• My kids love making Puffy Paint Pumpkins.
• Easy Rolled Paper Pumpkin Craft is another super cute pumpkin craft!

Pumpkin Themed Math Activities

Math can be intimidating for some kids, especially when it is a new concept that is being introduced.  An easy way to ease math anxiety and make it less intimidating for kids is by making it fun, interactive, and hands on!  That is exactly what all of these pumpkin themed math activities will do for your little learners!   These activities cover a wide range of math concepts, so no matter what you are working on at home or in the classroom, we are sure to have an activity to help you!

1. Free Pumpkin Theme Preschool Posters for Counting to 10

When learning to count, visuals are so incredibly helpful for preschoolers!  I love using number posters to decorate my classroom, give my kids a way to look at numbers throughout the day, and help to develop their number sense.  These Free Pumpkin Theme Preschool Posters for Counting to 10 are the perfect way to help your kids learn numbers with a fun pumpkin theme this fall!

2. Pumpkin Number Match

When it comes to simple, easy, and low-prep activities, it does not get any easier than this!  I guarantee you already have all the materials you need for this activity at home (and if you don’t – with some simple modifications you can use other things that you do have!)!  This Pumpkin Number Match is a fabulous way to practice counting and one to one correspondence with your preschoolers!  They will love counting out the number of pom pom pumpkin “seeds”  onto the pumpkin and working on their counting skills!

3. Free Printable Pumpkin Counting Grid Games for Preschoolers

If your preschoolers are anything like mine, then they love counting all the pumpkins in the pumpkin patch!  Free Printable Pumpkin Counting Grid Games for Preschoolers makes bringing the fun of counting pumpkins in a patch into your home or classroom easy!  Simply print the activity, grab some pumpkin math manipulatives, and you are ready to go!

4. Free Printable Pumpkin Counting Cards

Get ready to load some pumpkins into a truck!  This activity is loved by boys and girls, but especially grabs the attention of the car and truck lovers in my classroom!  It doesn’t get much easier than Free Printable Pumpkin Counting Cards to practice counting.  Just grab some manipulatives, print off the counting cards, and you have all you need for counting practice for your preschoolers!

5. Free Printable Pumpkin Shape Matching Game

Anytime is a great time to work on shapes, but I especially love working on shapes with a pumpkin theme!  This Free Printable Pumpkin Shape Matching Game is a fabulous way to learn shapes and play a fun game this fall.  Kids will love matching the shape cards up and you can even make it into an exciting game of memory for them!

6. Free Printable Fall Number Dice

One resource – so many possibilities!!  This Free Printable Fall Number Dice is one of my favorite fall resources because it is so versatile!  It can be used on its own for practicing counting, or it can be paired with your favorite fall activity or game that you need to use dice for.  The colorful, eye catching pictures will put a fun fall spin on any activity you are working on!

7. Time with Pumpkins:  Free Printables for Telling Time

Do you have an older kiddo who is working on the skill of telling time?  These next two activities are just for you! First up, I have these Time with Pumpkins:  Free Printables for Telling Time that are the perfect way to practice time.   They are super easy to prep- just print, cut, (laminating optional!) and go!  With three different time telling sets, they are really easy to differentiate too!

8. Pumpkin Theme Time Clip Cards

This next time activity is another low prep activity that is great for any little learner working on the skill of telling time.  Pumpkin Theme Time Clip Cards are a good independent activity, partner learning activity, or would make a perfect center activity in a classroom.  All you need to do is print the cards, add some plain clothespins (or fall themed ones!) and your activity set up is done!  

More Pumpkin Themed Math Activities

• Pumpkin Roll and Cover Number Mats Free Printable is a great way to practice number recognition.
• Pumpkin Count and Match is another awesome way to practice counting with a pumpkin theme.

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Pumpkin Themed Literacy Activities

Fall is the perfect time to work on letters, letter sounds, and reading!  Fall themes like apples, leaves, acorns, and PUMPKINS make literacy activities even more fun.  These pumpkin themed literacy activities pair great with our 25+ Pumpkin Books Your Kids Will Love.  Print an activity and pick a book for an easy grab and go lesson this fall! 

1. Free Printable Pumpkin Letter Recognition Spin & Stamp Activity

When learning the difference between uppercase and lowercase letters, repetition is so important!  That’s why activities like this Free Printable Pumpkin Letter Recognition Spin & Stamp Activity are perfect for learning upper and lowercase letters.  The spinning and stamping part of this activity make for a great repetitive, interactive activity that will help your preschoolers reach letter recognition mastery!

2. Free Pumpkin Alphabet Matching Game

Practice upper and lowercase letters with this Free Pumpkin Alphabet Matching Game.  Match the uppercase letter on the pumpkin to the lowercase letter on the seed to make a pumpkin and seed pair!  You can focus on a few letters at a time, put all of the letters together for more of a challenge, or even throw them into a sensory bin for some added fun!

3. Free Printable Pumpkin Theme CVC Word Building Mat

Once your child has mastered identifying letters and the sounds they make, the next progression is to work on starting to blend the sounds together to make CVC words.  Just wait until you see the excited look in their eye when they blend their first CVC word together and realize they just read a word!  They will be begging for more words to try, and that’s where this Free Printable Pumpkin Theme CVC Word Building Mat will really come in handy!  It’s the perfect way to work on CVC words in an interactive way during your pumpkin themed unit.

More Pumpkin Themed Literacy Activities

• Work on letter recognition with Pumpkin Letter Matching activities.
• This Pumpkin Patch Alphabet Match is a fun fall game!
• Explore beginning letter sounds with Pumpkin Beginning Sounds Alphabet Task Cards.
• The Alphabet Pumpkin is a great way to practice letters.
• Practice letters with this Pumpkin Find and Cover. 
• These Printable Pumpkin Alphabet Letters can be used so many different ways!

Pumpkin Themed STEM Activities

There is just something about a pumpkin that sparks curiosity in kids!  I’m not sure if it’s the seeds, the gooey insides, or all the textures and colors on the outside. But whatever it is that draws them in, it makes them super excited about learning and investigating!  Pumpkin themed STEM activities are a wonderful way to get your kids excited about learning this fall.  They will love being involved in the STEM activities and the hands-on learning that is taking place.

1. Pumpkin STEM Activity for Preschoolers with Free Printables

This Pumpkin STEM Investigation is probably one of my favorite fall activities!  Kids love getting their hands on and inside of a pumpkin and the free printables make it easy for preschoolers to record their observations.   This Pumpkin STEM Activity for Preschoolers with Free Printables is going to be one of the highlights of your pumpkin unit this fall, I’m sure of it!

2. Pumpkin Sequencing Game for Fall

Learning about life cycles this fall?  This Pumpkin Sequencing Game for Fall is going to be an amazing activity for you!   You can use the cards to teach the stages of a pumpkin life cycle, practice vocabulary words, or even put them into a sensory bin!  No matter how you use them, they are sure to make learning about the life cycle of a pumpkin more interactive and exciting!

More Pumpkin Themed STEM Activities

• Pumpkin Math and Engineering Challenge is a great activity for your preschoolers who love building and counting!
• The only thing better than slime – is making slime with a pumpkin!  Check out How to Make Pumpkin Slime with a Real Pumpkin.
• Everyone loves a Pumpkin Volcano!
• Who can build the strongest gate in this 5 Little Pumpkins STEM Challenge?
• Check out this Pumpkin Skittles Experiment!
• Reuse those paper towel and toilet paper rolls with this Tubes & Pumpkins Fall STEM activity.

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Pumpkin Themed Sensory Activities

Gooey insides, hard seeds, smooth outer skin, bumpy stem, and the bright orange color of a pumpkin are all a part of the incredibly fun sensory experience that a pumpkin brings to kids every fall!  Even without holding an actual pumpkin, there are still so many ways to use pumpkin themed learning activities for sensory exploration.  Check out some of our favorites here!

4. Free Pumpkin Patch I Spy & Scavenger Hunt

Get ready for some I Spy and counting fun!  This adorable Free Pumpkin Patch I Spy & Scavenger Hunt activity is perfect for preschoolers working on the skill of counting.  It is also a wonderful sensory experience with the brightly colored fall pictures and scavenger hunt that requires the use of observation skills!  No matter if you are staying inside or heading outside on your scavenger hunt, you are sure to have a blast with this activity!

5. Free Fall Scavenger Hunt Printable for Kids

Nature walks are one of our favorite things to do in the fall.  Sometimes, we like to just wander around and see what we find, but sometimes we like to go on a scavenger hunt!  A Free Fall Scavenger Hunt Printable for Kids is the perfect addition to your next nature walk!  Your kids will love searching for all of the items on the scavenger hunt list and showing off their awesome observation skills this fall!

More Pumpkin Themed Sensory Activities

• Pumpkin Boats Sensory Play is a great activity for a warm fall day.
• Five Little Pumpkins Sensory Bin is super fun!
• Five Little Pumpkins Sensory Bottle goes wonderfully with a Five Little Pumpkins book!
• My preschoolers love a Pumpkin Washing Sensory Bin!
• Oobleck is always a huge hit with my kids!  Try this Pumpkin Oobleck recipe!

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Flower Motor Skills Activities

Carving pumpkins is one of the ultimate fall fine motor skill activities.  With the help of an adult of course, kids draw, poke, and cut as they strengthen their fine motor skills and create an incredible Halloween pumpkin!  Here are some other fun and easy activities for kids that can strengthen fine motor skills with a pumpkin theme.  I’m sure you are going to love them!

3. Free Printable Fall Theme Preschool Board Game

Board games aren’t normally the first thing that come to mind when people think of fine motor skills, but they are actually a really great way to work on them!  Picking up cards, rolling dice, and moving board marker pieces are all amazing for strengthening little hand and finger muscles.  This Free Printable Fall Theme Preschool Board Game is perfect for your next family game night, small group activity, or one on one activity with your child!

More Pumpkin Themed Motor Skills Activities

• Pumpkin Shape Tracing is a great way to work on fine motor skills. 
• Pumpkin Shapes Playdough Mats are always a huge hit with preschoolers!
• Pumpkin Fine Motor Mats are amazing for working on fine motor skills and making patterns.
• Pumpkin Squeeze is a fun game for working on fine motor skills!
• Kids will love working on the colors and using tweezers to sort pumpkin chickpeas in a  Fine Motor Pumpkin Sorting Activity
• It doesn’t get more fun than spaghetti and scissors!  Check out this cute Spaghetti Pumpkin Cutting Activity for Kids that is great for working on scissors and fine motor skills.

Other Fall Unit Studies:

Fun Fall Printables:

• Fall Fine Motor LEGO Mats
• Fall I Spy “Flip” Board Game
• Fall Scavenger Hunt
• Fall Leaves CVC Word Building Mat
• Fall Tracing Worksheets for Numbers 1-20