Properties of a Pumpkin

Learning Goal: Pumpkins have properties that we can describe or measure, including size, weight, shape and color.

• Reading= Big Pumpkin by Erica Silverman, It’s a Fruit, It’s a Vegetable, It’s a Pumpkin by Allan Fowler and Five Little Pumpkins by Iris Van Rynbach. Letter of the day= P is for pumpkin.
  
• Science= Experiment with different ways of measuring things. Gather pumpkins and squashes of different sizes. Line them up in order from biggest to smallest. Measure their width with a measuring tape. Weigh them on a scale. Try using a homemade scale (a broomstick with a bucket taped to each end). Finally, trace your feet on a piece of paper and cut them out. Use the paper feet to measure how many “feet” tall you are.
• Art= Paint faces on mini pumpkins. Or, bake a favorite pumpkin food (e.g., pumpkin bread, pumpkin pie, pumpkin soup). Point out the measuring instruments used to follow the recipe.
  
• Music= Move to music with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C Minor. Pretend you're ghosts, witches or bats flying through the air. Boo, Boo, Boo!
  
• Play= Roll large pumpkins from one side of a room to the other. Or, roll like pumpkins yourself as you sing “Five Little Pumpkins”.

Fun fact: Pumpkins can grow to weigh more than 1,200 pounds!