Giant Pumpkin Sensory and Math Exploration

The children at Whittier Friends School opened up two GIANT pumpkins (donated by the wonderful members at First Friends Church) and discovered that the ooey, gooey insides can be loads of fun.

The TK-6th graders counted out the seeds in their pumpkin by sorting the seeds into groups of ten. 











Everyone worked together to separate the pulp from the seeds.











After sorting the seeds into groups of ten, the students combined 10 groups of 10 into a cup of 100 seeds.

Finally, we used place value to determine that our 5 cups of 100, 5 groups of 10, and 4 seeds left over came to a total of 544 seeds!

The 3rd-6th graders calculated out that each of the 16 students got to take home 34 seeds with 10 left over to use to grow new giant pumpkins next year.

Our preschoolers took another path and used their pumpkin for sensory discovery and to do a little bit of predicting.

What does the outside of the pumpkin feel like?

A: Hard!
N: It feels like play-dough.
R: It's like a car.

What does it look like?
J: Orange.
M: The pumpkin looks like a pumpkin.

What do you think will be inside the pumpkin?

D: A house.
E: Pumpkin pie.
A: All of the seeds.
M: Orange yucky strings.

What do you think it will feel like inside the pumpkin?

A: Well, it's soft.
T: It's cold and soft/
M: It's going to feel like a house, but it's going to be sticky.
R: Pop!
D: Squish.

Once we opened the pumpkin, the children were able to discover if their predictions were true.

What does it look like inside?

M: It's all droopy.
R: There's seeds in there!
C: It's looks like a turkey.
J: Orange.
D: House.
A: Seeds.
T: I saw a seed.
C: I don't see seeds on mine.
C: It looks like spaghetti.
R: There's spiders in there.

What does the pumpkin feel like inside?

A: This is juice pumpkin inside. If you squash it the juice comes out.
N: I'm wet.
T: It's slippery right here.
R: It feels sticky.
N: It's like seaweed.
A: It feels like play-dough.
N: It feels like cheese.

They even chimed in on the pumpkin aroma.

T: It smells like watermelon.
N: It smells like lucky turkey.

Now be careful with your pumpkins at home because according to our preschoolers:

"If you eat it, you'll turn into a pumpkin!"