Read stories with pumpkins in them to your students during reading time. Have your students count the number of times they hear the word "pumpkin" in the story, and share that number at the end of the story. Alternately, have them stand up every time they hear the word "pumpkin," touch their head when they hear the word "orange" and clap their hands whenever they hear the word "jack-o-lantern." Some possible books include "The Bernstein Bears and the Prize Pumpkin," "The Biggest Pumpkin Ever," "Jeb Scarecrow's Pumpkin Patch" and "The Pumpkin People."
Cut out pumpkin shapes from construction paper that are all the same size. Give one to each student to decorate. Then have each student estimate how many pumpkins tall she is. Once everyone has written down a guess, lay pumpkins out on the floor and have them lie down next to them. They should then write down how many actual pumpkins tall they are. Another idea is to give out word problems that use pumpkins. You could also bring in a scale and several pumpkins. Ask students to compare one pumpkin to another and guess which one is heavier and which one is lighter. Have them weigh each pumpkin and then line the pumpkins up according to weight from lightest to heaviest.
Give each student a small pumpkin. Explain that the students are going to be pumpkin parents for the day. Let them draw faces on their pumpkins and name their pumpkin babies. They then must keep the pumpkins with them all day and make sure they are properly cared for. If you have started teaching map skills, another idea is to have students decorate a pumpkin as if it were a globe. They can use paint or markers to draw in the continents.
Incorporate singing, poetry, drawing and sculpting pumpkin ideas into your classroom. Sing songs about pumpkins as a class. Recite pumpkin poetry while clapping in rhythm to the poem. Stretch out a long piece of newspaper roll on one of your walls and let each student draw a pumpkin for a class "pumpkin patch." Give each student clay and let them make a jack-o-lantern. This can be a safe alternative to carving pumpkins as they can use a dull clay knife rather than a sharp carving knife.
Sit in a circle and pass around a pumpkin. Ask each student to state one thing that he knows about pumpkins. Then read aloud the book, "Pumpkin, Pumpkin" by Jeanne Titherington. Cut open the pumpkin and let each student select a seed. Bring out a bowl of water and let each child put the seed in the bowl of water. Let the pumpkin seeds soak overnight. The next day, let each child take a pumpkin seed out of the water. Have them split it open and examine the embryo inside. Talk about the life cycle of a pumpkin: seed, sprout/leaves, flower, green pumpkin and then orange pumpkin.