Place clean pumpkin seeds in a large bowl. Set 20 small paper cups on a preschool table and divide them into two groups of 10. Use a permanent marker to number the cups in each group, one through 10. During math rotation activity center time, instruct two preschoolers at a time to practice counting the pumpkin seeds by dropping the correct number of seeds into the corresponding cups. Once the seeds are in the cups, rotate students. The next two preschoolers are then in charge of pouring each cup out and counting the seeds for accuracy.
Place old shirts or paint smocks on the preschoolers to protect their clothing at school. Cut the top off of a large pumpkin and ask the children to take a peek inside of the pumpkin. Ask the students to smell the pumpkin. Talk about what the scent of the pumpkin reminds them of, such as a grandma's pumpkin pie or the smell of fall.
Allow students to feel the inside of the pumpkin. Discuss how it feels, such as "sticky" or "messy." Remove the pumpkin seeds and discuss the role that the seeds play in the pumpkin's growth. Let students help wash and dry the seeds. The seeds are now "clean" or "smooth." They can be used as math manipulatives later.
As a wind-down afternoon activity, sit in a circle and discuss foods made from pumpkins. Talk about scents, tastes and family experiences the children have had with pumpkin foods, such as pumpkin pie, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin bread, pumpkin soup or pumpkin seeds. After the discussion, ask the students to draw a picture of their favorite pumpkin food. As they are drawing, serve some toasted pumpkin seeds and juice as a special afternoon snack. Purchase the toasted pumpkin seeds or toast them yourself. A toasted pumpkin seed recipe can be found at the Simply Recipes website.
Instruct students to glue a precut paper tree trunk onto a piece of construction paper. Students can then use glue to affix pumpkin seeds to the construction paper over the top of the tree trunk, as if the pumpkin seeds were leaves on the tree. Once the seeds have dried in place, the children can then paint the pumpkin seeds in colors reminiscent of real fall leaves.