Bowling activities help children learn coordination and body control. Bring in round pumpkins and gourds in a variety of sizes and pull or cut off their handles. Line up some empty water bottles in a bowling pin formation and let children take turns rolling the gourds and pumpkins toward the bottles. Challenge children to roll the pumpkin just hard enough to knock down the bottles but not so hard that it breaks. Make the game more challenging by filling the bottles with water or beads so they won't fall down as easily.
Use teamwork to create a family of pumpkin people. The pumpkins will eventually start to go bad once you've cut into them, so do this project outside. To make a pumpkin person, stack three pumpkins with the largest on the bottom. Use skewers in between the pumpkins to keep them attached. Lead students on a nature walk to find items such as leaves and twigs that they can use to decorate the people. Use another skewer to poke holes in the pumpkins so children can stick in twigs. Show them how to use toothpicks to attach leaves. You can also use a knife to cut eyes out of the pumpkin heads.
Use pumpkin seeds or the inside of the pumpkin to make tasty treats. Bring in a whole pumpkin and cut off the top. Have children wash their hands, then take turns pulling out handfuls of seeds. Wash the seeds and lay them out on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle them with olive oil and salt, then bake them for about seven minutes in a 375-degree oven.
Bring in a can of pureed pumpkin and make pumpkin cookies or pancakes with the class. Let students take turns measuring and mixing the ingredients, then give everyone a taste of the finished product.
Make pumpkins that will last forever by having children lay down a stack of three pieces of tissue paper. They can crumple up a paper towel or piece of newspaper, place it the center of the paper and pull the tissue paper up around the ball. Close pumpkin with green tape, then have children glue on jack-'o-lantern features cut from black paper. They can also place the towel or newspaper ball inside a brown paper bag. Wrap a rubber band around the opening, then have children paint the bottom of the bag orange. They can paint the top green to make it look like a stem.