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What to Do With Leftover Pumpkins

by
Sarah Brzezinski

Halloween may be over, but there is still plenty of time in November to celebrate the fall season! Now that we are all taking our spooky decorations down and replacing them with turkeys and fall leaves, you might find that a local grocery store or farm is selling their pumpkins a bit cheaper then they were last week. Maybe you and your neighbors have a few Jack-O-Lanterns lying about, and those scary faces you carved are looking a little less than fresh. Why not take advantage of these opportunities and engage your students in fall-themed learning at the same time? Your students can have a lot of fun with pumpkins, and learn about science at the same time! Here are some great lesson plans and activities to help:

Collect Jack-O-Lanterns and put them to use in your classroom by having students learn about pumpkin life-cycles and decomposition (be sure to keep decomposing pumpkins outside or in a glass container/aquarium tightly that is sealed with plastic wrap to eliminate any odors):

Have your students learn about the scientific method by making and testing predictions about pumpkins:

Your school or local public library probably has a wealth of pumpkin-related stories. Supplement your lesson by reading your students one of these stories about pumpkins: