Great books to read and resources you can add to your lesson plans for a pumpkin theme. With Fall finally here I have compiled a list and created some wonderful pumpkin-themed resources. This post will contain affiliate links to products I have used and recommend, I receive a commission from purchases made through my link at no additional cost to you.
Book Recommendations
1. The Little Old Lady Who Wasn’t Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams is a fun read that gets your students engaged as they join in with repetition and sound effects. My Pre-K class asked for this one to be reread a lot. We also created an actual scarecrow using this story and the kids had a blast!
2. Growing Up Seed to Pumpkin by Sonia W. Black. Looking to check off that science box for your lesson plan this one has great real pictures and takes you through how pumpkins grow from seed to patch and what can cause them damage. If it’s too long or wordy for your group, it can be easily shortened to a simple read by reading the first couple of sentences on each page or reading through for those extra details.
3. Fall Pumpkin Fun by Martha E. H. Rustad, This one is a great science read following some fictional characters for the life cycle of a pumpkin; instead of stopping at the patch, it goes on to give examples of what people do with their pumpkins opening up space for conversation about the different things that can be made with pumpkins and questions about what your students would do with a pumpkin.
4. The Legend of Spookley the Square Pumpkin by Joe Troiano is it possible to have a pumpkin theme without the very loved Spookley, this is a favorite for many educators and is a great story about how being different is ok. In my class we had students create their own “Spookleys” of different shapes allowing them to choose a shape and then tracing and cutting them out. This can be differentiated based on what your students need by having pre-cut shapes or having them draw the shapes themselves. Creating them allows discussing shapes and their qualities and practice with drawing and cutting skills.
5. Pete the Cat and Five Little Pumpkins by James Dean, brings a beloved character along for this classic pumpkin song and story with Pete the Cat.
6. Pumpkin Magic by Ed Masessa, add some Halloween magic with this fun and whimsical read. This book makes a great imaginative conversation, asking “What do you think pumpkins do on a moonlit night?”
7. It’s Pumpkin Day Mouse by Laura Numeroff. Features another favorite character, Mouse, from If You Give a Mouse a Cookie on his adventure as they count, paint, and decorate pumpkins. To follow up on this book with an activity we used pumpkin playdough mats with emotion cards and had students give the pumpkins different faces and talk about what might make someone feel that way or how to feel better. You can find my Pumpkin Playdough Mats Here:
Math and Phonics Resources
Pumpkin Numbers
Need Pumpkin Math? Here is a resource you should not pass up. Number recognition, one-to-one correspondence, ten frames, and tallies this set has them! The cards can be used in large group instruction and are a great way to engage your learners in small groups. All the number cards and representations are sized the same so they can easily be interchanged for differentiation in small groups or one-on-one remedial it also includes count and clip cards that are conveniently sized to fit into the 4×6 Photo Keeper Storage boxes. Another way to use these pumpkin math numbers is to have children pick a number out at random and practice showing it with manipulatives.
Alphabet and phonics pumpkin-themed alphabet cards include lowercase and uppercase letters as well as cards with real pictures for beginning sound practice. These are a great way to make your pumpkin theme extends into all areas of the day.
For the Pumpkin Bundle you can find it and them as individuals on my TPT store HERE.
Have a Nocturnal animal theme check out this post with resources.
Storage Idea
About the keeper box, if you have not bought one of these and prefer to have grab-and-go activities for your classroom or homeschool I cannot recommend it enough. I grabbed my first one back during the Covid lockdowns to use as easy-to-store individual art supplies at the daycare I worked at, and now have continued using them to store themed letters, numbers, games, and activities for large and small groups in my Pre-K class. As I continue to modify and create resources to share with you, I create most of them with this storage in mind, because I also use these same resources in my class and with my early elementary school daughter to give them a test run. You can check it out here 4×6 Photo Keeper.
What themes are you doing? Have an upcoming theme you want ideas and resources for; let me know in the comments!