What if a pumpkin didn’t have to be round or orange?
What if it could be tall, twisty, bumpy, tiny—or a shape no one has ever seen before?
The Very Unusual Pumpkin by Marilyn Singer is a fun story for sparking those kinds of questions with preschoolers. And it makes a wonderful starting point for a playful fall STEAM experience.
Instead of showing children what their pumpkins should look like, invite them to imagine something completely their own.
Invite Play
Begin by reading The Very Unusual Pumpkin by Marilyn Singer.
As you read, notice what catches your children’s attention. Afterward, wonder together:
“What could make a pumpkin very unusual?”
Then introduce a few open-ended materials and invite children to explore how they might create a three-dimensional pumpkin.
For our Preschool STEAM version, children work with flexible and soft materials that can be bent, twisted, shaped, stuffed, and changed as their ideas develop.
There isn’t one finished pumpkin they’re trying to recreate.
That’s what makes the experience interesting.
Observe Wonder
As children begin creating, resist the temptation to show them exactly how to make their pumpkin.
Watch instead.
You may see children experimenting with how to create a round shape, figuring out how to hold materials together, adding more stuffing, taking some away, or completely changing their original idea.
Those little moments of “That didn’t work. What can I try now?” are exactly what we’re looking for.
Try asking:
“What are you noticing?”
“What could you change?”
“Tell me about your unusual pumpkin.”
Then give them time to figure out what comes next.
Extend STEAM
The finished pumpkins can become the beginning of even more play.
What happens when everyone’s unusual pumpkins come together?
Could children create a pumpkin patch for them?
Do some pumpkins need different kinds of spaces or supports?
How could the pumpkins be sorted, counted, compared, or displayed?
One simple story can lead naturally into engineering, art, science, and math—without turning the experience into a teacher-directed craft.
That’s the Preschool STEAM Play Method:
Invite Play → Observe Wonder → Extend STEAM
Thank you Erin with Books and Smiles for trying this lesson with your classroom.
Want our Complete Pumpkin STEAM Experience?
The complete resource gives you ready-to-use pumpkin STEAM experiences so you can spend less time searching for activities and more time following your children’s curiosity.
Already a Preschool STEAM Lab member?
You don’t need to purchase it separately. This lesson and the complete experience are included inside the Preschool STEAM Lab. Log in to the Lab and head to your pumpkin resources to get started.
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