Once I had a Pumpkin
(Tune: "Lassie and Laddie")

Oh, once I had a pumpkin, a pumpkin, a pumpkin.        (Hands over head like
Oh, once I had a pumpkin with no face at all.                  a pumpkin.)
With no eyes and no nose and no mouth and no teeth. (Point to facial
Oh, once I had a pumpkin with no face at all.                  features.)
So I made a jack-o-lantern, jack-o-lantern, jack-o-lantern. (Draw a jack-o-
So I made a jack-o-lantern with a big funny face.                lantern in the air.)
With big eyes and a big nose and big mouth and big teeth. (Draw facial
So I made a jack-o-lantern with a big funny face.                 features in the air.)

Sing and Draw

Draw a jack-o-lantern on the board or on an overhead as you sing the song. After you have modeled this, children will enjoy drawing a pumpkin as they sing.

Pumpkin Paint

Mix equal parts of flour and salt. Stir in orange tempera paint. (Obviously, if it’s powdered, you will need to add some water, too.) Add a spoonful of cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice to the paint and stir. Children can paint a pumpkin, pumpkin pie, or whatever they want. Their painting will be textured and smell good, too!

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Pumpkin Seeds

Before carving your pumpkin, have the children estimate how many seeds they think it will contain and write down their estimations. After cleaning out the pumpkin, let children separate the seeds and count them. Who guessed more? Who guessed less? Who guessed the closest amount? Cook some of the seeds by rinsing them, drying them on a paper towel, and then frying them in a little butter. Salt to taste. (You can also bake them in the oven.) Save some of the seeds to plant in the spring.

Seed Sets

Wash and dry pumpkin seeds and use them for math activities. Children could make sets, count them, use them for addition or subtraction, etc

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