5 Little Pumpkins Preschool STEAM Science Experiment

By -
5 Little Pumpkins is one of our favorite Halloween / Fall rhymes, so we do a lot of 5 Little Pumpkin themed activities and science experiments every October. This STEAM project was a particularly fun science project because it was something all the kids (toddlers, preschoolers, and grade schoolers) could personalize and enjoy together.


This project let the kids both express their own creative genius and work together on an engineering project appropriate for preschoolers! Aaaaand, it ties into one of our favorite rhymes, which just happens to be a board book too: 5 Little Pumpkins!!

Anyway, you can use this for STEAM learning, a STEM project, or just a fun Halloween activity!

It has two basic parts: 1- Designing the Pumpkins, and 
2- Designing and building the "gate."

To set up the pumpkin design, I simply placed the mini pumpkins, acrylic paints, and paint brushes on the table. We had to add some glitter and wiggly eyes later.  ;)  I also put a 2-foot long board (future gate) on the table so the kids could each decorate it in any way they wanted to.  The kids spent about 30-50 minutes decorating their pumpkins and the board:








We actually had to let them dry overnight because some of the puddles on the pumpkins were so...puddly!  ;)

The next day I gave them the board, two cans, and their pumpkins. First they built a typical bridge:



This may seem like an overly-simple engineering project, but for young children, it requires a lot of consideration to space the cans, balance the board, and balance the pumpkins. 

Once they had accomplished this, though, it got even more interesting:




They turned the cans sideways so that the pumpkins could "roll out of sight" like in the rhyme! This brought a whole new level of balancing into play, and they loved it!

When they finished experimenting with this, they actually wanted to take their pumpkins and see if they floated...floating pumpkins is an annual experiment we do, but it is amazing to see how much they learn every single year!  But that's for another post.  :)

Anyway, this activity meets STEAM pillars in the following ways:

Science: physics, balancing
Technology: tools to paint and video (see below)
Engineering: designing and building the bridge
Art: designing and decorating pumpkins and the bridge
Math: counting to five

It also includes literature because we used the story and rhyme. In fact, the kids wanted to make a video of their pumpkins "acting out the story!" So, we did! I'll try to upload that later today.

Are you doing LOADS of pumpkin activities or a pumpkin theme this month? We sure are!! Here are some of our favorites:


We also LOVE Halloween science and dry ice experiments! Be sure to check out our collections!!

 


Happy Hallo-STEAM!! I'm super excited to join with some of my favorite science bloggers to bring you a set of Halloween STEAM activities this month!!


Check them out below:

Dry Ice Bubble Crystal Ball :: Science Kiddo
Halloween Pumpkin Slime :: Figment Creative Labs
5 Little Pumpkins STEAM Activity :: Preschool Powol Packets

Do you have a favorite Halloween science project or STEAM activity? I would LOVE to hear about your science experiments!! Feel free to send me an email, leave a comment, or stop by my Preschool Powol Packets Facebook page!

And, as always,
Happy Educating,
Carla


I may share at any of these parties!




Never miss another post again!  Sign up for our weekly updates newsletter and get links to all our posts once a week in your inbox!  Sign up here!!




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Science Experiment: Elephant Toothpaste

By -
Image
Update: "Elephant toothpaste" is a science experiment that I used to do with my high school students.  It is a strong multi-sensory demonstration that goes great with a lot of chemistry concepts. It is also very popular with preschoolers and homeschoolers!  The internet loves it too! It has now been read by more than 3.9 million people! This was the post that started the trend on science activity sites across the internet and "irl!"  Thank you for being here...I hope you enjoy it as well!  💕  This exciting science experiment works great in a discussion on reactions, as a demonstration, or as an actual experiment. We've also done seasonal twists with "elephant toothpaste" like making it in a pumpkin and using it for " reindeer toothpaste !" To use it as a science project, perform it once with your child, then ask your child what might happen if you changed the amounts or left out an ingredient.  Any time you experiment...
Read more

Kind Words Sensory Lesson Friendship Activity

By -
Image
This sensory lesson includes a kindness activity for kids that is short and sweet,  and makes teaching kindness a beautiful thing! Learning to use kind words with our friends is one friendship lesson that I think we can never cover enough...kids always need reminding (sometimes adults do too)!  You will need these simple supplies for the kindness activity: cotton balls, course sandpaper, cup, Should I Share My Ice-Cream by Mo Willems Directly teaching good friendship skills, like using kind words, serves two purposes: 1- You can refer to the lesson when someone forgets or needs reminding, and 2- These skills are not intuitive for all preschoolers. This is a perfect age to bring empathy and kindness to their attention and help them cultivate these skills! You can use this lesson plan exactly as I did it with our kiddos, or adapt it to fit your group! 1- Read  Should I Share My Ice-Cream  by Mo Willems.   {Image below is an Amazon Affi...
Read more

Crazy Cool Giraffe Science Experiment

By -
Image
Do you know what color giraffe skin is? Today we're using a capillary action science experiment to make our own giraffe skins in this fun giraffe science experiment project! (Read on...I'll tell you the color in a moment! AND I have a few more fun giraffe facts at the end! Anyway, go on and make a guess before you see the answer!) Fun Spot  Giraffe  Fact:  There are four different giraffe species:  the Masai Giraffe, the Rothschild Giraffe, the Somali Giraffe, and the Nigerian Giraffe.  Each has its own unique spot pattern.  Even more unique, every single individual giraffe has a different spot design.  Just like fingerprints on people and stripes on a zebra, spots on a giraffe are unique in every individual! Giraffe skin is mostly grey. (Were you right?) It's also really tough and thick.  The coat is a shade of tan with brown spots or patches.  Male giraffes actually get darker as they get older! To make our "giraffe ...
Read more