Pumpkins aren’t just for pies, carving, and lattes! Mrs. Haugh’s Kindergarten class strengthened their math and observation skills one pumpkin at a time.

With pumpkins in season and math to be learned, one of our Kindergarten classes spent the morning with various fall-themed STEM activities that gave them a chance to explore, ask questions and learn hands-on. Students brought a pumpkin from home and then worked through stations where they made assumptions based on their observations, using water, and giant paper clips, they worked to prove their theories right or wrong.

Will the big pumpkin sink or float? Why does the little pumpkin sink lower than the large one? How many paper clips big is a pumpkin? Each of these exercises stretched their critical thinking and gave them a chance to ask questions, and then learn from their observations!

At a second station, our Kindergarteners were readying themselves to be architects! Using pumpkin candies and toothpicks, they were challenged to build something of their own and then answer a few questions about their creation. From towers to pumpkin patch farms to dogs, it was awesome to see their creativity unfold and take shape at this station. Our hope is that this moment of building, of testing the weight of a toothpick under a pumpkin, might inspire our students to be engineers or perhaps architects someday!

We don’t ever want to miss a chance to deepen our student’s love for the Lord, so when we planted our pumpkin seed in our jello pudding “garden” at the final station it was sweet to see our students praying that the seed would grow!

We had such a fun time experimenting and creating. Seeing students jump at the opportunity to be involved, and watching them connect the dots between questions and answers is always such a joy! We’ve been learning about the difference between a flat circle, and a 3D sphere, and what better way to see that in action than through looking at pumpkins?