Creating a Classroom Pumpkin Theme Curriculum for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Inside: Looking for some fun pumpkin theme curriculum ideas you can do with your toddlers and preschoolers? Come see how we’ve set up our classroom with lots of fun activities!

October and Halloween mean adding pumpkins to our toddler and preschool classroom.

There are so many fun and engaging activities that you can add to your pumpkin theme curriculum that also provide plenty of playful learning opportunities. Come see what we’ve put together for our toddlers and preschoolers!

👉 Scroll down towards the end of this post to find free printables you can use with your pumpkin theme curriculum!

Creating a Classroom Pumpkin Theme Curriculum

See how our classroom is set up in this video:

Below are some of the main activities we added to our classroom.

Art

Pumpkin Prints Our toddlers and preschoolers had so much fun mixing yellow and red paint on foil and then pressing the pumpkin printable on top to make a print! Read more: How to Make Simple Pumpkin Prints with Toddlers and Preschoolers

Pumpkin Magnets

I was able to make good use of the wood pumpkins that were sitting in my theme box. Read more: How to Create a Pumpkin Craft that is a Keepsake Magnet

Easel

We did some color mixing (red + yellow = orange) on top of our pumpkin printable.

Painting Pumpkins

If you haven’t tried this yet, you must! Simply invite your children to paint on top of pumpkins. They can be washed off and painted over and over again!

Here’s a similar activity: Easy Pumpkin Painting for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Sensory

Small pumpkins, dyed rice, and scoops are always fun for toddlers and preschoolers! Truly, we could have this in our sensory bin for weeks and they’d not get tired of it.

Here’s a similar idea: Halloween Sensory Bin with Pumpkins

Blocks

Since our children were having so much fun with Magnatiles during our Forest Animals theme, we kept it out and added our beloved pumpkin ball magnets.

Playdough

I made some of our favorite Halloween no-cook playdough and added some pumpkin cupcake toppers I found at a local store and pumpkin placemats that someone donated to our preschool years ago. Don’t forget to add pumpkin cookie cutters!

Dramatic Play

Pumpkin bags, large plastic pumpkins, and various masks were part of our dramatic play area this week.

Science and Exploration

We opened a pumpkin and explored what was inside, talking about how it looked, felt, and smelled. This led to many discussions about who had a jack-o-lantern at home!