Lesson Plan Ideas for How Many Seeds are in a Pumpkin

Use pumpkins and their seeds for manipulatives in your classroom.

Using pumpkins in fall as a math manipulative works well. Pumpkins are easily accessible in the fall months, and there are a large variety of math lessons that use the large fruit. Start by using the whole fruit for the first lesson, and then save the seeds for use as game pieces for Bingo and other homemade games.

Whose Pumpkin Has the Most Seeds?

Have each group of students estimate whose pumpkin has the most seeds. Break the students up into groups of three to five children. Place a pumpkin with the top cut out in the center of each group's table. Let the groups choose a name for their group, and write it on the chalkboard or white board. Let the groups estimate the amount of seeds in their pumpkin, and write it by their group's name. Have each group pull all of the seeds out of pumpkin, and count them. Write the total number of seeds beside the estimate, and see who guessed closest. Some large pumpkins have fewer seeds than small pumpkins.

Pumpkin Seed Graph

After doing the lesson "Whose Pumpkin Has the Most Seeds," let the student use the seeds, and make a graph comparing each group's pumpkin seeds. The students write down each group's names and glue the seeds next to the amount of each groups pumpkin seed count. Since there are a lot of seeds, one seed on the chart can equal more than one seed. For example, one pumpkin seed equal 10 seeds, so students round the number of seeds to the nearest 10.

Seed Unit of Measurement

Explain standard units of measurement. If you are working with inches, stress inches. If you are working with centimeters, stress centimeters. Let the students measure one pumpkin seed's length, width and thickness. Give the students several small items, and let the students measure the items with a ruler. Estimate how many pumpkin seeds long, wide and high each item is according the measurements taken with the ruler. If an unsharpened pencil is 6 inches long, it would be about 18 pumpkin seeds long.

Multiplication Math Bingo

Print up blank Bingo cards and fill them with two- or three-digit numbers, depending on the grade level. Make a stack of cards with multiplication problems. Pass out the cards and a small plastic bag filled with pumpkin seeds for each student. Mix up the multiplication cards, and call out the problem from the top of the stack. If you call "3 times 7," the students find the number 21 on their card. If the answer is there, put a pumpkin seed on it. Keep calling out answers until someone gets Bingo.

References

• Hot Chalk: Estimating With Pumpkin Seeds
• Teaching Heart: Teaching Heart's Pumpkin Unit/Theme
• Hot Chalk: Sorting Pumpkin Seeds