Harvest Place Value Skills with Pumpkin Math for Big Kids

If you searched for pumpkin math, you would overwhelmingly find math activities for little kids. Using pumpkins to explore math concepts is an annual tradition for primary-grade students but not necessarily for upper elementary students.

But that doesn’t have to be the case! Big kids enjoy digging into pumpkins as much as little kids do. The challenge is typically finding time to squeeze the fun stuff into a curriculum-packed schedule. 

What if you could do this fall tradition of pumpkin math while practicing grade-level standards-based place value skills? Does it sound too good to be true? It’s not! Read to discover a pumpkin math project that engages your students while helping them develop their place value skills.

What is a pumpkin math project?

A pumpkin math project requires students to use various pumpkin measurements to practice place value skills.

Students measure a pumpkin’s length, weight, circumference, and seeds and express those measurements through various place value tasks. Talk about a fun way to practice place value!

For this activity, you need only pumpkins (or not; read about that later), a scale, measuring tape, and the pumpkin math project—materials you already have in your classroom.

What skills does it cover?

This pumpkin math project covers grade-level place value skills. Students take their pumpkin measurements and complete a variety of grade-level place value skills.

5th grade: Pumpkin measurements to the nearest tenth

• Multiply and divide by powers of 10
• Write numbers in expanded, word, and number form
• Add and subtract decimals
• Compare numbers to the tenth place
• Round to the nearest one, ten and hundredth
• Multiply multi-digit numbers

Do you see a skill you haven’t covered yet? That’s okay! Just take that page out. The pages aren’t connected, so you can use all the pages or pick and choose the ones you want to use.

If you have students who need a little extra support when completing place-value tasks, download this free place-value toolkit. It is easy to build and a great differentiation tool for your students.

Grab it here!

How to make it work!

So, how does this work exactly? Let’s walk through it together.

1. Ask for pumpkin donations. Most pumpkins will work, but you will want to be able to cut them open and scoop things out, so make sure they are big enough for that. Using a variety of pumpkin shapes and sizes makes the pumpkin comparisons even more fun.
2. Divide your students into groups and give each group a pumpkin and a pumpkin math project.
3. Have students take all the initial measurements, such as their pumpkin’s height, circumference, and weight.
4. Then, when you are ready, take students outside or lay down disposable tablecloths and help them cut the tops off their pumpkins. (I recommend that an adult cut the pumpkin tops off.)
5. Once the tops have been removed, students should clean out the pumpkin and complete the rest of the measurements.
6. Finally, students can complete all the place value tasks in the pumpkin math project and compare their pumpkin measurements.

This activity makes for such a fun fall day activity!

Don’t want the mess? Do this instead!

Wait, do you feel intimidated by the pumpkin mess? This pumpkin math project has just what you need! Use the included information pages if you don’t want the mess associated with measuring the actual pumpkin. These six pumpkin pages have measurements students can use to complete their projects. 

Without all the mess, you can still have a fun, standards-based fall activity, and your students won’t ever know the difference.

Don’t leave pumpkin math to the little kids. Grab this project in 3rd grade, 4th grade, or 5th grade standards. With this standards-based pumpkin math project, you can bring the season’s festivities into your upper-grade classroom.