When fall is in the air, it’s time for pumpkin STEM activities! There are so many wonderful science and STEM activities for all sorts of pumpkins — the real deal, candy pumpkins, and even paper pumpkins.
Here are my top 6 favorite pumpkin STEM activities!
Table of Contents
Pumpkin STEM Activity 1: Pumpkin Picker
Description
Design and build a pumpkin harvesting tool that clears the field in the fewest number of moves.
Why I Love It
There’s so much variety in what students create with this challenge! There are so many great math connections, and
Notes / Substitutions / Where to Learn More
You can substitute any of the materials for what you have on hand. For example, swap those pumpkins candies out for other treats or even crumpled orange paper, so it’s easy on the budget!
Grab this resource on TPT & Etsy, or watch a full video walk-though on YouTube.
Pumpkin STEM Activity 2: Treat Toss
Description
Students build a device to toss candy for max distance and/or accuracy.
Why I Love It
This works as a Halloween challenge or any time of year. If you leave the criteria & constraints open-ended enough, you’ll get a lot of variety in student designs.
Notes / Substitutions / Where to Learn More
It’s helpful to have some somewhat rigid materials, like craft sticks, and rubber bands. After that, whatever building materials you have on hand should work. If you don’t want to use candies, choose a substitute that has some weight to it but is also safe to launch across a room. Bouncy balls or somewhat dense foam counting cubes work well.
Grab the resource on TPT & Etsy, or watch a full video walk-though on YouTube.
Pumpkin STEM Activity 3: Pumpkin Pedestals
Description
Students build towers to support one or more pumpkins. This can be done with pumpkin candies, plastic pumpkins, mini pumpkins or full-size if your students are up for the challenge!
Why I Love It
This versatile STEM activity works for all ages with small tweaks of the criteria & constraints and/or materials. There are lots of ways to measure success and end up with a wide variety of designs.
Notes / Substitutions / Where to Learn More
Build with anything you have on hand. You can even just use paper or note cards and the “pumpkins” of your choosing.
Grab the resource on TPT, or watch a full video walk-though on YouTube.
Pumpkin STEM Activity 4: Pumpkin Bridges Built for Weight or Capacity
Description
Build a bridge for length strength, or pumpkin capacity.
Why I Love It
It’s perfect for Halloween if you use the cotton swabs Bone Bridge® version. It’s also really simple to modify this challenge to tailor it to any age group.
Notes / Substitutions / Where to Learn More
Again, it’s easy to swap out materials for whatever you have on hand. You can have students build a bridge that holds the weight of an actual pumpkin – mini or regular size, depending on how much you want to challenge your students. You can also use building blocks or cubes instead to measure strength or capacity.
Grab the resource on TPT & Etsy, or watch a full video walk-though on YouTube.
Pumpkin STEM Activity 5: Pumpkins A-head
Description
Students build a device to balance a small pumpkin on their heads for a hilarious relay race!
Why I Love It
It’s a TON of fun & serves as an intro to Newton’s Laws of Motion, gravity, & balanced forces! Try doing this at the start of the school year with apples & repeating with small pumpkins in October or November. It’s a student favorite!
Notes / Substitutions / Where to Learn More
As shown in the picture, students can build the balancing device for apples or pumpkins. You can swap those out for plastic versions or tennis balls if you don’t want to use food.
Grab the resource on TPT or watch a full video walk-though on YouTube.
Pumpkin STEM Activity 6: Pumpkin Wrecking Balls
Description
Design a pumpkin wrecking ball for annihilation (knock down all the markers) or accuracy (knock down specific markers).
Why I Love It
This is another student favorite! Just like Apples A-head, this wrecking ball challenge is a great intro for Newton’s Laws of Motion!
Notes / Substitutions / Where to Learn More
As shown in the picture, students can use apples in place of pumpkins. You can swap those out for plastic versions or tennis balls if you don’t want to use food. You don’t need paper towel tubes. Cereal boxes, file folders, and any number of substitutions work well for this challenge.
Grab the resource on TPT or watch a full video walk-though on YouTube.
I hope you’ve gotten some pumpkin STEM inspiration perfect for your students today! Be sure to check out the related posts below for even more ideas for fall STEM activities!
Related Posts
- 5 Apple STEM Challenges for Fall
- 20 Halloween STEM Activities
- Pumpkin Picker STEM Challenge
- 5 Thanksgiving STEM Activities
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