Pumpkin Counting and Number Line Activities

We’ve been having a little Halloween math fun by creating our own counting jack-o-lanterns and using them for number line activities. You won’t need many materials, but you’ll be able to practice a ton of early math skills.

FIND EVEN MORE PUMPKIN THEME ACTIVITIES IN OUR PRINTABLE LESSON PLANS

FOR HOME PRESCHOOL AND PRESCHOOL CLASSROOMS.

For the activity we used orange paper plates. I had small plates, but I would probably choose larger ones if I did the activity again. We also had black number stickers and black construction paper cut into a variety of shapes for making jack-o-lantern faces.

Lovey started by placing a number from 1 to 10 on each orange plate. Then she created a face with as many pieces of paper as the number on the plate. I loved watching the creations she came up with as she had more and more pieces to work with. Since she was working on her own she made every jack-o-lantern. If you are working in classroom or co-op each child could choose a number or two to create.

I encouraged Lovey to create the faces before gluing individual pieces down so that she could move them around as needed until she was ready to commit to the design. Then she used a glue stick to secure the pieces.

Once the glue dried we started with our number line activities. First we practiced number order as Lovey placed the jack-o-lanterns in order from 1 to 10.

Then we spent some time counting forward and backward. First she counted the full number line. Then we practiced starting at a specific number and counting forward or backward a specific number to identify where she’d land. We used our little bat craft to fly along the number line, but you could use any small manipulative or Halloween themed toy.

We also practiced identifying odd and even numbers and skip counting. For this part we separated the plates into two rows so that Lovey could easily identify odd and even and also move along a specific row to practice skip counting.

Finally we placed all of the jack-o-lanterns in one stack and Lovey chose two plates at random. We used those two plates to practice comparing numbers.

We’ve been using the jack-o-lantern number line a lot since we made it. I love that the plates are easy to pull out and get a little math practice now and then.

PRINTABLE PUMPKIN THEME LESSON PLANS

Save time and get right to the playful learning with our printable lesson plan sets. Each set includes over 30 playful learning activities related to the theme, and we’ve provided different versions for home preschool families and classroom teachers so all activities are geared directly toward your needs.

Teach kids about real pumpkins and use this theme to teach many math and literacy skills as well. Use this pumpkin theme as you get close to Halloween, for the letter P, or as part of a larger fall unit. Watch this short video to see just a few examples of the types of activities and printables included in this set:

The full Pumpkin Theme Lesson Plan Pack also includes:

• Pumpkin Number Cards
• Pumpkin Life Cycle Poster
• Pumpkin Life Cycle Sequencing Activity
• Uppercase Pumpkin Letter Cards
• Lowercase Pumpkin Seed Letter Cards
• Pumpkin Pie 5 Senses Recording Sheet

GET YOUR LESSON PLANS

Home Preschool Pumpkin Theme Lesson Plans

Preschool Classroom Pumpkin Theme Lesson Plans

Also available on Teachers Pay Teachers.