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You are here: Home / Concepts / Alphabet / Letter W / Watermelon Activities

Watermelon Activities

By Shaunna Evans 28 Comments · This content may contain affiliate links.

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When I think of summer I think of watermelon! There are so many watermelon activities you can do that involve hands-on learning, sensory exploration, art, and FUN. Today I’m sharing some of the creative ways we’ve been playing and learning with watermelon.

Hands-on Watermelon Sensory Play Activities for Preschool and PreK

Want even more ideas? Continue the fun with a full week of watermelon play and learning with our printable lesson plans for home preschool and home preschool.

Watermelon Sculptures

Invitation to Create Watermelon Sculptures

One morning I set up two trays. The first tray had watermelon cut into different shapes. To make the shapes we cut thin slices of watermelon and then used cookie cutters to create the shapes we wanted. The second tray had an assortment of wooden craft sticks, skewers, and toothpicks. (Please supervise children closely when using objects with a sharp point)

Then I invited the kids to make whatever creations they wanted using the materials.

Building with watermelon

Lovey worked on creating a tall tower while Tinker preferred to place one piece at a time on a skewer and then eat it. Each time she would exclaim, “I make a wowipop!” (lollipop)

Watermelon activities

Big Buddy also started with a tower. When it started to fall over he spent some time problem solving to come up with ways to help the structure stand on its own.

toddler fine motor activities

After Tinker had eaten enough she also joined in the play. This was great fine motor practice.

Watermelon Squish Bag Math

Watermelon squish bag

I saw these lovely watermelon suncatchers on Teach Preschool long ago. We’ve made squish bags before, but not for a watermelon theme. They are so easy to make, and the kids always love them.

Watermelon sensory bag

Tinker loved watching the sun shine through the bags. She spent a lot of time pushing the seeds around and watching the bubbles in the bag shift around.

Watermelon math

If you follow this blog, you know I love to get a lot of use out of our activities. We re-purposed this squish bag into a math activity to help Lovey practice making ten. Once the kids were done exploring the bag on the window, I took it down and added an extra strip of green tape down the middle. Inside there were already 10 watermelon seeds.

To practice making ten, Lovey would squish the bag to move the seeds around and then lay it flat. She would count all the seeds to make sure all 10 were visible and not hiding behind the tape. Then she would count how many were on each side and we would record the combination on paper. In this example we wrote “4 and 6.” You could also write them as addition sentences, “4+6=10.” We repeated the steps until we had a few different combinations.

Even more sensory squish bag inspiration!

Find sensory squish bags for every season here.

Watermelon Seeds and Play Dough

Watermelon Play Dough Activities

We made a wonderful batch of watermelon play dough. You can use you favorite play dough recipe or try this recipe from Sugar, Spice and Glitter.

watermelon seed letters

Before playing with the play dough the kids spent some time exploring with the watermelon seeds that we collected. They made letters…

watermelon seed pictures

…and some silly pictures.

watermelon play dough

Then we ate a lot of watermelon “pizza,” “cookies” and “pie.”

Watermelon Sensory Play

Invitation to explore watermelon

This invitation to explore is another activity inspired by Teach Preschool. It looked like so much fun that we had to give it a try, and I am so glad we did. To set up the invitation we cut a large watermelon in half and gathered large and small bowls and a few kitchen gadgets.  I set everything up outside so the kids could explore freely and clean would be very easy.

watermelon five senses

Before the kids started exploring on their own we talked a little about the parts of the watermelon and used our senses to talk about its properties.  Then they were eager to dig in!

watermelon play

Everyone started by using the different kitchen utensils. They scooped and transferred bits from the melon into the different bowls. But that didn’t last too long… 

watermelon sensory play

They all soon realized it was way more fun to dig in with their hands. They spent the better part of the morning playing. They made watermelon soup, and when all of the flesh was gone the watermelon become a new bug habitat (an ongoing passion the kids have lately). Once they were finished we simply hosed everything off….kids too!

Watermelon Activities for Preschool Sensory Play

Not quite up for real food sensory play? No worries! Try our watermelon water bead sensory bin idea instead!

Watermelon theme sensory play activity

You can also set up a watermelon sensory tray for early writing practice.

watermelon tray_tracing seeds at preschool sight word activity

Practice letter formation with these free printable watermelon ABC mats.

Watermelon Alphabet Mats for Preschool and Kindergarten

Learn to recognize 2D shapes with this fun roll and say watermelon shapes math game.

Watermelon Books

And of course we love pairing our themes with some great picture books.  We’ve provided a brief summary for each of our favorite watermelon books for kids here.

Watermelon Art

Preschool Watermelon Activity

Work those fine motor muscles as you create this torn paper watermelon craft project.

What about you? Do you have any favorite watermelon activities or recipes? I’d love to hear about them in the comments.

And if you’re looking for more inspiration, we have a whole Pinterest board dedicated to watermelon.  Check it out for even more awesome ideas!

Get a Full Week of Watermelon Theme Learning and Play

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.

This watermelon theme pack includes editable lesson plans and hands-on activities for a week full of math, reading, & science learning activities about the watermelon life cycle and watermelons.

Watch this short video to see just a few examples of the types of activities and printables included in this set:

This set includes active hands-on learning ideas and the following printables:

1) Watermelon Seed Counting Game
2) Roll and Color Watermelon Seed Math Game
3) Watermelons on the Vine Beginning Sound Sort (6 initial sounds)
4) Watermelon Word Family Building Activity Set (5 word families)
5) Watermelon Fractions Matching Activity
6) Watermelon Life Cycle Printable Chart
7) Ten Frame Watermelon Seed Counting Mats
8) Growing a Watermelon Emergent Reader (2 versions)
9) Watermelon Letter Matching Puzzles
10) Watermelon Life Cycle Sequencing Set
11) 0-35 Watermelon Theme Number Cards

Get Your Lesson Plans

Home Preschool Watermelon Theme Lesson Plans

Preschool Classroom Watermelon Theme Lesson Plans

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Filed Under: Fine Motor, Invitations to Create, Invitations to Explore, Kindergarten, Letter W, Math, Phonics, Preschool, Science, Sensory, Summer, Toddler Tagged With: fun things to do in summer, sensory play, watermelon activities, watermelon theme

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Julie

    June 29, 2013 at 9:01 am

    Thanks for linking up for our first Super Summer Saturday party. Just pinned to our boards to share with our followers. Hope you link up again with some more great ideas this week!

    Julie
    http://www.thechirpingmoms.com

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      June 30, 2013 at 8:39 pm

      Thank you so much for hosting. Glad to be a part of the party 🙂

      Reply
  2. JDaniel4's Mom

    June 24, 2013 at 8:47 pm

    What a fabulous unit! I pinned several of these activities.

    Reply
  3. Momma Jo

    June 24, 2013 at 2:29 am

    What a fantastic activity! Thanks for sharing

    Your post has been selected to feature on this weeks Hearts of the Home Blog Hop on Monsters Ed. Congratulations!!! http://monstersed.wordpress.com/2013/06/27/hearts-for-the-home-blog-hop-5/

    Reply
  4. Sheryl @ Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds

    June 23, 2013 at 3:21 pm

    Wonderful ideas! I pinned several and have also linked up with you. Thanks!

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      June 25, 2013 at 8:47 am

      Thanks for pinning and joining in the linky!

      Reply
  5. Julie

    June 22, 2013 at 6:57 pm

    How creative! And perfect for summer—I love all these ideas. We would love for you to share at our first Super Summer Saturday party here: http://www.thechirpingmoms.com/2013/06/super-summer-saturday-party.html!

    Thanks!
    Julie

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      June 25, 2013 at 8:41 am

      Thank you! We loved these activities…and all the watermelon we got to eat was a bonus, too! 😉

      Reply
  6. crystal @ Growing A Jeweled Rose

    June 21, 2013 at 6:44 pm

    What a fantastic collection of activities! I especially love the watermelon sensory play and watermelon sculptures

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      June 21, 2013 at 10:15 pm

      Thanks so much! The kids LOVED playing and creating with watermelon 🙂

      Reply
  7. Eli@coachdaddy

    June 20, 2013 at 1:08 pm

    I’m kind of in awe of how you pulled this off this incredibly. The kids seem so engaged and perfectly happy with it all. My kids are older now, the youngest 8, so a watermelon to them is nothing more than a favorite summer treat!

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      June 21, 2013 at 10:27 pm

      Thank you! They were very engaged. We spend a lot of time exploring common materials in different ways, and they’ve really become happy little scientists through our investigations this year. Oh, and don’t get me wrong…there was A LOT of watermelon eating throughout the week, too! 🙂

      Reply
  8. Jode@mummymusingsandmayhem

    June 20, 2013 at 2:56 am

    So many fantastic ideas here….loving the watermelon theme! My fav would be the squishy bag.

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      June 21, 2013 at 10:30 pm

      Thank you! I really enjoyed the squishy bag…I love seeing them on the window in the morning sunlight, and the math activity we were able to do with this one was great for early math practice.

      Reply
  9. Kirstylee

    June 19, 2013 at 6:01 pm

    Man, I was sold after the watermelon sculptures, but then you have a bunch of other super fun watermelon activities. I definitely see a watermelon day in the future. 🙂 Thanks for the ideas.

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      June 21, 2013 at 10:36 pm

      Oooh, I hope you have fun! I think we’ll be repeating a lot of these activities again in future years. I really want to see how their watermelon sculptures evolve over time. 🙂

      Reply
  10. Erica

    June 19, 2013 at 4:42 pm

    What a wonderful post! I love all of the watermelon activities! I’m heading to the store now to get some watermelons! I love the watermelon squishy bags and the watermelon sensory play! What a great idea!!!

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      June 21, 2013 at 10:37 pm

      Thank you! I hope you have as much fun as we did!!

      Reply
  11. Stephanie

    June 19, 2013 at 3:58 pm

    This is such a wonderful post! I love all the activities, especially how you turned the sensory bag into early math practice! Pinning for next summer’s watermelon fun!

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      June 21, 2013 at 10:38 pm

      Thanks, Stephanie! I hope your duo has fun with the ideas next year. We’re going to be trying some of your watermelon fun, too…thinking there are some watermelon shakes in our near future 🙂

      Reply
  12. Veens

    June 19, 2013 at 10:46 am

    Wow! I LOVE all these activities. They are all simple to put together. Thank you for sharing them 🙂

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      June 22, 2013 at 8:06 am

      Simple is always a plus! Glad you like the ideas 🙂

      Reply
  13. Ashley

    June 19, 2013 at 9:06 am

    Thanks for hosting! All that watermelon is making me hungry!

    Reply
    • Ashley

      July 3, 2013 at 8:22 am

      Featured you again this week! I just love everything you do!

      Reply
      • Shaunna

        July 7, 2013 at 10:45 pm

        Thanks so much, Ashley!!

        Reply
  14. Mary Catherine

    June 19, 2013 at 8:30 am

    Love, love, love!! 🙂 Definitely pinning this and adding these ideas to our summer fun. I especially love how your ideas are appropriate for different ages!

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      June 22, 2013 at 8:07 am

      Thanks! It definitely comes in handy when I can use activities that all of the kids can enjoy participating in in their own ways. Less work, more fun!

      Reply
      • Mary Catherine

        June 29, 2013 at 8:06 pm

        Thanks so much for sharing at Stress-Free Sunday!

        Reply

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Hi, I’m Shaunna!

Welcome to Fantastic Fun and Learning. Here you'll find plenty of great ideas for fun learning activities and things to do with kids.

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