The grands and I are enjoying the story “Five Little Pumpkins” so much I decided to create a mini lesson using multiple intelligence strategies. These projects are not only fun, but contain academic concepts which are relevant to the needs of my grandsons, ages 2-6. Besides reading the story to the grands daily, I used two activities each day, so it was a four day unit. It is best to do at least one activity from each intelligence. However, I often plan more than one activity for each intelligence to give myself choices, so I don’t necessarily use them all.
Note: I have updated this post in October 2016. I revisited this lesson with my grandsons and added a few more activities. In 2016, the grands were ages Tahoe (4), Kona (6), and Tigger (8).
Linguistic Intelligence (Word Smart)
- Read the book or poem “Five Little Pumpkins” . If you need a copy of it, here is the website I used:
http://aboutthesethings.wordpress.com/2014/10/20/five-little-pumpkins/
- Discuss and/or list the rhyming words.
Logical/Mathematical Intelligence (Number/Reasoning Smart)
- Walk around neighborhood and count the number of pumpkins you see.
- Create math problems with the pumpkins such as, “If only three pumpkins fell off, how many pumpkins would be left on the gate?”
- Make Pumpkin Spice Mini Muffins (Gluten Free recipe): Work on measurement skills by baking some pumpkin muffins. Since one of the grands is on a gluten free diet, I found this recipe which all of them could eat. We also used almond milk in the recipe. They had so much fun making these muffins which we made on two different occasions this fall: http://smashedpeasandcarrots.com/gluten-free-pumpin-donut-muffin-recipe/
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- Tahoe is getting so much better at measuring.
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- Tigger melted the butter for the topping.
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- Kona helped to put the batter in the muffin trays.
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- He measured the sugar and cinnamon that was used for the topping.
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- Tigger loved adding the toppings to the baked muffins.
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- Ta Da! Pumpkin Spice Mini Muffins for Everyone!
Spatial Intelligence (Picture Smart)
- Carve a pumpkin to make a face from the story.
- Make a diorama of the story. To make the one I have shown below, I used a shoebox lid, scissors, five individual sections from an egg carton, five equal sized sections that I cut from a paper towel roll, five green pipe cleaner pieces (about four inches each), orange paint, brown paint, blue construction paper, yellow construction paper, glue stick, and a black marker. My grandsons painted the egg carton sections orange and the paper towel sections brown. (I didn’t have the correct colors so we did some color mixing-another lesson for them.) Once those were dry, the grandsons drew pumpkin faces on each orange egg carton section with the black marker. Cut the blue construction paper to fit the inside of the shoebox lid. You can also make pictures on the blue construction paper, like fences, trees, and other pumpkins. (My grandson outlined his hand to draw a tree.) Glue the blue construction paper to the inside of the shoe box lid. Cut out a yellow “moon” from yellow construction paper and glue onto the blue construction paper. Place the paper towel sections next to each other on the bottom of the shoebox lid and place the “pumpkins” on top of them. Make a hole on the top of each “pumpkin” and fit the pipe cleaner inside to look like a stem (and to help keep the egg carton on top of the paper towel section). You could hot glue all the pieces into place on the shoebox lid, but I wanted my grandsons to play with the diorama and be able to move the pieces around, so I didn’t glue them down.
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- Kona covers the individual egg carton sections with orange paint.
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- Now Kona paints cut up paper towel roll pieces which will become part of the gate.
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- These are the supplies we used for the diorama.
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- All the grands helped make the diorama. Tigger drew pumpkin faces and the scary background. Tahoe glued the background to the shoebox lid.
Musical Intelligence (Music Smart
- Play Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons-Autumn” as you read the story aloud.
- Have your child help you create a simple melody to go with this poem.
Interpersonal Intelligence (People Smart)
- Dramatic play-Reenact the story of the five pumpkins with siblings or adults.
- Most of the other activities in this lesson plan can be done with their siblings.
Bodily-kinesthetic Intelligence (Body Smart)
- Fine motor activity: For this activity I used brown construction paper and a marker to created a “gate” that I glued to the back of a sturdy game board box we had around the house. Then using tongs or a large spoon, I had the grandsons place five orange pom poms (pumpkins) on top of the box (gate). Once the pom poms were placed on the top of the box, the grands were asked to become the “wind” in the story and blow the pumpkins off the gate.
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- The objective of this activity is to use kitchen utensils, not fingers, to get the orange pom poms (representing the pumpkins) on top of the box (the gate from the story.)
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- Once the “pumpkins” are on top of the “gate”, the grands pretended they were the wind, and blew the pumpkins off!
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- Tahoe loved this activity and it kept him busy while I was cooking dinner.
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- This was easier for Kona. His favorite part was blowing the pom poms (pumpkins) off the box (gate) afterwards.
Intrapersonal Intelligence (Self Smart)
- Give each pumpkin a name.
- Discuss: Which is your favorite pumpkin in the story?
- Let child play with diorama to create new stories for the pumpkins.
Naturalist Intelligence (Nature Smart)
- Visit a pumpkin farm.
- Walk around neighborhood to see where your neighbors have pumpkins. Are any of them on a gate?
- If you have a real pumpkin for the holidays, you can feel and count the number of bumps on the outside and the number of seeds inside of it.
I hope the children in your care enjoy these activities as much as my grandsons did. Wishing all my readers a fun and safe Halloween!
I hope you are finding these Multiple Intelligence activities useful as you plan lessons for children in your care. If you would like to see more of these unit studies as I create them, you can become a follower of this blog.
I love to add my blog posts to link parties such as:
Mimi and the Grands 
What fun ideas! That poem was always a favorite at Halloween with my kinders. How much fun to do it with the boys. Shows how something old can be reworked into soothing new 🙂
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Wow! This is impressive. So many ways to learn from 5 Little Pumpkins!
Thank you for stopping by the Thoughtful Spot Weekly Blog Hop this week. We hope to see you drop by our neck of the woods next week!
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I love your weekly blog hop. There are so many fantastic blogs that link up and it is so much fun to read all the amazing ideas that are shared. Thanks for offering this opportunity!
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Great ideas to go with a classic book!! We are going to a pumpkin patch for the first time (well my daughter’s first time) this weekend. I am very excited!!
Thank you for linking up with #made4kids. We hope you share another fantastic post with us next week! http://www.playdoughandpopsicles.com/made-for-kids-link-party-4/
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Love your Link Up party!
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[…] 5 Little Pumpkins By: Mimi and the Grands […]
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Thanks for sharing my post on your Link Up Party!
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Great round up of ideas! We studied pumpkins this week also! Next week OWLS! Enjoy the weekend!
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Oooh! I would love to see ideas on owls. I hope you will be able to share them on a post.
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[…] 5 Little Pumpkins by mimi and the grands […]
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So neat that you do this type of thing with your grand kids. I want to be a grandma like you one day! Thanks for linking up with LMMLinkup.
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