Learning Fun with Pumpkins! Picture Books and Free Printables
We live very near to several pumpkin patches. At this time of year, the leaves have died away to reveal gorgeous orange fruit. If you and your family have an opportunity to trudge through muddy fields to select just the right pumpkin, be sure to extend your child’s learning with pumpkin theme picture books and printables.
The Biggest Pumpkin Ever written by Steven Kroll and illustrated by Jeni Bassett
Preschool picture book about growing pumpkins published by Cartwheel Books, a Division of Scholastic
Clayton and Desmond each fall in love with the same pumpkin and are soon working night and day to water and fertilize it. Before long, it is absolutely enormous! One night, as they work to protect the pumpkin from frost, the two young mice meet and discover that they have both been working on the same pumpkin project. Before long, it is time for a pumpkin contest and, together, the new friends enlist the help of dozens of field mice to transport the pumpkin into town.
With only a brief reference to carving a smiling jack-o-lantern face, this story is primarily about caring for the growing pumpkin, discovering a new friend and working cooperatively together. The Biggest Pumpkin Ever 
The Biggest Pumpkin Ever at Amazon.com
The Biggest Pumpkin Ever at Amazon.ca
Duck & Goose Find a Pumpkin written and illustrated by Tad Hills
Board Book published by schwartz & wade books and imprint of Penguin Random House
Gorgeous oil paint illustrations in rich Fall colors are a highlight of this book for very young children. Tad Hills (sometimes with Lauren Savage) has written and illustrated an engaging series of books about Duck and Goose. In this story, when Duck and Goose see their friend with a large pumpkin, they decide to find one for themselves. They look EVERYWHERE! It is only when their friend asks if they have looked in the pumpkin patch that they find what they are looking for.
This is a fun and appealing story that young children will especially enjoy before or after a trip to the pumpkin patch. There’s lots of opportunity for vocabulary development and co-‘reading.’
Duck & Goose, Find a Pumpkin (Oversized Board Book) at Amazon.com
Duck & Goose, Find a Pumpkin at Amazon.ca
Pumpkin Town written by Katie McKay and illustrated by Pablo Bernasconi
Preschool picture book about growing pumpkins published by HMH Books for Young Readers
José’s family grows pumpkins and usually they are very careful to only grow the best. One day José and his five brothers discard some ‘lesser’ seeds carelessly. The seeds are blown into town and land on straw roofs and in soil. When spring arrives, the seeds began to grow. Soon intrusive vines push through windows and heavy pumpkins threaten to drop out of trees and off rooftops. José and his family are blissfully unaware of the problem until the brothers venture into town.
Acknowledging their mistake, the boys set about harvesting the pumpkins and returning the town to normal. Observant readers will accurately predict the impact of rewarding the brothers’ hard work by giving them watermelons to eat.
Very good fun for preschool, kindergarten and early primary age children. No reference to Halloween.
Pumpkin Town! Or, Nothing Is Better and Worse Than Pumpkins at Amazon.com
Pumpkin Town! Or, Nothing Is Better and Worse Than Pumpkins at Amazon.ca
Sixteen Runaway Pumpkins
Rhyming, counting picture book about harvesting pumpkins written by Dianne Ochiltree and illustrated by Anne-Sophie Lanquetin
Sam Raccoon is confident when she heads out to the pumpkin patch. She pulls a large blue wagon behind her and she is soon filling it with big, lumpy pumpkins. At last the wagon is stacked with sixteen bright orange pumpkins that wiggle and wobble as she pulls it down the bumpy road. Soon, the pumpkins tumble out of the wagon and roll and bounce down the hill to the farmhouse.
Sam runs after the tumbling pumpkins and is disappointed when some are cracked but Grandpa knows exactly what to do with cracked pumpkins. The family gets to work and soon enjoy a delicious dessert.
Engaging illustrations, rollicking rhymes and the chance to count along will have great appeal for preschool, kindergarten and early primary age children.
Sixteen Runaway Pumpkins at Amazon.com
Sixteen Runaway Pumpkins at Amazon.ca
Pumpkin Theme Free Printables
Five Little Pumpkins
Use as a action chant or a felt board story
Writing paper for kids - Pumpkin
Fall theme interlined paper with pumpkins for beginning writers.
