This scented pumpkin activity for preschool works on children’s fine motor skills while engaging their senses.
Related: 60+ Fall Activities for Preschoolers
My students consistently love our scented “tiny apples”, so I decided to create a pumpkin version.
It’s always fun to build upon materials and ideas that really engage the children. Plus, we were able to get a lot of use out of these sensory materials. We ended up using them again in a couple of super easy Halloween sensory bins.
Once all of the fine motor sensory fun was done, we put the “tiny pumpkins” in a sealed bag and stored them for the following year.
Scent-sational Pumpkin Activity for Preschool!
Material Used
Dry garbanzo beans (aka chickpeas)
Pumpkin pie spice
Small plastic pumpkins
Kid-friendly tweezers (blue with stars, purple)
Pumpkin “jewels”
What We Did
Just like last time, I dyed the beans like And Next Comes L’s Rainbow Chickpeas. Since I was making “tiny pumpkins”, I just used orange liquid watercolors.
Once the chickpeas were dry, I sprinkled pumpkin pie spice on them. Oh, how I looooove that scent! It makes me think of fall, pumpkin pies, and time with family. But I digress!
Related: How to Make a Pumpkin Geoboard
Once the scented beans were ready to go, I grabbed a tray, some tweezers, and a bowl.
The tiny pumpkins were placed in the bowl, with a variety of “tools” placed next to them. Kiddos enjoy using different tweezers, so I made sure to include different types.
I set some of the small plastic pumpkins out next to the tray.
Find pumpkin preschool lesson plans here
Then it was onto some fine motor fun! The plastic pumpkins were filled up using tweezers and little fingers. Then the orange chickpeas were dumped back out onto the tray. I think dumping them was just as much fun as anything else!
The beans did make a cool sound when poured onto the tray. There was random chatter about how many tiny pumpkins could fit into one of the plastic pumpkins. None of the children went so far as counting the beans, but there were a lot of guesses!
Related: Halloween Sequencing Activity for Big Pumpkin
The kiddos also discovered that there were jack-o-lantern faces on the plastic pumpkins. Making this discovery cracked them up, then they decided it was “time to fill those jack-o-lanterns up!”
Tiny pumpkin gems were also added to the play after a while. Based on the kids’ exclamations, the beans AND the jewels were beyond exciting!
They collected, counted, moved, transferred, and just plain had fun with everything.
Related: Pumpkin Patch Small World Play
Extension Ideas for This Preschool Pumpkin Activity
Next time, I’m going to see if we can record our predictions of how many beans could fit in the plastic pumpkin. Then I plan on helping the children count the beans, perhaps counting by groups of ten. It really depends on the interest of the kiddos, of course!
I also plan to make more tiny pumpkins for a giant sensory bin. I know they will get a ton of use this fall! When we’re done exploring them, the scented, colored beans will get packed up and stored for later.
How would you and your kiddos use these tiny pumpkins? Do you have a favorite pumpkin activity for preschool? If you’re looking for more, I have a Pumpkin Pinterest board for you to check out!
Pumpkin Preschool Lesson Plans
Save time and get right to the playful learning with our printable lesson plan sets. Each set includes over 30 learning activities related to the theme, and we’ve provided different versions for classroom teachers and home preschool families so all activities are geared directly toward your needs.
Get your pumpkin preschool lesson plans
Preschool Pumpkin Lesson Plans for Classroom Teachers
Pumpkin Lesson Plans for Homeschool Families
You can also find us on Teachers Pay Teachers
Looking for Another Pumpkin Activity for Preschool?
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- Pumpkin Glitter Jars
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- Pumpkin Patch Small World Play
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- Geoboard Pumpkin
Amanda says
September 16, 2014 at 11:36 amI love this idea! I’m always looking for new ways to keep Harper entertained and learning at the same time!!
Amanda – Life With Grace
Mary Catherine says
September 23, 2014 at 7:00 pmThanks so much, Amanda! Let me know what Harper thinks of this!!!
jaime@FSPDT says
September 16, 2014 at 7:15 pmso cool!!
Mary Catherine says
September 23, 2014 at 7:01 pmThanks, Jaime!!!
kATHRYN says
September 16, 2014 at 9:05 pmThis looks like so much fun!
Mary Catherine says
September 23, 2014 at 7:02 pmWe really loved it! 🙂
Stephanie @ Twodaloo says
September 20, 2014 at 12:00 amI am obsessed with these and your “tiny apples,” too!
Mary Catherine says
September 23, 2014 at 7:02 pmYou’re awesome, Stephanie! Thank you!
Mary says
September 21, 2014 at 6:35 pmI just received my chickpeas and liquid water colors. I can’t believe how easy and fast it was. I cannot wait to use tomorrow in my class. Thanks so much for the great ideas. I think I could have used a 10 or 20 lb bag, tho!!!
Mary Catherine says
September 23, 2014 at 7:03 pmYes, I did consider getting a much bigger bag of chickpeas too! And it is SO easy to dye them!! I hope your class loves them. 🙂
JDaniel4's Mom says
September 27, 2014 at 8:43 amThank you so much for linking up to The Sunday Showcase last week. What fun!
Mary Catherine says
September 30, 2014 at 10:16 amWe definitely had a blast! 🙂
Robin Peralta says
October 2, 2018 at 4:01 amI cannot tell you how much my kids loved!!! playing with their tiny apples – pumpkins are next! What, I thought, would be a 15 minute activity turned into an hour+ of sorting and dramatic play (they tried counting, but lost interest after a few seconds). They loved the feel of the tiny fruits, the smell and the colors. By the time they had finished, they “made” pies, cupcakes and cakes. In the end, they threw them on the carpet, in our circle time area, and had a race to see who could pick up the most, the fastest. AWESOME!!!!! Thank you for sharing this. Not only did my children love them, but so did my fellow teachers and principal. They were wanting to know where I got such tiny, dried, fruit from.
Mary Catherine says
October 7, 2018 at 11:49 amThis is so awesome to hear, Robin! I can’t wait to hear what your kids think of this pumpkin activity!
Robin says
October 2, 2018 at 4:08 amThank you for posting this. So far, we have tried the tiny apples!!! – tiny pumpkins are next on the list. My children had such a great time with this activity. They loved the feel, smell and colors. It was great watching them pick which ones were their favorite. They weren’t terribly interested in counting; basically lost interest within seconds, however, for an activity, I thought, would take about 15 minutes, actually kept them busy for an hour+. They sorted, and sorted, then began baking in our dramatic play area. They made cupcakes, cakes and pies. Before it was all said and done, they dumped all of the tiny fruit onto the carpet in our circle time area, then had a race to see who could pick up the most in the fastest time. AWESOME activity, plus they made our entire room smell FANTASTIC!
Mary Catherine says
October 7, 2018 at 11:49 amOh my word, I love everything about your comment, Robin!!!! It makes me SO happy to hear others have the success I have had with an activity. Isn’t it amazing what captures kids’ attention and gets them playing and learning?! Thank you so much!