Monday, September 27, 2010

Pumpkin Math

I'm always amazed at the amount of math mileage there is in a pumpkin. I've already mentioned weighing it...

...measuring it...


...and counting the seeds, after rinsing them off, and laying them out to dry (except for our roasting seeds, which were rinsed, and counted wet, and then prepared for roasting).


When it comes to counting the seeds, the possibilities are, again, endless.

Encouraged by Margaret McNara's How Many Seeds In a Pumpkin (which I mentioned in our Sunday Science post), the children chose to count our seeds by arranging them into piles of ten.

This, of course, allowed the children to practice counting by 10's. But, they also counted by 2's to 10, for each pile.

They learned, it's easier to count the piles of 10, if they are arranged in straight, even rows, instead of random piles.

And, it's even easier to count them, if the piles of 10 are lined up into rows of 10, making 100 seeds in each row.


This was great for the older children, but dealing with over 1000 seeds (from two pumpkins) was overwhelming for my 4 year. So for her, I went with an idea from Dr. Jean's Pumpkin Page, for pumpkin seed counters...


...that she could put into order, and place the proper number of seeds onto.


Then, E (age 5), could turn them over, to find a corresponding addition problem, to use with the same number of seeds.


There's so much more, I hope to do with these seeds, yet. And, I haven't even touched on all the fractions, and story problems, associated with cutting, and cooking up the pumpkins. But for now, I'm off on a search for pumpkin recipes.

There's more math fun to be had though, at this week's Math Monday link-up, hosted by Joyful Learner.




It's great to be a homeschooler.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a fun way to do math!

Ticia said...

You do so good at coming up with different skills for your different ages of kids. I have to admit I often treat Princess like she is 5 like her brothers.

Debbie said...

I like how you broke it down for your younger child. I love the concept behind it as well. You do such a great job of making sure everyone is able to be involved while staying at the level they are at.

Christy Killoran said...

I love everything you did. I agree with Ticia and Debbie. I also tend to treat R like she is six just like C when she is only 4 1/2.

I have this pumpkin soup in the crockpot right now: http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/10/day-299.html

I also recommend these pumpkin squares: http://superheroesandprincesses.blogspot.com/2009/10/simply-made-sunday-pumpkin-squares.html
They are SOOOOOO good!!!!!!!

I love anything made with pumpkin.

An Almost Unschooling Mom said...

Christy - Thanks! I'll check those out :)

Unknown said...

Oh, your pumpkin science and math has gotten me in a fall mood- thank you, thank you, thank you!

Joyful Learner said...

Now, I can't wait to cut open a pumpkin! I love everything you did as well. Last year, I asked kids of all ages (even adults) whether they thought the pumpkin would float. Many were surprised to discover that it does! And don't forget to measure the circumference of the pumpkin. You are right. There are endless things you can do with a pumpkin!

Phyllis said...

What wonderful math projects that are fun and cover a wide age range! You are brilliant!

Natalie PlanetSmarty said...

So many wonderful ideas, and I like how you modified seed counting for your two youngest. You definitely had a lot of fun with pumpkin math.

Anonymous said...

such amazing ideas! we are getting our pumpkins soon so I will have to keep these in mind.
Thanks for sharing.

Joyful Learner said...

Can we use your 100 seeds for 100 day celebration?

An Almost Unschooling Mom said...

Joyful Learner - Yes, definitely!