This Pumpkin Sensory Bag is a fun way to teach your kids some math skills this Fall / Autumn. There’s no better way to channel your toddler’s energy into learning than with some educational sensory bag ideas like this.
Learn how to make your own, and about the three different ways you can make it more challenging, depending on if you have toddlers or preschoolers at home.
Disclosure: Adult supervision is required for all activities at all times.
Preschoolers and kindergarteners are going to love the Fall Activity Pack. It’s filled with educational print and pay activities that teach kids essential skills through play.
Table of Contents
Materials Needed
- Paper
- Colored pens
- Ziplock bag
- Clear hair gel
- Orange food coloring
- Pumpkin seeds
How to Make a Pumpkin Sensory Bag
1. Draw your pumpkin
Draw a basic outline of a pumpkin on your sheet of paper.
Then write the numbers 1 – 10 inside the pumpkin.
2. Place the gel in the bag
Squirt a small amount of hair gel into your plastic bag. If you don’t have any hair gel, don’t worry, you can still do this activity with plain water instead.
3. Make the gel orange
Place a few drops of orange food coloring into the bag, and mix it until the hair gel is now an orange color.
4. Add in some pumpkin seeds
I added 10 pumpkin seeds into my bag, one for each number. However, there are different math activities that you’ll be able to do with this sensory bag. So if you decide to practice a different skill then you can add more seeds.
I explain more about the different ways you can play below.
5. Place the bag over your picture
Make sure that the bag is sealed shut and then place it on top of your pumpkin picture.
6. Enjoy playing
Now you can encourage your kids to push the seeds around the bag, placing them on top of the different numbers in the pumpkin.
How to Play
1. Cover the Number
Simply push a pumpkin seed until it covers one of the numbers inside the pumpkin. This is the most simple version of this activity and is perfect for older babies and young toddlers.
2. Match the Number
To do this activity, you will still need 10 pumpkin seeds. However, you’ll need to use a permanent marker to write the numbers 1 – 10 on top of each seed before you place them in the bag.
Then, encourage your kids to match the correct number seeds to the same number written on the pumpkin. For example, the seed with the number 3 written on it, needs to be pushed until it covers the number 3 written on the paper.
3. Count the Number
For this activity you’ll need to divide your pumpkin up into ten sections (like in the picture above). Then you’ll need to push the same number of pumpkin seeds into each section. For example, you will need to place four seeds into the section of the pumpkin that has the number “4” written in the middle. Section 5 will need five seeds. Section 7 will need seven seeds, and so on and so forth.
If you are going to try this version of the pumpkin sensory bag, you’ll need a lot more seeds (55 in total). So I recommend trying this version with a large bag (like an A4 size), instead of a regular sandwich sized bag.
What You’re Learning
Sensory
Sensory bags are a great way to give young children a sensory experience (they also have the added bonus of having a low mess level). Sensory exploration has an enormous positive impact on children’s brain development, helping to fully integrate the information that your child’s senses are processing in a meaningful way.
If you want to make this activity purely sensory, and not worry about the math part, then make a sensory bag using the insides of a pumpkin. The pumpkin guts from a real pumpkin are still squishy and have seeds, but they have added stringy sections that the kids will enjoy exploring.
If you want more easy ways to help with sensory development, then check out these Sensory Activities for Kids.
Fine Motor Skills
Fine motor skills refer to the muscles in the hands and fingers. These skills are essential for helping toddlers and preschoolers become more independent. Feeding themselves, dressing themselves, and finally getting ready to write and draw, all require fine motor skills.
Pushing the pumpkin seeds around looks easy, but it requires hand-eye coordination and strength. Which can be surprisingly tricky for little hands.
Math
Counting – practice counting from 1 -10. This is perfect for little children who are just starting to count.
Number Recognition – matching the numbers helps curious kids with number recognition
One-to-one correspondence – this skill means to count everything in a group once, and only once, while also not skipping over any of the items. It’s an important math skill that is developed in the early years.
Number – Numeral matching – if you decide to try the “count the number” option mentioned above, then your kids will also practice matching the written number to the number of items that it represents.
More Fall Themed Sensory Activities to try
If you’ve got a curious toddler at home this Fall season, then try some of these other Fall theme sensory activity ideas. There are so many creative ways to play, and your kids will have so much fun with these great ideas.
- Sunflower Sensory Bin
- Apple tree sensory bin
- Rainbow oats sensory bin for fall
- Seek ‘n Find Fall Sensory Bin
- Fall Sensory Bottle
For more ideas, check out this list of Fall Sensory Activities.
Are you going to try this pumpkin sensory bag with your kids?
Don’t forget to pin the idea for later.
Print the craft card
Pumpkin Sensory Bag
This Pumpkin Sensory Bag is a fun way to teach your kids some math skills this Fall / Autumn. There's no better way to channel your toddler's energy into learning than with some educational sensory bag ideas like this.
Materials
- Paper
- Colored pens
- Ziplock bag
- Clear hair gel
- Orange food coloring
- Pumpkin seeds
Instructions
- Draw the pumpin on a sheet of paper.
- Write the numbers 1 - 10 inside the pumpkin.
- Place a small amount of hair gel in the bag
- Add in some orange food coloring and mix it until your gel is orange.
- Add in 10 pumpkin seeds
- Sueeze as much air out of the bag as possible, seal the bag and place it over the pumpkin picture.
- Push each of the pumpkin seeds until it covers one of the numbers written on the pumpkin.
Notes
You can also write the numbers 1 - 10 on each of the pumpkins seeds before you add them to the bag. Then this will turn into a number matching activity. For example, the kids will need to place the number "9" seed over the number 9 written on the pumpkin.
