These easy kindergarten and preschool Halloween pumpkin rubbings delight children as the Jack O Lantern faces magically appear on their papers. Reinforce math vocabulary as the children work, pointing out the circular eyes and triangular noses.
When all the children have completed a rubbing or two, have them choose one to tape onto a “happy” or “sad” graph like the one below. Finish up with a pumpkin tally (see bottom of page).
Download and cut out the instructions and tracers here or create your own cut outs for more expressive faces. Follow the materials and procedures lists on the download.
Happy and Sad Graph
After the children choose a pumpkin to tape to the graph, use terms such as more than and fewer than to compare the number of pumpkin rubbings.
Count the number of happy faces, the number of sad faces and the number of pumpkins all together. Count eyes and noses as well! If your students are ready, have them count the eyes by twos.
Halloween Pumpkin Tally Fun
- Children draw two pumpkin shapes on a piece of paper, then ask 10 friends whether they like the happy Jack O Lanterns or the sad Jack O Lanterns the best.
- They record tally marks below their pumpkin shapes
- After the children count the tally marks and print the numbers.