5 Pumpkin Themed Songs

I really do enjoy seasonal activities and lesson! Fall is one of my favourite season and I like to celebrate it with songs about fall things, including pumpkins! So here are my top five favourite songs about pumpkins that I have used with all my students from Kindergarten to Grade 6! 

Pumpkin, Pumpkin 
This pumpkin-themed song is actually a poem that my grade 3-6 students really enjoy. And I like It because the poem has 16th notes in it, making it a great to prep, introduce, or reinforce 16th note patterns 

If I am being honest, the main reason my older students like this poem is because of the game we play with it. At the end of October, I usually introduce crescendo and decrescendo, so with this poem we play a pumpkin hiding game that has the students practice speaking in crescendos and decrescendos. 

Here’s how to play the game

• You need a small pumpkin to play the game. I use ones from a table scatter pack but you could also print a small pumpkin
  
• When you’re ready to play choose 2 students, one will hide the pumpkin and the other will look for the pumpkin once it is hidden 
  
• Have the student who is going to be searching for the pumpkin hide their eyes or leave the classroom while the other student hides it
  
• When the “looker” comes in the class chants the poem as the student looks. As the student gets closer to the hidden pumpkin the student crescendo and as the student gets farther away the class decrescendos, essentially it is a game of hot and cold! 
  
• I will often give the seeker 2 times through the poem to find the pumpkin ​
  

Farmer Brown Has 5 Orange Pumpkins
I use this specifically with Kindergarten students because it helps them practice counting backwards, but after a while counting backwards and singing gets boring and so does counting backwards. So here are some extensions! 

• Have the students act it out: Choose one student to be farmer brown and 5 to be the pumpkins. Bring all the students up to the front to “perform.” As you sing the song, Farmer Brown “picks” a pumpkin eat time, once a student is picked they go sit down 
  
• Switch up the Farmer: Rather than having Farmer Brown choose the pumpkin switch out the farm with the names of your students. Put five pumpkins on the board and each time a pumpkin gets picked a different student comes up to pick the pumpkin. 
  
• Add Rhythms! If you want to do this song with older students add rhythms to the pumpkins. Then when a student chooses their pumpkin they need to clap the rhythm of the pumpkin to keep it
  

Pass the Pumpkin
This song and game is generally one that I play the most often with grade 1 and 2 students. The song is only sol and mi which is a focus in those grade levels. It reinforces keeping a steady beat and could be used for an introduction for quarter notes and eighth notes. 

Once you teach your students the song, it is time to play the game! To play the game you need a small pumpkin. I use the one for Jelly Cat, which my students love, but a small gourd would also work great! 

Ready to play the game, here’s how

• Have your students stand in a circle, before they start passing the pumpkin make sure you have had lots of practice keeping the steady beat to the song 
• As you sing the song, students pass around the pumpkin. Make sure that they are not rushing and passing to the beat
• When the music stops whoever is holding the pumpkin is out. I also play that if you drop the pumpkin you are out
• When students are out, they can just be out. But if you want something more productive for them do have them play the beat on instruments. 

Pro-tip- If you have students play the beat while the game is still being played the give them the most indestructible instruments, like rhythm sticks, because you will most likely need to supervise the game to ensure it is being played fairly

Pick a Pumpkin 
I stumbled upon this song while teaching preschool music, and it’s also great for kindergarten. It is from Rachel Rambach at Listen and Learn Music. The song has great opportunities for teacher-led movement and creative movement. We all know how important movement is for those little ones!

Check out the song here and you’ll know exactly what I am talking about!

Pick a Pumpkin- Rachel Rambach

Jack-o-lantern, Jack-o-lantern
This song is kind of a bonus because it is more for Halloween than pumpkins, but it’s great anyway! I got the inspiration for this song and singing game from one of my classroom teacher friends who changed Eric Carle’s Brown Brown, Brown Bear to a Halloween version

Here’s how it works! 

• Give each of your students a Halloween character card.
• You purchase print and go cards from my TPT store or make your own. 
• To start the game the class sings, Jack-o-lantern, Jack-o-lantern who do you see
• Then the person holding the Jack-o-lantern card chooses another character and sings what they see. For example, when they see the black cat, they would sing “I see the black cat looking at me”. Then the game continues with the student who is holding the black cat card.  
• The game goes on following the format of the book until all of the students have had a turn to sing 

This game is fantastic for students in grades 1 and 2 as it is all sung on sol, mi, and la and is great practice for solo singing. After we play the game a few times, my students like set a timer and see how fast they can complete the game. However, I always give the caveat that if someone doesn’t use a singing voice I add 5 seconds to their time!  

Enjoy! 
Jayna

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