Fall Jack-O-Lantern Preschool Activity (Book Inspired)

This fall jack-o-lantern preschool activity is so much fun! It’s also a great way to help young children learn about big emotions and how to manage them.

This simple learning activity was created based on one of our favorite pumpkin-themed fall books: It’s Pumpkin Day, Mouse! by Laura Numeroff. It’s a classic story that is well-loved in my home daycare. All my daycare kids, plus even my school-aged daughter, love this sweet book. 

Scroll down to see how we made this jack-o-lantern preschool activity and how your kids can make their own pumpkin faces while learning about emotions!

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I have always loved pumpkins and fall crafts so there’s no shortage of them at our house. Fall activities take over this time of year. We have so many favorite fall books for toddlers but the one that the kids always keep coming back to over and over is It’s Pumpkin Day, Mouse! by Laura Numeroff. They LOVE it. It’s become one of those books that is a fall staple in our library. If you don’t have it I highly recommend that you pick up a copy, especially if you have toddlers and preschoolers in your home. Since it’s getting so much use I decided to turn it into an interactive fall activity!

Fall Jack-O-Lantern Preschool Activity

While our version in a colored and laminated version (that works super well on the light table!) I think this would also be a really great felt board idea!  I really like felt activities but I never get around to actually doing as many as I think I will. Instead, I usually end up with laminated activities the kids use at the table or on our light table. I think it may be because I have a slight obsession with my laminator. Ha!

Materials:

• It’s Pumpkin Day, Mouse! book by Laura Numeroff
• Paper
• Crayons/Markers
• Laminator
• Light Table (optional)

For this activity, I literally just traced out a pumpkin template and the face elements. My 1st grader colored the pumpkin while I finished the face pieces. I’m sure you could easily find a free template with a simple Google search if you feel more comfortable. Once I was done I laminated them so that they would last longer with my toddlers and younger preschoolers.

For our Jack O’Lantern faces I just used the book as a guide for what pumpkin faces to make. Happy, sad, mad, surprised, scary… you can make whatever pumpkin face options you want but we stuck to what was in the book since this was a book connected activity.

I set this fall activity invitation out on the table and after nap time the kids could use it as they wanted. They were so excited to see their favorite book come to life.

Making all these faces is a great time to talk about emotions. After we make each face we discuss the emotions behind it. Like, What does happiness mean? What things make us happy? What does it feel like to be sad? How does our body feel? What can we do to make ourselves feel better? 

This activity is a fun fall version of our Emotion Story Stones, where kids can build faces and talk about emotions.

This didn’t actually start out as a light table activity but in the end, it ended up that way. It’s usually where a lot of our activities end up so I’m not surprised the kids moved their pumpkin faces over to the light table.

The sad pumpkin is my daughter’s favorite, she always pretends to cry and then says “it’s OK, pumkin! It’s ok!” We’ve used this as an opportunity to think of ways to make ourselves feel better when we are feeling bad. 

Give this fall jack-0-lantern preschool activity a try! And if you haven’t read this book yet I highly recommend it! It’s on our list of the most fabulous fall books for toddlers! Grab your copy today or check it out from your library! Your toddlers and preschoolers will love it!

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