I have made a set of pumpkin themed math mats for children to practice counting and number recognition.  I printed the patterns on cardstock paper ... cut them out and then laminated them.

We used pumpkin seeds as our counters but you can also use other items such as pom poms ... playdough balls ... and clothespins.  This activity is also great for developing fine motor skills which if you are a follow of my blog you know I love to work on!! ​

You can download the patterns below:

pumpkin math maths

I really love colored pumpkin seeds. They are so easy to make and you can do so many things with them such as sorting ... counting ... graphing ... and art activities.

To make the colored pumpkin seeds you will need:

clean dry pumpkin seeds
1/2 -2/3 cup warm water per color
1 tablespoon of vinegar per color
food coloring

For each color of pumpkins seeds you want to make you will place the warm water in a cup and then add the vinegar. Add you food color of choice and mix. Pour in dried pumpkin seeds and stir. The longer you leave the pumpkin seeds in the food color mixture the darker the color will be. We let ours stay in for a couple of ours and stirred them a few times.

When the pumpkin seeds have reached the desired color scoop them out with fork and place on a cookie sheet that has been lined with paper towels. After a couple of hours you can place the pumpkin seeds on a wax paper lined cookie sheet or tray. Dry for 24 hours (could be less or more time depending upon the temperature of the air).

You can see a video of the colored pumpkin seeds by clicking below:

I made another math center activity for our pumpkin theme.  I colored fiori pasta orange with liquid water color and let it dry.  I printed the pumpkin mat on cardstock  paper and laminated it.  I then set the pasta out in a bowl with the mat and asked the children to put twenty pieces of pasta on each pumpkin.  You can choose whatever number you like for the children to count and for younger children they can just fill the pumpkin with pasta for a great fine motor work out.

You can see a video of this activity by clicking below: