That is a question kids love to experiment with to answer, whether it’s toy blocks, boats, or just odds and ends from around the house, kids everywhere enjoy putting things in water to see what will happen.  

This week we decided to answer the question:  Will a pumpkin sink or float?

This is a super easy pumpkin STEM activity you can do at home.

Pumpkin activities like this one are perfect for fall.  

If you are looking for more fun STEM activities for fall, your child will love this apple wrecking ball challenge.   

Will a Pumpkin Sink or Float

We took our pumpkin to the pond for the first part of our experiment.  You could also use a large basin of water, the kitchen sink, or the bathtub, depending on the size of your pumpkin.

Before tossing in the pumpkin, have your child carefully examine it.  Discuss the pumpkin’s shape, size, and weight.

Then ask your child to form a hypothesis (an educated guess) as to what will happen.   

Will a pumpkin float or sink in the water?

Both of my children decided the pumpkin would sink.   It was a pretty heavy little pumpkin, after all!

We gently placed the pumpkin into the water.  (Read that as my daughter had fun tossing that little squash into the pond and seeing the big splash it made.)

Both kids were surprised by the results.

Pumpkins float!

Now that we had one question answered, it was time to get our hands messy and investigate further.

Why Do Pumpkins Float

Just why did it float?  

And, do pumpkin seeds float or would they sink?

It’s time to explore that squash a bit further. 

Carefully cut it open.  What do you see inside? 

It’s easy to observe that the squash is not completely solid inside.  

The pulp and pumpkin seeds have plenty of space around them that is full of air.

All that space and air inside helps the pumpkin stay afloat.  

In order for a pumpkin to float, it has to displace the amount of water equal in weight to the pumpkin.  All the air inside helps that happen. 

Set the pumpkin aside to use it for a pumpkin volcano later.

Do Seeds Float or Sink

What about the squash’s insides?  Will the pulp and seeds float?  

Have your child place some of the pulp and seeds in a small bowl of water to find out. 

The pumpkin seeds float.   Pumpkin seeds are flat, which helps them displace enough water to float.  

But that doesn’t mean all seeds will float.  

You can teake the experiment further by testing seeds from other fruits you may have.  

Try the experiment with an apple instead.   If you’ve ever been bobbing for apples before, you know the apple will float.  

But what about the seeds?

They will actually sink because their round shape does not displace enough water.  Check it out!

Want to experiment more with sinking and floating?

• Plastic Egg Submarine Experiment 
• STEM Challenge: Build a Boat That Floats

And for more pumpkin fun:

• Hammering Nails in Pumpkins
• How to Make a Pumpkin Pulley

The post Do Pumpkins Sink or Float? first appeared on There's Just One Mommy.

And when it comes to an apple unit, this apple pie recipe for kids is sure to be a big hit. 

Cooking with kids is a fun way to work on math skills and following directions.

You’ll also want to check out this simple homemade butter recipe to try! 

Apple Pie Recipe for Kids

Ingredients:

• 6 large Granny Smith apples
• pre-made pie crust  (or make your own)
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspooon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 tablespoons butter
• milk, cinnamon, and sugar (for crust top)

How to Bake a Homemade Apple Pie

1.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

2.  Place bottom crust into pie pan.

3.  Peel and cut 6 large Granny Smith apples.  (When working with kids, peel the apples first and cut them into thick slices.  This makes it easier for them to then cut the apple slices into cubes.)

4.  Mix 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, 3/4 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg, 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice, and 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves.   (Lots of great measuring opportunities for the kids here!)

5.  Carefully toss the flour and spice mixture with the apples, making sure each apple is coated.

6.  Pour apple mixture into bottom pie crust.

7.  Top apples with 2 tablespoons of butter, cut into small pieces.

8.  Fit top crust over apple mixture and press crust edges together to seal.  We used mini play dough cutters to cut some cute shapes into our top crust first!  If you don’t do this, then make sure you cut slits in the top crust to create steam vents.

9.  Brush the top crust with milk.  (At this point we opted to shake a  mixture of cinnamon and sugar on the top.  Kids LOVE to shake ingredients!)

10.  Bake 40-45 minutes.  The pie should be golden and the apples fork tender when finished.

The hardest part is waiting for it to bake!  (And to cool off afterwards!)  We used the time to clean up the kitchen, always an important step in baking, and then to run some energy off outside on the swings.

Baking apple pie with the kids was a perfect (and sweet) way to end our apple unit.

You may also like:

• Apple-Themed Skip Counting Activity 
• Easy to Make Apple-Scented Bubble Dough 

The post Baking with Kids: Simple Apple Pie Recipe first appeared on There's Just One Mommy.

Along with reading plenty of fun apple picture books, we’ve enjoyed a variety of apple activities for kids, including plenty of fun math and science.  

After a recent trip to the grocer we headed home for a bit of delicious apple tasting activity.

We all agreed, this fun apple sensory activity was the most delicious one yet.  

Apple Tasting Activity 

To do your own apple tasting activity, you will want a variety of fresh apples.   Try Honey Crisp, Gala, Granny Smith, and Red Delicious, to name just a few.  

Start by looking at the different varieties and discussing their different colors and sizes.  

Have your child make a hypothesis about which apple will be the sweetest, the most tart, and which will be the crunchiest.  If you want to get serious, have your child write down their guesses so you can compare them later to your results.  

Next, carefully use a knife to slice into your first apple.  Place your apple pieces into a bowl and use a small notecard to label the bowl so you know which apple variety it is.  

Do this with each of your apples.  

Now for the fun part… Time to sample all the apples!

As you taste each apple, ask your child to describe it.  

• What color is it?  Red?  Light green?  Pink? 
• Is it sweet?  Tart?
• Is it very crunchy?  A little soft?  
• How does it smell?  

While your child describes the apples, write down their answers.  (For older children you can have them record the results all on their own.)

You can stop there, and see how close your child’s earlier hypothesis was about which would be the crunchiest, sweetest, etc.  

Or, take your apple sensory activity a bit further and choose two to compare in a Venn diagram.  

Simply draw two large circles that overlap on paper or a white board.  You can also find pre-made Venn diagrams online you can print out.

Choose two apples to compare, and label each circle with one type of apple.  

Then write down words that describe each apple in the correct circle.  Things the apples have in common go in the middle.

We compared Granny Smith and Red Delicious apples.   My first grader was able to use our descriptions we had written down earlier to fill in her chart.  

We had so much fun with this simple apple tasting activity.  It’s definitely one of our favorite fall sensory activities.  

More apple activities:

• Apple Stamping Craft
• Apple-Themed CVC/Sight Word Game
• Baking with Kids: Apple Pie Recipe

The post Apple Tasting first appeared on There's Just One Mommy.

When it comes reading, sight words and CVC words are some of the first words kids learn to read.

Help your beginning reader work on those CVC and  sight words with this easy to set up apple-themed sight word game!   It may become your new favorite way to work on sight words at home.

This simple activity is fun if you are doing an apple unit full of fun apple activities for kids.    It would also work as a stand alone sight word game.  

Apple-themed sight word scavenger hunt

To create the “apples” for our CVC word game I used some of the plastic balls we had left from the little ball pit we had when the kids were younger.

Red, yellow, and green balls make great “apples.”  On each of these I wrote a CVC word with “a” as the vowel in the middle.  (This week we are working on the short “a” sound.)  You can use any CVC words (consonant-vowel-consonant) or sight words your child needs to work on.

To play the CVC word game:

To play the game hide your apples around the house, much like an Easter egg hunt.

Allow your child to hunt for and collect the apples.  In order to keep their apples they must correctly read the word written on each apple.  How many apples can they collect and keep?

Other posts you may like:

• Apple-Themed Skip Counting
• Apple-themed Pom-Pom Activities

Check out our co-authored books:

ABC’s & 123’s 

Up!

Make Your Mark

The post Apple-Themed CVC and Sight Word Game first appeared on There's Just One Mommy.

Apple-themed activities seem to flourish at the start of the school year.

Whether you are looling for ideas for an apple unit at school or homeschool, or you just want a few fun learning activities for fall, there are plenty of fun apple activities for kids to choose from.  

We had fun with our own apple unit in homeschool, starting with a few preschool apple math activities using pom-poms.

We used red, yellow, and green pom-poms to represent apples for these fun apple unit activities.

For more math fun, check out our apple skip counting activity. 

Apple Math Activities

Sorting:  Sort the “apples” into baskets by color.  You could also do size if you have different sized pom-poms.  (Our baskets are empty yogurt containers that have been washed and dried.)

Patterns:  Use the pom-pom apples to work on patterns.   You can challenge your child to create their own patterns or give them a type of pattern you want created (such as a simple AB pattern or an AAB pattern).

For younger students you might want to start a pattern and then ask them which color would come next in the pattern you created.

One-To-One Correspondence:  Work on one to one correspondence with the pom-poms as you count.   Line up the pom-poms and show your child how to point to each “apple” as you count.

Counting:  Ask your child to count out a specific number of apples.  I created simple construction paper apples and wrote different numbers on them for my kindergartner to then count out that many apples.

Addition and Subtraction:  Use the pom-pom apples as manipulatives to work on adding and subtracting skills.  

You could use the pom-poms to help your child work on addition or subtraction problems on pre-made math worksheets.  Or you could create your own math problems to work on together.  (If I have 5 red apples and I add 4 green apples, how many apples do I have total?)

You may also like:

• Apple Themed Preschool Ideas from Teaching 2 & 3 Year Olds
• Apple Stamping Activity 
• Work on early subtraction skills with Subtraction Squish
• 15 Fun Ways to Work on Sight Words at Home
• Easy to Make Apple-Scented Bubble Dough 

The post Apple-Themed Math Activities Using Pom-Poms first appeared on There's Just One Mommy.

Fun and easy Thanksgiving crafts to the rescue!

This simple paper cup turkey craft makes a cute centerpiece  that is sure to make the grandparents smile.

This craft is simple enough that even young toddlers can get in on the crafting fun.

Paper Cup Turkey Craft

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Materials Needed:

• Paper Cup
• Google Eyes
• Craft Glue
• Construction Paper 

For toddlers and early preschoolers, you may want to have all the construction paper pieces cut out ahead of time.

For older preschoolers and kindergartners consider drawing the shapes out ahead of time.  Then have your child cut the pieces out.  Craft time is a great opportunity to work on scissor skills!

Use colorful construction paper to make 5 or more feathers for each turkey.  Ours our football shaped, and about the length of the cup we used.

Cut a diamond from orange construction paper and fold it in half to form the turkey’s beak.

Use red construction paper to create a wiggly waddle.

(Optional) Cut wings from construction paper as well.

Once you have all the pieces cut out, have your child turn the paper cup upside down and glue the feathers into place on the back of the cup.

Then they can glue on  on the eyes, beak, waddle, and wings.

We plan on using our paper cup turkeys as a Thanksgiving centerpiece.  They would also make cute place cards just by writing each guest’s name on the cup.

You may also like these posts:

• Preschool Turkey Craft  —  Perfect for preschoolers and kindergartners, improve fine motor skills with this simple craft.  
• Hand and Footprint Turkey  —  If you love handprint crafts, you’ll love this cute little turkey.  
• 50 of the Best Apple Activities for Kids  —  A collection of the best apple crafts and activities from around the web for you and your child to enjoy together.

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