With autumn and Halloween quickly approaching, it’s time to celebrate the fun of pumpkins and free fall printables! These pumpkin color recognition and activity booklets are kid- and teacher-approved. They’re a perfect addition to the rest of your fall activities for preschoolers.
Don’t miss grabbing the free printable booklet at the end of the post! We also include lots of ideas for how to use it in alternate ways.
Free Fall Printables
This pumpkin colors booklet, and accompanying class book, is the perfect thematic way to teach color recognition to preschoolers and kindergarteners. They’re also practicing color sorting and counting while working on emergent reading skills. With just one printable, children can color, read, and practice several math skills all while enjoying a favorite topic…pumpkins!
Before I handed out the individual pumpkin books to my class, we sat down to read a large, full-color version of it together. Then I left the large book out in the classroom for them to use as a reference later. The kids were completely drawn in by the book and took it much further than I’d planned! I was amazed at how many child-led learning activities resulted simply from having it around.
Frequently Asked Questions about Teaching Colors to Preschoolers
The best way to teach colors to toddlers, (or to teach ANYTHING to toddlers,) is to keep it fun and simple! You can start with a game like “I-Spy,” where you point to something that is red and say, “This is red! What can you spy that is red?”
Or you can involve their whole body (and work on their gross motor skills at the same time) in a color hunt. Ask them to run, hop, or crawl to an object of a certain color. We have lots more creative ideas and free printables in our post about 6 ways to teach colors to toddlers.
There are so many fun ways to include colors in your lesson plans! Try matching colors, go on scavenger hunts, or make color collections. Create rainbows using random items from around the house. Have color days, where you dress in that color and and only eat snack foods that are that color.
We have some free preschool lesson plans that teach colors in fun, hands-on ways and are perfect for both at home or in the classroom.
There are tons of activities you can use to teach colors, including thematic activities to match the current season! Check out these rainbow snowmen for winter and rainbow shamrocks for spring. Or this rainbow invitation to play is perfect all year! There are lots of fun rainbow art projects that reinforce all the colors, too.
Making a Pumpkin Colors Emergent Reader
Materials for the Pumpkin Color Book
- free printable pumpkin colors booklet (grab it at the end of the post!)
- yarn
- markers or crayons
- color counters (for optional math extension)
Making the Pumpkin Early Reader Booklet
I wanted the biggest pumpkin book to hold up over time, so I printed out each page full size and in color at my local print shop. I also laminated the pages for extra durability. The book was assembled by hole punching the pages and tying the whole thing together with some yarn.
The individual books are meant to be colored in, so I printed those in black and white and two to a page. I cut the pages in half, organized them into rainbow order, and then stapled them to make a booklet.
Reading the Colors Book
After we read the large book together as a class, I presented each student with their own book and a set of markers. They quickly got to work coloring in the pumpkins.
While I was available to help, should they ask, the class quickly figured out that they could use the big class version of the book as a reference. Most of them can’t read color words yet, but they can match many words by the way they look and their beginning letter.
That’s the strategy many of them used here. When they turned to a new page in their booklet, they looked for the same page in the big book. They knew they had found the matching page when they saw that the words matched.
After coloring came my favorite part – reading the books! Because of the repetitive text, the book is predictable, making it easy for young readers to “read” to themselves or out loud. I pulled many students aside and had them read their books to me.
The class was so proud of their books and excited to read them! Because of the predictable text, it felt like they really were reading, which was so encouraging to them!
More Fall Activities for Preschoolers
Additional Activities with the Free Fall Printable
That was the end of my pumpkin book plans, but as often happens, the kids were so excited about the color books that we came up with so many uses for it! I love it when learning is child-led and just naturally flows.
Using a set of color counters, we practiced some color matching and sorting activities using the full color big book. As a result of many activities like this one, many students counted the “pumpkins” (counters) as they placed them on the pumpkin in the book. You could easily add dice and transform it into a counting activity, or get creative and use real pumpkin seeds instead of counters!
Others chose to use the laminated pages as playdough mats, and smooshed in the correct color of playdough to cover the pumpkin. Playdough is always a staple in my classroom and home!
It seems like most preschoolers love fall and all its fun activities, and my kids absolutely adored these pumpkin emergent readers! We’ll be pulling them out several times during the season for math and literacy practice.
And of course, you can push those counters into the playdough, too. This can be extra color matching practice, fine motor practice, and counting, too!
Favorite Pumpkin Themed Books
This fall pumpkin printable is a natural tie in to other pumpkin picture books! We love reading one or two a day during a pumpkin theme, or scattered throughout the fall season. Seeing them all on my shelf always makes me feel like I’m sitting in a pumpkin patch!
Free Fall Printable Pumpkin Colors Book Here
If you would like these free fall printables, you can download them by filling out the form below and the pdf will be sent right to your inbox. You can print and use these pumpkin color booklets in your classroom today!
Related
Looking for more fall printables and activities?
Be sure to check out all these other brilliant fall activities!
From left to right:
Halloween Words // The Pleasantest Thing
Fall Leaves In and Out Activity // Still Playing School
Pumpkin Alphabet Puzzles // Modern Preschool
Sunflower Playdough Mats for the Numbers 1-10 // Life Over Cs
Fall Leaves Quiet Book // Teach My Mommy
Pumpkin Count and Clip Cards // Playdough to Plato
Apple Fine Motor Play // Adventures of Adam
Free Fall Themed Mazes // Powerful Mothering
Free Pumpkin Colors Booklet // Stay At Home Educator
Fall Nature I Spy Bottle // Mama. Papa. Bubba.
Fall Alphabet // Preschool Inspirations
Fine Motor Spider // Coffee Cups and Crayons
Pete the Cat Pumpkin (no longer available) // Think Magnet
Fall Interactive Book // Liz’s Early Learning Spot
Free Pumpkin Number Mats (no longer available) // The Kindergarten Connection
Fall Playdough Busy Bag // Frogs Snails and Puppy Dog Tails
Counting with Acorns // Play and Learn Everyday
I’m Sarah, an educator turned stay-at-home-mama of five! I’m the owner and creator of Stay At Home Educator, a website about intentional teaching and purposeful learning in the early childhood years. I’ve taught a range of levels, from preschool to college and a little bit of everything in between. Right now my focus is teaching my children and running a preschool from my home. Credentials include: Bachelors in Art, Masters in Curriculum and Instruction.
Where is the link for the printables? I don’t see it….
Um, I’m feeling kinda’ silly…I forgot to add the link. I’ve corrected that now. They are under the heading “Fall Free Printables.” Sorry.
No worries! Thank you for adding it. 🙂