# Puzzle on a Pumpkin
> Carve simple geometric shapes out of a small pumpkin, add a toothpick handle to each cut-out piece, and let kids fit the shapes back into their holes. It's a Halloween shape-matching puzzle that builds fine motor skills.
- URL: https://www.funlittles.com/puzzle-on-a-pumpkin/
- Ages: 2–5 yrs · Difficulty: medium · Mess: low
- Time: prep 35 min, activity 15 min
- Works for: one-on-one, small group · one batch serves about 1 kids
- Skills: shapes, sorting, fine-motor
- Cautions: ingestion-risk

## Materials (one batch)
- 1 piece Small pumpkin
- 1 piece Marker (household)
- Toothpicks (household)
- 1 piece Carving knife (household)
- 1 piece Spoon for scooping (household)

## Substitutions
- Instead of toothpicks: Craft sticks or longer, blunter sticks (Photo 06 appears to show a craft stick and longer white sticks on some pieces. These are a less pointy handle for toddlers.)

## Safety
- Adult does all cutting and carving with the knife, away from the kids.
- Toothpicks are sharp and small. Supervise closely, especially with toddlers, and count them back in after play.
- Small pumpkin pieces and toothpicks can be mouthed or swallowed, so keep an eye on young children who still put things in their mouths.

## Before you start
- Carve the pumpkin puzzles before the kids arrive. TurkeyMom carved hers while her preschooler was at school so it would be a surprise.
- Attach a toothpick handle to every cut-out piece.

## Steps
1. Draw a few simple shapes on the pumpkin with a marker, or let an older child draw them.
2. Adult: cut out each shape along the marker lines.
3. Adult: scoop out the flesh and seeds through the holes.
4. Stick a toothpick into each cut-out shape to make a puzzle piece.
5. Give the child the pumpkin and the pieces and ask, "Can you fix the pieces?"
6. Match each shape to its hole and push it back into place.
7. Name the shapes together as each piece goes back in.

## Tips
- This could be a very engaging activity for toddlers because the pieces are large enough for them to handle and easy enough that they don't get frustrated pretty quick.
- For preschoolers, make it more challenging with more pieces and more complex shapes.
- Want to be more hands on? Have your older child draw the shapes on the pumpkins. Kids jump on any chance to write on a surface other than plain old white paper.
- Got extra pumpkins from shopping trips sitting and drying away? Convert them to learning material.

## The original post by TurkeyMom (2012)

Halloween activities for kids : Make a simple pumpkin puzzle While Big S, a preschooler was the one who enjoyed this activity, this pumpkin puzzle could be a perfect Halloween activity for toddlers. This season, we have done numerous Halloween crafts, pumpkin decorations and plenty of Halloween Activities. So to change things a little bit, not a lot we decided to do a learning game with pumpkins. As you might have seen we are on a math kick lately, here we have a geometric shapes pumpkin puzzle. Every visit to the farmers market or the grocery stores turn into a pumpkin purchase trip. To keep them busy and behaved in the shopping cart I give into the “I-just-want-to-hold-them” fiesta and it did not go as I had planned. So we have a few more pumpkins.. Since we have all these extra pumpkins sitting and drying away, I thought, it would be fun to convert them to learning material. When Big S was away at school, I carved out shapes and scooped out the flesh and was ready to surprise her with a “Puzzle on a Pumpkin” Halloween activity.

- Pumpkins
- Markers ( draw shapes)
- Toothpick

Draw the desired shapes on the pumpkin and cut/curve out the shapes and scoop out the flesh and seeds. On that note, if you want to be more hands on, you could also have your older child draw shapes on the pumpkins. I'm sure kids would jump on any opportunity to write on any surface other than plain old white paper. Letting the kids draw/write on pumpkin is a sure way to get them interested in writing be it letters, numbers of even doodling.



 Attach a toothpick to the shapes and that’s your puzzle piece.

 You are all set with a fun Halloween activity now. Get ready to play Pumpkin puzzle ! This could be a very engaging Halloween activity for toddlers because the pieces are large enough for them to handle and easy enough that they don't get frustrated pretty quick. If playing with pre schoolers, you could easily adapt the activity and make it more challenging with more pieces and complex shapes.



 Big S loved every second of it and now cant wait to go shopping to buy more pumpkins to create more puzzles. What did I do now?

- Shapes
- Sorting shapes
- Fine motor practice with toothpicks

UPDATE: Just saw that The Chocolate Muffin Tree did this for last Halloween. It is funny how ideas overlap so often :)

For more Halloween activities visit our category page

Happy Halloween

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