Center Focus

Moldy Pumpkins

  1. You will need to provide 3 pumpkins for this activity; one should be whole, one with the top cut open, and one carved. Try to get pumpkins of similar size.
  2. Have your kids predict which pumpkin will start to decay and get moldy first. They should record their prediction along with their reasoning why. Have them also estimate the actual number of days they expect each pumpkin to take until it begins to decay.
  3. As an ongoing activity, have your kids make scientific observations of all three pumpkins each day. They can make a pumpkin notebook or packet for their data.
  4. They should make conclusions at the end of the experiment in order to evaluate their original hypothesis.
  5. Discuss the results when this experiment is over.