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Halloween Boat STEM Challenge

a kid putting pumpkin seeds in a hollowed out pumpkin in water
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This Halloween boat STEM challenge uses mini pumpkins as boats! A fun, hands-on engineering activity perfect for fall science exploration.

Materials

  • Small pumpkins
  • Black marker
  • Shallow bin or large container
  • Water
  • Construction paper
  • Bamboo skewers

Instructions

  1. Prepare the pumpkins: Carefully cut the tops off the mini pumpkins and scoop out the seeds and pulp, leaving a pumpkin shell.
  2. Create the sails: Cut small triangle or curved sail shapes from black construction paper.
  3. Attach the sails: Carefully poke a bamboo skewer through each paper sail to create a little mast. Add the sail to the pumpkin boat.
  4. Make the ghost seeds: Give kids pumpkin seeds and have them use a black marker to draw tiny ghost faces on them.
  5. Fill the bin: Add water to a shallow container.
  6. Add the boats: Place the pumpkin boats in the water and let kids add their pumpkin seed ghosts for fun, imaginative play.
  7. Make predictions: Ask kids, “Do you think the whole pumpkin will float? What about the pumpkin halves?”
  8. Test the pumpkins: Place the whole pumpkins and pumpkin halves into the water. Observe which ones float and which ones sink.
  9. Add water to the boats: Have kids carefully add a little water to the hollow pumpkin boats. Test them again to see whether adding water changes their ability to float.
  10. Keep experimenting: Continue adding small amounts of water and observe when the boats become unstable or begin to sink.
  11. Discuss the results: Talk about what happened when the boats were empty compared with when they contained water. Encourage kids to explain why they think the boats behaved differently.

Find it online: https://preschoolandplaytime.com/halloween-boat-stem-challenge/