Learning centers in preschool and kindergarten can take up a good portion of the school day. The great thing about printable learning centers is that they can remain meaningful and still be easy to set up! This is important when you want to incorporate seasonal activities or switch out centers throughout the week. Printable learning centers like our Pumpkin Seed Letter Matching activity are low-prep and keep students engaged in a fun way!
*For hands-on, themed centers for the entire year, grab our Kindergarten Math and Literacy Centers BUNDLE for Pre-K & Kindergarten!
Pumpkin Seed Letter Matching Activity
Playing with pumpkin seeds has never been so mess-free! Instead of reaching inside an ooey-gooey pumpkin for seeds (Although that is fun too!), grab our free set of alphabet pumpkin seeds.
This printable Pumpkin Seed Letter Matching activity includes 26 pumpkin seeds with uppercase letters on them. A recording sheet is included as well. On this sheet, students will find a pumpkin filled with another set of alphabet pumpkin seeds.
*Preschool and early kindergarten teachers are often asked why we use activities matching uppercase to uppercase letters or lowercase to lowercase letters rather than upper to lower. There are many reasons – one of them being that when children are initially introduced to letters it is more appropriate to find ones that are the same before moving on to matching upper to lower (a more advanced skill). If your child is ready for matching upper to lower, you will love our Pumpkin Alphabet Matching game.
How to Prep
This game is so simple to prep but so fun! Simply print out the recording sheet and alphabet pumpkin seeds printable. Cut the seeds apart on the gray dotted lines.
I recommend printing on cardstock and laminating for durability. This is especially useful if you are placing the game in a literacy center where many students will be playing.
If using this for a literacy center, I recommend putting all of the alphabet pumpkin seed cards in some kind of container. A small plastic basket or colorful container from the dollar store would work perfectly.
How to Play
To play, kids can take turns pulling out one letter seed at a time, identifying the letter, and then finding the matching letter on the recording sheet. They can use crayons or markers to color the seeds any color they choose.
Continue picking seeds from the basket and coloring in the matching letters until all of the letters are colored in.
As early learners begin to understand what the letters in the alphabet look like, I encourage them to also identify the letter sounds. So when a pumpkin seed is picked, students practice making the sound in addition to identifying the letter name.
Grab Your FREE Copy
Ready to play? Download your own recording sheet and alphabet pumpkin seeds by clicking the large, yellow download button at the end of the post!
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Thank you for such a fun way to introduce letters during the Fall season! Great way to have on the tables when children come to school.
That’s wonderful, Cynthia! We are happy to hear you are enjoying our Pumpkin Seed Letter Matching activity for the fall. Have a great school year!
Love your activities!!! They are so fun and VERY kid friendly!!! Thank you!!
Great station activity!