Fall Feelings: A Free Pumpkin SEL Lesson
October is an exciting month for many kids, full of candy, costumes, and fun experiences. Excitement, though, can sometimes be difficult for children—especially those who have trouble with emotional self-regulation. This little lesson on feelings is a fun way to tie social-emotional learning into a pumpkin theme!
Why focus on SEL?
Focusing on feelings through social-emotional learning helps kids who struggle with their own emotions (which can show up as tantrums, impulsivity, meltdowns, and other difficult behaviors). These SEL lessons also help kids with typical self-regulation skills become stronger peers. They learn to resist the temptation to mimic dysregulated behavior and to respond appropriately when friends are struggling. Talking about our feelings can help all of us be thoughtful and empathetic members of our communities.
Bring SEL into Your Pumpkin Theme
This free pumpkin SEL lesson idea is perfect for October as it brings feelings right into your pumpkin theme! It doesn’t require a lot of planning ahead (though you will need copies of one of the two recording sheets for each student), and it’s open-ended enough that you can make it work for the specific needs of your students!
Start with a Read-Aloud
The book I had in mind when preparing this activity is How Are You Peeling: Foods with Moods by Saxton Freymann and Joost Elffers. With sweet, rhyming text and funny photographs as illustrations, this picture book is a wonderful springboard for discussing all kinds of feelings. You may already have this book in your classroom or school library, but if not, you can purchase it on Amazon here (affiliate link), or, in a pinch, you can show a read-aloud video of it.
In this book, real fruits and vegetables have been manipulated and decorated to show a range of emotions. The rhyming text is short and to the point, and includes many words that describe feelings. As you read this book aloud, pause frequently to give students opportunities to access their background knowledge and share their own experiences. You might even want to jot the various “feelings words” on chart paper to refer back to throughout the lesson (and beyond).
Follow up with Creative Expression
Once you’ve taken the time to read the book and discuss the included feelings, give students a chance to think about how people might show their feelings with facial expressions. You can flip back through the book and have students imitate the expressions the fruits and vegetables have on their faces, while naming the associated emotions. Then it’s time to segue into pumpkin faces!
Chat briefly about jack-o’-lanterns, tying in any previous pumpkin lessons that might apply. Invite the students to turn-and-talk about their own experiences with carving or painting pumpkins. Next, explain to them that they will now have the chance to design jack-o’-lanterns that show different emotions with their facial expressions.
The free PDF includes two options—one has space for students to draw four different pumpkin expressions and the other just has one big pumpkin to decorate. Both options include a word bank of “feelings words” for students to use as they label and write about their pumpkins (and their own feelings).
Following your usual routines for introducing a writing or drawing prompt, send students off to work. Circulate and conference as students draw and write.
Grab the Free PDF
Finish with Time to Share
Once your students have completed their pumpkin feelings page, be sure to give them time to share with their peers. Model use of SEL language as you reinforce the feelings they’ve drawn and written about. If you are planning to carve a jack-o’-lantern in your classroom, you might want to have a class vote on what kind of face your pumpkin will have!
I hope this lesson helps as you plan your busy October! I’d like to compile a list of additional books that would be appropriate for introducing this activity. Do you have a favorite fall read-aloud that incorporates feelings? Let me know in the comments!
More Fall Resources
Recommended Products
I’d love to download the SEL lesson 🙂
Hey Stephanie,
Thanks so much for your interest! Did you see the sign-up form within the post? Try signing up that way—the freebie should come straight to your email. Let me know if you have any trouble!
susan@myhappyplaceteaching.com
-Susan