Parts of a Pumpkin: A Montessori 3-Part Booklet and a Fold-Up Mini Book

In part one we set up a pumpkin anatomy sensory tray: a real pumpkin to scoop, seeds to wash and count, and plenty of mess. Now comes the quiet part of the lesson. Your child has touched the stem, scooped the pulp and held the seeds. Next, they learn the names and meet them again on paper. In this post we'll show you how to use a Montessori 3-part booklet for the parts of a pumpkin, and how to fold a little mini book from one sheet of paper, with no glue at all.

Hands first, paper second

In a Montessori classroom, children meet the real thing before they meet the word for it. A child who has pulled the stringy pulp out of a pumpkin with their own fingers knows what pulp means long before they can read it. The booklet doesn't replace the pumpkin. It gives the child a way to name, remember and return to what they discovered.

Our Parts of a Pumpkin set covers the six parts from the tray: stem, skin, flesh, pulp, seeds and leaf. Every picture is a pencil drawing with only one part painted in colour, so the child's eye goes straight to the part being named.

What is a 3-part booklet?

Montessori three-part cards have a picture card, a label and a control card with both. A 3-part booklet takes this one step further and adds a short definition for each part. Children work with it in stages:

1. Name it: match the picture cards and labels to the control cards.
2. Read it: read the definition cards together. The control set shows the name in colour.
3. Make it their own: complete their own booklet: colour the part, write its name and fill in the missing word.

The control booklet and the child's booklet

The control booklet is the finished version. Each page shows one part of the pumpkin in colour, with its name and a short definition, for example: "The pulp is wet and stringy. It holds the seeds in place." Read it together, slowly, and point to each part on the real pumpkin.

The child's booklet has the same pages with the drawing left uncoloured. Your child colours the named part, writes the word on the handwriting lines and fills the gap in the definition. When they finish, they compare their booklet with the control booklet. They check their own work, so there's no red pen and no "that's wrong", just a quiet "oh, let me look again".

Both booklets are A6 size, four pages to a sheet of A4. Cut along the dashed lines, stack the pages in order and staple on the left.

How to present it: the three-period lesson

This simple Montessori way of teaching new words works beautifully with the cards:

1. "This is the stem." Point to the stem on the real pumpkin and on the card. Name two or three parts, no more.
2. "Show me the stem." Ask your child to point or hand you the right card. Make it a game and move the cards around.
3. "What is this?" Only when your child is confident, point and let them say the name.

If a word doesn't stick, simply go back to the first step another day. Three new words that a child truly owns are worth more than six they guessed.

The fold-up mini book

This is the part children love most. The mini book is printed on one sheet of A4. With one cut and a few folds it becomes a little 8-page book: a cover, one page for each of the six parts and a back page where the child ticks the parts they know. There are two versions: one in colour to read, and one in pencil to colour in.

Don't worry that the top row is printed upside down. That's on purpose: after folding, every page ends up the right way up.

How to fold the mini book

1. Print the mini book page on A4 in landscape, at actual size (100%).
2. Fold in half the long way (top edge to bottom edge), press the fold and open it again.
3. Make eight boxes: fold the sheet in half the short way, then each half in half again. Open it flat. You should see eight boxes, four on top and four below.
4. Fold in half the short way again, so the fold is on one side. Cut along the dashed line from the fold to the middle of the sheet. Only cut between the two middle boxes, and stop where the fold lines cross.
5. Open the sheet and fold it in half the long way, with the pictures on the outside. The cut is now along the top fold, in the middle.
6. Push the ends together: hold one short end in each hand and gently push them towards each other. The cut opens up into a diamond shape in the middle.
7. Keep pushing until the diamond closes and, seen from above, the pages make a plus sign (+).
8. Fold the pages round like closing a book, so that the cover with the pumpkin is on the front. Press the edges flat. Your book is ready!

Tip: step 6 is the tricky one the first time. Push slowly, and let the middle pop open on its own. After one try, most four- and five-year-olds can fold the next mini book on their own.

What it looks like when it's folded

Closed, the mini book is about the size of a child's hand, with the pumpkin cover on the front and the child's name underneath. Open it and there's one part on each page. On the back, your child ticks off every part they can name: stem, skin, flesh, pulp, seeds and leaf.

Small books feel special to small children. They fit in a pocket, they get "read" to grandparents and teddies, and they often come out again long after autumn is over.

What age is it for?

• Ages 3–4: three-period lesson with the cards, matching pictures and labels, folding the mini book together with you and colouring it in.
• Ages 4–5: matching cards to the control cards alone, reading the control booklet together, colouring the child's booklet.
• Ages 5–6: reading the definitions, writing the names, filling the gaps and checking their work with the control booklet, folding the mini book alone.

Get the booklet set

Everything in this post is in our Parts of a Pumpkin 3-Part Booklet: 15 printable pages with the control booklet, child's booklet, three-part cards, definition cards, the fold-up mini book in colour and to colour in, and the folding guide with pictures. It's an instant PDF download, ink-light and ready to print on A4.

Want the whole week? The Pumpkin Learning Pack adds the pumpkin life cycle, pollination, letters and counting, and the Pumpkin Anatomy Tray keeps the real exploration going long after the pumpkin has gone soft.

Final thoughts

First the pumpkin, then the words, then a little book to keep. That's the whole lesson, and it's one children remember. Scoop it, name it, fold it, and let your child read their pumpkin book to anyone who'll listen. 🎃

Next in our autumn series: leaves and trees. Follow along for more seasonal play ideas. 🍂