How do you grow a pumpkin? How do bees help in this process? Investigate all the stages of development of this fruit at the pumpkin patches on Hanson Farm in Framingham, MA. This segment introduces all the the parts of the pumpkin, how to measure circumference and what other fruits are in the same family. Then a special trip to the Topsfield Fair is made to see the giant pumpkins that can weigh in at over 1,000 pounds!

Kim Bent, Host of Catch the Science Bug, and her Science Bug Investigators perform an investigation to learn if bigger pumpkins have more seeds than smaller pumpkins? Four Science Bug Investigators attempt to solve this mystery by first making predictions and then do the hands-on work to collect data to answer the question. Last, the math skill of graphing is employed as these same Science Bug Investigators participate in a taste test to determine their favorite food made with pumpkin.

In the last segment, as always Science Bug Investigators take the teaching lead to give us insights nature. In this episode, Jess shows us hot to preserves a spider web while teaching us about the different types of webs and sharing interesting facts on spiders.

This is a 28 minute video.

Learn more about pumpkins at: http://www.sciencebug.org/great_pumpkins.html

Or go to Sciencebug.org> Science Files> Great Pumpkins

Next Generation Science Standards

K-LS1-1 From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes

Use observations to describe patterns of what plants and animals (including humans) need to survive.

Grade:  K-2