PUMPKIN FACTS

How do you mend a broken Jack-o-lantern?With a

pumpkin patch!(joke from:Pumpkin-patch.com)Learn

aboutpumpkins with this Fast Facts page!

1.Pumpkins are thought to have originated in Central America,

specifically Mexico. Some seeds found date back to 5500 B.C.

(Pumpkinnook.com)

2.Top pumpkin growers are U.S. farmers, growing more than 1.5 billion each year.(History.com)

3.The word pumpkin comes from the French word for "large melon",

pompon. The English used "pumpion" and colonists used

"pumpkin"(Hsgpurchasing.com)

4.The world's heavyweight pumpkin(2016)tipped the scales at 2624.6 pounds! It was grown in the country of Belgium and as of the spring of 2019, it still holds the record!

5.The World's Largest Pumpkin Pie was made in New Bremen, Ohio, in 2010. 1,212 lbs of canned pumpkin, 109 gallons of evaporated milk, 525 pounds of sugar, 14.5 pounds of cinnamon, 7 pounds of salt and 2796 eggs were used. It weighed 3699 pounds.

(Pumpkinnook.com)

6.Did you know that pumpkins are 90 percent water?(YardenersPlantHelper.com)

7.Some people used to believe that pumpkins could cure snake bites and help remove freckles!

(Fillyourplate.wordpress.com)

8.To get a "bowl shaped" haircut, colonists used pumpkin shells as a

9.In addition to orange, pumpkins can be green, yellow, tan, white,red and blue.

10.The "Pumpkin Capital of the World"and home to Libby's Pumpkins is Morton, Illinois.

11. Ohio, Illinois, California and Pennsylvania are the top pumpkin-growing states.

12.The fibrous strands of string and seeds are called the "brains"of

the pumpkin.(Pumpkinnook.com)

13.Carving pumpkins originated in Ireland using potatoes,rutabagas and turnips. Irish immigrants to America started using pumpkins as they were easier to carve and hollow!(http://www.history.com/topics/pumpkin-facts)

14.Part of the squash and cucumber family(cucurbita), pumpkins are actually considered fruit!(Pumpkin-patch.com

15.The record for the most lit pumpkins at one time: 2013,Keene, NH, with 30,581 pumpkins! It still holds the record in 2016.

NOTE:2019 Crowned the record biggest pumpkin grown in North America(2018),a man from the state of New Hampshire has grown a pumpkin which weighed in at a whopping 2528 pounds. This pumpkin weighed about 165 pounds more than the previous record! A pumpkin grown in the country of Belgium(2016) tipped the scale at a whopping 2623 pounds!

As of now, it still holds the world record!

Activities:

Illustrate a picture of one of the facts learned.

Write a poem about a pumpkin.

Pretend you are a pumpkin and write about your day in the pumpkin patch, on a porch or waiting to be purchased at a farmer's stand.

Try my webquest on Pumpkins: 10 web questions with several comprehension questions(lots of extension activities). Click here:Pumpkin Webquest

Illustration from wpclipart.com

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