Language Focus: Emotions and actions ("Smiling", "Happy", "Pouting", "Grumpy", "Yawning", "Sleepy", "Crying", "Sad", "Laughing", "Playing", Counting 1-5, "Pumpkin".)
Classroom Benefits: The weeks leading up to Halloween is a great time to talk about emotions with young learners. As Halloween approaches, you can do many "Jack o' lantern" related activites where children can practice drawing different kinds of emotions (happy faces, sad faces, angry faces, etc.) Five Little Pumpkins is a fun, active song introducing the emotions and actions of a group of pumpkins. It's perfect for Halloween parties too!
Lyrics and actions:
One little pumpkin smiling, smiling. (Hold up one finger and then make a smiley face!)
One little pumpkin smiling, smiling.
One little pumpkin smiling, smiling.
One little pumpkin is happy. (Smile and put your fingers on your cheeks.)
Two little pumpkins pouting, pouting. (Hold up two fingers and then frown and look down.)
Two little pumpkins pouting, pouting.
Two little pumpkins pouting, pouting.
Two little pumpkins are grumpy. (Cross your arms and frown.)
Three little pumpkins yawning, yawning. (Hold up three fingers and then cover your mouth with your hand as you yawn.)
Three little pumpkins yawning, yawning.
Three little pumpkins yawning, yawning.
Three little pumpkins are sleepy. (Stretch and yawn like you are falling asleep.)
Four little pumpkins crying, crying. (Hold up four fingers and then pretend to wipe a tear from your eye.)
Four little pumpkins crying, crying.
Four little pumpkins crying, crying.
Four little pumpkins are sad. (Wipe tears from both eyes with both hands.)
Five little pumpkins laughing, laughing. (Hold up five fingers and then hold your tummy as you pretend to laugh.)
Five little pumpkins laughing, laughing.
Five little pumpkins laughing, laughing.
Five little pumpkins are playing. (Run around the room!)
Activity ideas
Print out the Activity Cards below (laminate if possible!) Introduce them one by one. For each card, ask, "How many pumpkins?" Read the cards with your students and ask the students to make faces showing the different emotions. "Can you show me your happy face?"
Bring in compact mirrors to class (you can buy them at the dollar store.) Practice making different faces into the mirror. "Let's make a happy face! Everybody smile!" "Let's make a grumpy face." "Let's make a sleepy face." Etc.
Print out the Five Little Pumpkins worksheet below. Practice drawing the different faces. "Let's draw a happy/grumpy/sad/sleepy/scared face."
Talk about emotions with your students. "When do you feel happy?" "When do you feel grumpy?" Etc. If your students aren't ready to have that level of discussion in English, speak in their native language if possible. Or, ask the questions in English and let them respond in their native language. You can also look at the Activity Cards together and ask, "Why are the pumpkins grumpy/sleepy/sad/etc."
