Pumpkin Poppers {Halloween STEAM activity}

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These Pumpkin Poppers are a perfect Halloween STEAM activity that blend art and engineering for the holiday. (STEAM = science, technology, engineering, art, and math.)

I created my own pumpkin popper ahead of time to see how it worked. And when my kids saw it the were totally gung ho to make their own.

Once they created their poppers, we had a ton of fun taking videos of our pumpkin poppers in action. (The slow-motion videos were especially awesome!)

Give this Halloween STEAM activity a try because your kids will love these!

Note: For more Halloween STEAM projects, see my Halloween Activities for Kids page.

Pumpkin poppers Halloween STEAM activity: This Halloween activity blends art and engineering to create a fun pumpkin popper that "pops" out pom poms! | #STEAM #Halloween #handsonlearning #giftofcuriosity || Gift of Curiosity

How to make Pumpkin Poppers

Take a look at this short video showing our pumpkin poppers in action.

If you prefer to see things in writing, continue below for step-by-step written directions.

To make these pumpkin poppers, you’ll need the following materials:

White, disposable paper cup
Orange paint
Paint brush
Scissors
Black marker
Orange balloon
Tape
Pom poms or other small objects to shoot

Start with your disposable paper cup.

Give it a good coat of orange paint.

Let it dry.

Then add a jack-o-lantern face! (That’s the art part of this STEAM activity.)

Next comes the engineering part of the activity:

You’ll need to remove the bottom of the cup. We did it by punching a hole in the middle and cutting lines to the edges.

Then we used our fingers to tear the individual sections off.

Next, grab an orange balloon and a pair of scissors.

Cut a bit off the top of the balloon.

Then tie a knot at the bottom.

Stretch the cut part of the balloon over the bottom of your cup.

Use clear tape to adhere the balloon to your cup.

Grab some pom poms.

Put them in your cup and get ready for some pumpkin popping fun!

And that’s one awesome Halloween STEAM activity!

Looking for more Halloween projects that incorporate Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math (STEAM)? Then you’ll love STEAM Kids Halloween. This e-book includes 50+ pages of spooky fun STEAM activities that will wow the boredom right out of kids!