Download Life Cycle of a Pumpkin

Presents
Life Cycle of a Pumpkin
Actors:
Farmer
Pumpkin 1
Pumpkin 2
Seed 1
Seed 2
True Leaves
Vines
Tendrils
Female Flower
Male Flower
Bee
Pollen
2 Seed Leaves
Farmer: What is a pumpkin?
Pumpkin 1: A pumpkin is a fruit. We grow on a vine like other
kinds of squash.
Pumpkin 2: We can be bumpy or smooth, large or small, long or
round. They can be orange, white, yellow, or red.
Farmer: Each year there is a new crop of pumpkins. Their hard
shells have deep lines that go from top to bottom.
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Seeds 1 & 2: We are the pumpkin seeds.
Seed 1: Pumpkins begin with us. We are white and have an oval
shape. A tiny plant is curled up inside of us.
Seed 2: The farmer plants us in warm, moist soil. In about ten days,
roots grow down into the soil. The roots take in water and food for the
plant.
2 Seed Leaves: Then in the late spring, two of us pop through the soil
into the sunlight. We are the smooth seed leaves. We use sunlight
and air to make food for the new plant.
True Leaves:
prickly.
Then the true leaves appear.
We are jagged and
2 Seed Leaves: The job of the seed leaves is done. We wither and
fall off.
Farmer: During the early summer, the pumpkin plant grows more
leaves. The plant grows quickly and soon becomes a vine.
Vine: We twist and creep along the ground, then send out thin
tendrils.
Tendrils: We grab and curl around other vines. We twist around
fences. We support the vines as they grow longer and longer.
Vine: We bloom with many yellow flowers.
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Female Flower: Some of these are female flowers. We sit on small,
fuzzy, green balls.
Male Flower: Other flowers are male flowers. We are on long stems
and have yellow powder inside the flower. The yellow powder is
pollen.
Flowers: It takes a male and female flower to make a pumpkin.
Bee: I am a bee. It also takes us to make pumpkins. We move the
pollen from male flowers to female flowers. When a bee visits the
male flowers, the pollen sticks to our body and legs.
Pollen: I am the pollen. We rub off the bee as it goes in and out of
the flowers. When we reach a female flower, the fuzzy green ball at
the end of the flower begins to grow into a pumpkin.
Vine, Tendrils, and Leaves:
together.
All summer we grow and tangle
Pumpkins 1 & 2: Underneath the big leaves we are beginning to
grow.
True Leaves: We are like big umbrellas. We keep the got sun off the
pumpkins. We also help to keep the soil around the pumpkins from
drying out.
Pumpkin 1: Growing pumpkins need just the right amount of water
and sun. Too much rain will cause us to rot.
Vines: Too much sun withers the vines.
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Pumpkin 2: The cucumber beetles and squash bugs can hurt us too.
Farmer: We spray the plants with insecticides or cover the vines with
nets to protect the growing pumpkins.
Pumpkin 1 & 2: We grow bigger and bigger.
Seeds 1 & 2: Inside, the pumpkins form seeds and pulp.
Pumpkin 1: Outside, we are turning from green to orange.
Vines: We turn brown. Harvest time has come.
Farmer: I cut the thick pumpkin stem from the vine.
Seeds 1 & 2: Four months ago the farmers had only us.
Farmer: Now we harvest a wagon full of round, orange pumpkins.
Pumpkin 1: We will be sold at farm stands and stores.
Pumpkin 2: People cook us and use the pulp to make pumpkin pie,
cookies, soup, and bread. Some pumpkins are fed to farm animals.
Farmer: Some towns hold a pumpkin festival to celebrate the fall
harvest. Sometimes there is a contest to find out who grew the biggest
pumpkin.
Seed 1: Inside the pumpkin are many of us. Some of us are roasted to
be eaten as a snack.
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Seed 2: Others are saved to be planted in the spring. We will grow
into next year’s pumpkins.
Pumpkin 1: After we are picked and sold…
Farmer: …I then plow the field.
Vines: Old vines…
Pumpkins 1 & 2: …and unpicked pumpkins…
Vines & Pumpkins: …get mixed with the soil.
Seeds 1 & 2: The field is ready for planting us again next spring.
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