Nonfiction Themes For October: Spiders, Bats, And Pumpkins
Do you use nonfiction themes for October, like spiders, bats, or pumpkins in your classroom? Do you want fun activities that are seasonal but not specifically focused on Halloween? Look no further! I’m sharing nonfiction activities for spiders, bats, and pumpkins!
Nonfiction Themes For October
Halloween is a pretty big holiday in the United States, but not all of our students celebrate it. That’s why nonfiction themes for October are popular.
Bats, spiders, and pumpkins are seasonal themes that can feature nonfiction text and science-based activities. Let’s take a look at activities for each theme.
Bat Activities
Grab a mini-book filled with bite-sized chunks of informational text and interactive activity pages to learn all about bats! You’ll learn about the defining features of bats, different bat species, traits, habitats, diet, and more. You can easily introduce research skills and incorporate informational writing too!
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Bat Echolocation Activity
Bats locate objects through echolocation. Using reflected sound to judge distance is a fun concept to explore with kids. You’ll need a big bouncy ball, a blindfold, and a hard wall to bounce the ball against.
Pick one student to be the bat. Blindfold that student. They’ll be throwing the ball. The ball represents the sound that bats make. Students will hear the ball hitting the wall.
Another student will be the ball monitor. They’ll retrieve the ball when it’s thrown.
The bat will throw the ball against the wall and listen for the sound. Their job is to decide how far the wall is. If they think it is within arm’s reach, they should try to touch it. If they think it is further, they should take a step closer. (Note: Don’t let anyone walk into the wall.)
The ball monitor will fetch and return the ball until the bat reaches the wall. Then, the ball monitor becomes the next bat, and a new ball monitor is selected.
Children’s Nonfiction Books About Bats
Are you looking for a few good children’s books about bats to add to your classroom library? Here are a few informative and engaging books to check out.
Note: This blog post contains affiliate links.
- The Bat Book by Charlotte Milner
- Bats by Gail Gibbons
- Zipping, Zapping, Zooming Bats by Ann Earle
- All About Bats: Explore The World Of Bats! by Caryn Jenner
Fictional Books About Bats
If you’d rather read a story aloud, these are a few fun books that pair perfectly with a unit study on bats. They’ll keep your kiddos engaged too!
- Stellaluna by Janell Cannon
- Bats In The Band by Brian Lies
- Bo The Bat by Alma Hammond
- Bats At The Library by Brian Lies
Spider Activities
Another great informational topic for the fall is spiders. You can learn about the life cycle, types of spiders, spider habitats, their hunting and eating habits, and lots of other interesting facts. Plus, your kids will have fun learning awesome spider facts.
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Children’s Books About Spiders
Want to learn more about spiders? Check out these informational books about spiders. They’ll make a great addition to your classroom library.
- Scurry! The Truth About Spiders by Annette Whipple
- National Geographic Readers: Spiders by Laura Marsh
- Spiders by Gail Gibbons
- Spinning Spiders by Melvin Berger
Fictional Books About Spiders
Facts are cool, but so are stories. If you want to include some fictional stories featuring spiders, check out these fun stories.
- Walter’s Wonderful Web: A First Book About Shapes by Tim Hopgood
- I’m Trying to Love Spiders by Bethany Barton
- Are You a Spider? by Judy Allen
- The Spider And The Fly by Mary Howitt
Pumpkin Activities
Pumpkins are another excellent nonfiction topic for the fall. Pumpkins are a great topic for learning about plant parts and the life cycle of a plant. Grab the pumpkin mini-book and learn about plant needs, plant parts, the life cycle of a pumpkin, and plenty of interesting pumpkin facts! Plus, your kids will love making and testing predictions with a hands-on pumpkin prediction activity.
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“This is the first activity of the year where my students BEGGED to finish it the next day!… This will definitely be in my permanent rotation of lessons.”
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ – Melissa
Pumpkin Prediction Activity
Get hands-on and explore pumpkins with a fun pumpkin prediction activity. Divide your students into groups. Then, give each group a small pumpkin in a paper bag.
Have your students feel the pumpkins through the bag and try to answer the following questions.
🔎 What color do you think your pumpkin will be?
🔍 What texture do you think your pumpkin’s rind will be?
🔎 What do you think the circumference of your pumpkin will be?
🔍 How heavy do you think your pumpkin will be?
🔎 Do you think your pumpkin will float?
🔍 How many seeds do you think your pumpkin will have?
After each group has made their predictions have them remove their pumpkin from the bag and look at their pumpkin. Have them weigh and measure the pumpkin, test whether it floats, scoop out the guts, and count the seeds. Finally, have them compare their results to their predictions.
Children’s Books About Pumpkins
Every good unit study should include nonfiction books. Each of these children’s books about pumpkins includes plenty of information along with beautiful images.
- Seed, Sprout, Pumpkin, Pie by Jill Esbaum
- Pumpkin Circle: The Story Of A Garden by George Levenson
- The Pumpkin Book by Gail Gibbons
- Life Cycles: Pumpkins by Robin Nelson
Fictional Children’s Books About Pumpkins
There are plenty of great fictional stories featuring pumpkins too. If you’re looking for a story to read this fall, check out these seasonal reads.
- How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin? by Margaret McNamara
- How-Could-Your-Pumpkin-Grow? by Wendell Minor
- The Itsy Bitsy Pumpkin by Sonali Fry
- Pumpkin Pumpkin by Jeanne Titherington
Bring some seasonal fun into your classroom with these nonfiction themes for October.
I hope this blog post gave you some ideas and inspiration for October. Please leave a comment if you have any other nonfiction themes for October that you love. I’d love to hear what you do!
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Don’t forget to grab the free pumpkin prediction activity!
Grab your free pumpkin prediction activity and get started with your October lesson planning today. Simply enter your personal email below, and I’ll send it straight to your inbox.
Need more October activities? Check out this Halloween-themed writing activity for October.
Making cups of “Franken-slime” is so much fun! Plus, this activity is perfect for descriptive writing using your senses. Check out this blog post for ingredients, directions, and free printables.
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