with halloween over, we thought we’d try something a friend posted on line: growing pumpkins directly from the pumpkin. let me know if you try it, michigan friends!
we cut a hole in the top, just like one would to carve a pumpkin, and added dirt:
(ooooh, and the DANGER of this experiment. i had to experiment with which knife worked best, which meant bringing the whole knife tub out!) we also planted some of the seeds in dirt in a bowl to see what differences there might be.
all was well for five days and on the sixth day, no one was at preschool. on the seventh day, i unlocked the door and by the time i got to the top of our stairs, the smell was HORRIBLE. so horrible, it was an opportunity that had to be taken.
the pumpkin had rotted, split open on the bottom and leaked the horrible smelling juice all over the table.
a class list was made:
i agree that it smelled like poop, pee and throw up all together. after letting both classes experience the bad smell, we cleaned it up. however, we have discovered a crevice in the table that still has the bad smell if you put your nose right near it. we’ve left it and marked it with an arrow.
we took the rotten pumpkin to the garden and posed with our best sad faces.
it was amazing to me that not even one of the seeds had started to sprout, but the seeds in the bowl (from the same pumpkin) were already inches tall. as of this week, the seeds in the bowl are still growing!
now the question is: since it is too cold to transplant the pumpkin seedlings outside, how long will they be able to stay alive in the bowl? ooooh, the anticipation! go science.
newcreationpreschool.com 
It worked for us! We just threw a little dirt on top of the pumpkin guts, watered it, and seedlings began to sprout. However, the pumpkin itself soon began to rot. Instead of putting it outside, we put the whole thing in a big clear plastic container with a lid to contain the smell. It is a huge, soggy rotten mess now–fascinating!!
oh, thank you for commenting! i couldn’t find my link. now i want to go get a small pumpkin to try again! : )
Hi, I am the teacher who’s pumpkin plants growing in the pumpkin has been on Pinterest. It has worked for me for three years in a row :). I mentioned in my post that this works with the small pumpkin pie type pumpkins, but I was not sure it would work in full sized pumpkins….
Eilis GrowinginPreK.com