Friday Freebie: Pumpkin "Following Directions" Activity

Many of the students who see me for reading intervention struggle with other academic skills like following directions. To help emphasize why following directions is important and to open a discussion about directions in terms students can easily understand, I created this fun, fall-themed freebie: Pumpkin Design - A Following Directions Activity.

The steps are easy:

1. Students design their own pumpkin.
2. Students write out step-by-step directions on how to color a pumpkin exactly like they did in Step 1.
3. Students get another student's directions and color a new pumpkin following those directions.
4. Share and discuss the importance of following directions.

Here are a few examples from my class:

The original colorings are on the left, and the re-creations are on the right.  You can see that some did better than others at giving directions and/or following directions.

It's a fun activity, and my students get really in to it.  When we reveal the re-created pumpkins next to the original you get to see that "a-ha!" moment on so many students' faces:  Maybe I don't always listen to the directions! 

You can download this free activity from my TPT store here: Pumpkin Design - A Following Directions Activity. 

Enjoy!