Hi there! Every fall, when the leaves start to change colors, you can find pumpkins everywhere! In September, October, and November, stores all over North America sell lots of pumpkins. In my hometown, Sycamore, Illinois, we even have a big pumpkin celebration every year. Our town flag has a pumpkin on it!
Someone named Josh asked a great question: Why do people love pumpkins so much? Well, there are many reasons! People love to carve pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns for Halloween. But that’s not all! Pumpkins are also popular because of their yummy flavors. You can find pumpkin-flavored drinks, waffles, cookies, and even chips. The most famous pumpkin treat is pumpkin pie, especially during Thanksgiving.
Did you know there are different kinds of pumpkins? The pumpkins we eat, like the ones used in pies, are called sugar pumpkins. They have thick insides, which we call the flesh, and that’s the part we eat. These are different from the pumpkins we carve for Halloween, known as jack-o-lantern pumpkins.
But wait, there are even more kinds of pumpkins! Have you ever seen a tiger-striped pumpkin or a ghost pumpkin? How about a fairy tale pumpkin or a Queensland blue? There are over a hundred different varieties of pumpkins, each with its own special name and use!
People use pumpkins for many things. Some pumpkins are perfect for decorating because they look so unique. Others are great for cooking and baking. You can make pumpkin soup, pumpkin cupcakes, and pumpkin bread. In some places, people even eat the leaves, seeds, and flowers of the pumpkin plant!
Now, here’s something really cool: giant pumpkins! These pumpkins grow to be super big, much bigger than any other kind. They’re called Atlantic giant pumpkins. The biggest one ever weighed over 2,600 pounds, which is as heavy as a small car!
When I was a kid, my dad and I grew a giant pumpkin. It wasn’t a world record, but it was the biggest in our town that year. We even won a trophy for it!
People grow giant pumpkins just for fun and to compete. Some even have races using giant pumpkins as boats. Can you imagine rowing a pumpkin across a lake?
Pumpkins are popular in the fall because there are so many kinds and uses for them. Some are great for carving, some are tasty to eat, and some make fun decorations. Even though pumpkins are especially famous in the United States and Canada, people all over the world enjoy them.
Thanks for learning about pumpkins with me! Stay curious and keep exploring the world around you. See you next time!
Pumpkin Observation Walk: Take a walk with a family member or friend to a local grocery store or farmer’s market. Look for different types of pumpkins. Can you find a sugar pumpkin, a jack-o-lantern pumpkin, or maybe even a tiger-striped pumpkin? Draw a picture of your favorite pumpkin and write a sentence about why you like it.
Pumpkin Taste Test: With the help of an adult, try different pumpkin-flavored foods like pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, or pumpkin soup. Which one is your favorite? Write down the names of the foods you tried and draw a smiley face next to the ones you liked the most.
Grow Your Own Pumpkin: Save some pumpkin seeds from a pumpkin you have at home. Plant them in a small pot with soil and water them regularly. Watch them grow over time. Keep a journal with drawings and notes about how your pumpkin plant changes each week. What do you notice about the leaves and stems?
Here’s a sanitized version of the transcript:
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Hi, it’s Doug! Every September, October, and November, stores across North America start selling pumpkins. You see them everywhere! The town I grew up in, Sycamore, Illinois, has a huge pumpkin celebration every fall. Our town flag even has a pumpkin on it!
Someone named Josh has a question about pumpkins. Let’s give him a call now.
Hi, Doug! I have a question for you: Why do people love pumpkins so much?
That’s a great question! People really do seem to love pumpkins. Where I live, you can find them for sale at farms, pumpkin patches, and even grocery stores. Lots of people buy them because they love to carve jack-o-lanterns for Halloween, but that’s not the only reason you see pumpkins in the fall. People love pumpkin-flavored foods! You can buy just about anything in pumpkin flavor—drinks, waffles, cookies, and they even make pumpkin-flavored chips. But maybe the most famous pumpkin-flavored food of all is pumpkin pie, which is especially popular around Thanksgiving.
The pumpkins that people use for eating, like in pies, look like this. If you cut them open, they have really thick insides. This part right here is called the flesh of the pumpkin—that’s the part that we eat.
This pumpkin is a different kind from a jack-o-lantern pumpkin. The pumpkin we use for eating is called a sugar pumpkin. Sugar pumpkins and jack-o-lantern pumpkins are two different varieties of pumpkins, just like there are different varieties of apples or dogs.
Pumpkins come in a lot more than just these two varieties. Think about it—have you seen some other varieties of pumpkins before? What varieties have you seen? If you want to take a moment to pause the video now, that would be a good time.
Okay, check this out! All of these are varieties of pumpkins. Some of them are almost unbelievable that they’re even pumpkins! Varieties like tiger striped pumpkin, ghost pumpkin, fairy tale pumpkin, Queensland blue, hooligan pumpkin, and baby bear—these are their real names! Check out this next one: red warty thing! I wish I could keep going, but I can’t even list them all. There are over a hundred different varieties of pumpkins!
It might seem strange that there are so many varieties of pumpkins and that we have names for them all. Why is that? Well, people use different varieties for different purposes. Some of the more unusual-looking pumpkins, like tiger stripe and red warty thing, are used as decorations, while others are chosen for their taste. People use some pumpkin varieties in cooking and baking at home, like for making pumpkin soup, pumpkin cupcakes, and pumpkin bread.
Depending on where you live in the world, people even eat different parts of a pumpkin. Some people eat the leaves of the pumpkin plant, some enjoy pumpkin seeds, and some cook with pumpkin oil, which you can get from crushing the seeds. Some people even eat the flowers of the pumpkin plant, which are said to taste really good, especially when they’re fried.
Okay, but there’s one last pumpkin variety I really want to show you. It might be the weirdest of them all. Are you ready for this? Here it is: giant pumpkins! This pumpkin variety grows to be huge—way bigger than any other pumpkin variety. They’re called Atlantic giant pumpkins. The world record so far is an Atlantic giant that weighed over 2,600 pounds—that’s as heavy as a small car!
When I was a kid, my dad and I actually planted some seeds of a giant pumpkin and watered them all summer long. It didn’t set any kind of world record, but by fall, we had grown the largest pumpkin in our town that year. Here’s an actual photo of it— that’s my dad right there and one of our neighbors who helped him lift it up. We even won a pumpkin trophy! This is the actual trophy; I still have it, and it makes me smile.
The reason people grow giant pumpkins is just for fun—it’s to compete! They want to see who can grow the biggest one. Some people have also started to compete with giant pumpkin boat races. You’ve got to see this!
On your mark, get set, row! Number seven’s got a little flip! You must make it all the way across the lake and back with your pumpkin.
So, in summary, pumpkins are popular in the fall because there are so many varieties of them with lots of different uses. Some are great for jack-o-lanterns, some make interesting decorations, and some are good for eating. Even though pumpkins are especially famous in the United States and Canada, they are used and loved by people all over the world.
That’s all for this week’s question! Thanks, Josh, for asking it. Now, for the next episode, I reached into my question jar and found three questions submitted to me that I’m thinking about answering. When this video is done playing, you’ll get to vote on one. You can choose from: Why do people in the same family look different? How are footballs made? Or what’s that red thing on a turkey’s neck?
So submit your vote when the video’s over! I want to hear from all of you watching. There are mysteries all around us. Stay curious, and see you next week!
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This version removes any informal language and maintains a clear and respectful tone.
