Free printable Halloween activity

Pumpkin Patch Percent Problems

A printable 20-problem Halloween percent activity featuring rates, discounts, tax, tips, markup, and percent-change analysis.

Grades 6–820 problemsAbout 60 minutesAnswers included
Download the free activity PDF

Why this activity works

This simulation treats percent as a decision-making tool. Students price pumpkins, compare vendors, calculate discounts and tax, and explain how successive percent changes behave—exactly the proportional reasoning that matters beyond a worksheet.

Teaching note

Encourage students to write percent multipliers such as 0.85 or 1.12. That notation makes discounts, markups, and changes easier to compare.

Materials

  • Pencil
  • Scratch paper
  • Optional calculator

How to use it

Manage the pumpkin patch by finding rates, discounts, tax, and percent change. Show an equation for each decision.

Complete activity preview

All prompts below are included in the printable version. Keep the answer key closed until the activity is complete.

Harvest rates

Use ratios and unit rates to compare harvests.

  1. 1A field produces 84 pumpkins in 6 rows. Find pumpkins per row.
  2. 2Patch A has 48 pumpkins on 3 acres; Patch B has 70 on 5 acres. Which has the greater rate?
  3. 3At 18 pumpkins per hour, how many can a crew pick in 4.5 hours?
  4. 4A crew picks 126\displaystyle 126 pumpkins in 5.25\displaystyle 5.25 hours. Find the unit rate.

Percent of the crop

Find a part, whole, or percent in harvest situations.

  1. 5Thirty-five percent of 240 pumpkins are small. How many are small?
  2. 6Ninety of 120 pumpkins are orange. What percent is orange?
  3. 7Forty-two pumpkins are 28%\displaystyle 28\% of a harvest. How many pumpkins are in the harvest?
  4. 8The patch sells 117\displaystyle 117 of 180\displaystyle 180 pumpkins. What percent remain?

Market discounts

Calculate sale prices and savings.

  1. 9A $24 pumpkin is 25%\displaystyle 25\% off. Find the sale price.
  2. 10A $16 carving kit is discounted 15%\displaystyle 15\%. How much is saved?
  3. 11A $40 family pass is discounted 20%\displaystyle 20\%, then $3 is taken off. Find the final price.
  4. 12Which saves more on a $60\displaystyle 60 purchase: 18%\displaystyle 18\% off or a $12\displaystyle 12 coupon?

Tax, tips, and markup

Use percent increases in realistic transactions.

  1. 13Add 8%\displaystyle 8\% sales tax to a $35 purchase.
  2. 14A farm buys decorations for $50 and marks them up 30%\displaystyle 30\%. Find the selling price.
  3. 15A $72 group tour receives a 15%\displaystyle 15\% tip. Find the total with tip.
  4. 16A $48\displaystyle 48 sale receives 6.5%\displaystyle 6.5\% tax. Find the final total.

Patch manager challenge

Analyze percent change and successive changes.

  1. 17Attendance grows from 800 to 920. Find the percent increase.
  2. 18A pumpkin's price drops from $20 to $17. Find the percent decrease.
  3. 19A $50 price increases 20%\displaystyle 20\% and then decreases 20%\displaystyle 20\%. Find the final price and explain why it is not $50.
  4. 20A crop falls 12%\displaystyle 12\% one year and rises 15%\displaystyle 15\% the next. What percent of the original crop remains?
Open the complete solutions

Open-ended and experimental responses may differ when the reasoning meets the stated conditions.

Harvest rates

1. 14 pumpkins per row

2. Patch A; 16 pumpkins per acre versus 14

3. 81 pumpkins

4. 24\displaystyle 24 pumpkins per hour

Percent of the crop

5. 84 pumpkins

6. 75%\displaystyle 75\%

7. 150 pumpkins

8. 35%\displaystyle 35\%

Market discounts

9. $18

10. $2.40

11. $29

12. The $12\displaystyle 12 coupon; 18%\displaystyle 18\% saves $10.80\displaystyle 10.80

Tax, tips, and markup

13. $37.80

14. $65

15. $82.80

16. $51.12\displaystyle 51.12

Patch manager challenge

17. 15%\displaystyle 15\%

18. 15%\displaystyle 15\%

19. $48; the 20%\displaystyle 20\% decrease is taken from the new $60 price

20. 101.2%\displaystyle 101.2\%

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