Pumpkin crafts will get your kids into the Fall spirit by getting their hands dirty with one of the season’s most iconic items! Pumpkins are used through the entire Fall season, including Halloween, as jack–lanterns, and Thanksgiving, in pies, decor, and crafts for kids! Don’t forget to play some music about pumpkins while your kids are making theirs!
Skills
Types of skills can include math, science, fine motor, dramatic play, social and emotional. Here is how this craft applies these skills:
Math
Add in math concepts by having your child identify the colors and shapes they are using to decorate the pumpkin. Have your child count how many shapes they are using altogether. You can challenge your child to count how many of each triangles, squares, circles or rectangles they have.
Science
Talk about the four seasons and what typically occurs during those times. Add in the months for each season. December, January, and February falls under winter. March, April, May is Spring Time. Summer begins during June, July, and August. September, October, and November will be Fall. For example, leaves change color and fall to the ground during Fall and so on.
Fine Motor Skills
Your child will learn how to use their pincer grasp to glue the shapes onto the pumpkin template. They will use their fingers to hold a crayon, marker, or any writing utensil to draw and decorate their pumpkins.
Dramatic Play and Social/Emotional
Children can pretend to eat their pumpkin or use it for an event. They can pretend to be pumpkins running around being goofy.
Boundaries
Make sure you supervise your child when using scissors and other sharp items.
Materials
You will use a pumpkin template, orange, yellow, black, and blue construction paper, orange paint, markers, scissors, and glue.
Steps
Firstly, find a pumpkin template you like. Trace and cut it out.
Next, race and cut out basic shapes (circle, triangle, square, oval and rectangle) on different colored construction paper.
Have your child paint the pumpkin using the orange tempera paint. Let it dry.
Once the pumpkin is dry, have your child decorate the pumpkin using the shapes for the eyes, nose, and mouth.
During the craft, you can talk about facial features such as eyes, nose, mouth, and teeth. This will allow for some conversation during the time. And you can relate this to their body parts as well!
Modifications
You can use use orange tissue paper instead of paint. Give it a texture and use sponges to dip into the orange paint to paint the pumpkin template. The pumpkin doesn’t necessarily have to be orange. Let your child choose the color of his pumpkin.
To utilize more fine motor skills, have your child use crayons to color the template. However, this will require patience on both you and your child. If using this option, be ready to motivate and encourage your child to finish it.
Instead of using paper shapes, have your child draw in the eyes, nose, mouth, teeth, eyebrows, or whatever they choose to draw.
Have fun and make the pumpkin unique! You’ll be in for a surprise to see how your child decorates their pumpkin.
Watch Out! Don’t Fall Over All Those Pumpkins!
Pumpkin crafts for kids are great fun and teach them about the Fall. Is your pumpkin happy or scary?