pumpkins

Halloween Paper Bag Pumpkin

It’s cold and windy outside! Stay inside from Hurricane Sandy and get crafty with your youngsters today. Pull together this simple Halloween Paper Bag Pumpkin craft with recycled materials around your house, just like momstown Milton did at a recent toddler program.

 

momstown milton pumpkin

 

Things you Need:
Brown paper bag
Old newspaper to crumple up to fill
Orange paint (paintbrushes)
Fun sparkles, stickers, black paper or markers to include a face
Twist ties or tape to tie off the paper bag


Your little ones will love crumbling up the paper and stuffing the bag and then painting it to resemble a pumpkin. Once dry, glue on a face with black paper or draw it on with markers.


If it’s a long day inside you could make an entire Pumpkin family to match your own!

Posted by momstown mama on 10/29/2012 - 22:11
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DIY Pumpkin Spider Craft

This DIY Halloween craft is so cute and easy that mom might want to make a bunch herself to decorate the Halloween mantle! But – this craft are so simple for children to make create. Invite your children over for some simple, Halloween fun!

pumpkin spider


momstown Burlington created a web of pumpkin spiders during their Fall Festival Art and Play program. Easy enough even for the wee toddlers to get in on the creative action.


Supplies you need:
Mini pumpkins
Black pipecleaners, cut in half
Sharp skewer (to poke holes into the squash to help little hands)
Googly eyes and glue and/or Black marker


The first step is to gather your pumpkins. If you include your child on this adverture you could make a whole field trip out of it by selecting the perfect pumpkins or add it to the list when you stomp out into the field to pick your jack ‘o lantern pumpkin. The smaller the better for this activity, the wee gourd-like pumpkins work best.


Step two is the real crafting stage. The pipecleaner legs need to poke into the pumpkin.

But, they are kinda bendy so if you make a hole in the squash first (use a skewer to make a small hole, you don’t want the pipe cleaner to fall out!) then little fingers will have no problems at all adding the legs.


Some kids will be done at that stage. But adding a face to the spider is loads of fun too. Draw a face on with black marker. Or glue googly eyes or pom pom eyes. Give your pumpkin some personality!


Display those pumpkins! Perfect for the mantle to to decorate the kitchen table. Thanks momstown Burlington for the idea!

Posted by momstown mama on 10/24/2012 - 12:50
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Pumpkin Science for Preschoolers and Toddlers

It would not be Halloween without pumpkins and pumpkin carving. Part of the fun of the holiday is reaching inside a pumpkin to scoop out the gunk, and then in our house, roasting the seeds. While preschoolers and toddlers may not be able to take part in the actual carving, exploring a pumpkin is a great fall sensory and science activity.

 

Our little scientists got busy this morning learning all about outsides and insides of a pumpkin. First, we observed the way the outside of the pumpkin felt, and lifted it to see how much it weighed. If you have access to a scale, you can compare the weight of the pumpkin to other objects. A favourite book, a stack of blocks, and a carton of milk are great sorts of things to compare with the pumpkin. You can even have your kids weigh themselves, and then help them to figure out how many pumpkins it would take to equal their weights, sneaking in a little math.

 

Next, we cut off the top of the pumpkin (an adult's job), to see just what was inside. Placed inside a rubbermaid tote, the pumpkin became a perfect sensory bin, full of different things to see, textures to feel, and smells to discover:

 

 

Like all good scientists, we recorded our findings by making "What's Inside My Pumpkin?" collages:

 

 

Here is what you need to make your own pumpkin collage:

  • white construction paper
  • orange construction paper
  • brown construction paper
  • orange yarn, cut into small pieces
  • pumpkin seeds
  • liquid glue

 

1. Cut a pumpkin shate out of orange construction paper.  Glue it onto a sheet of sturdy white paper:

 

 

2. Glue on pieces of orange yarn to represent the fiberous strands (the "stringy stuff", or "goo" inside the pumpkin) and pumpkin seeds to show what a pumpkin looks like on the inside:

 

 

3. Glue on a brown stem to finish your pumpkin:

 

 

Happy exploring!

Posted by momstown Teach on 10/17/2012 - 22:58
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Pumpkin Painting Party


When my eldest started school, the hardest thing for me was not knowing her friends as well as I did when she as home. That first Kindergarten October we hosted a Halloween party for all the girls in her class so i could meet them and their  parents - perfect solution!

And so a tradition was born! The last three years, my daughter has planned a costume party the weekend before Halloween for her new classroom friends. This year, the date didn't work in our schedule so instead we hosted a Halloween craft party for the girls. No costumes needed but plenty of craft time.

The girls created painted sparkly pumpkin spider webs and plasticine Halloween sculptures. The pumpkins are a great edition to a scary display on the porch or fancy enough for a proud place on a mantel or centerpiece. Our group of 7 year olds loved this multi-step craft but my younger kids (aged 2 and 4) also created their own versions too.

 

pumpkin painting party

Supplies Needed:
Small pumpkins (pie pumpkin size or even a gourd size pumpkin)
White paint (acrylic versus latex is better as it won't wash off)
Sparkles (black, white or silver or all colours!)
Black marker (permanent if your child is old enough to trust!! )
Glue gun
Plastic spider (or you could draw one on)

1. Paint the pumpkins white and cover all the orange. Avoid painting the stem which acts as a handle. While the paint is still wet, sprinkle the sparkles on so it dries in the paint.

2. Once the pumpkin is completely dry, trace the vertical lines of the pumpkin in black marker. Then connect the lines horizontally to create a spider web design on the pumpkin.

3. To add a spider to the pumpkin, either draw one on with the marker. Or glue gun on plastic spider on to create a 3D spider (we found a bag of 12 spiders at the dollar store).

 

halloween crafts- pumpkin painting party

Happy Halloween!

Posted by momstown mama on 10/15/2012 - 08:22
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Simple Pumpkin Decoration for Toddlers

 

Simple Pumpkin Decoration:

If you are stuck with an afternoon and your child is excited to break open the craft supplies, try this simple and fun pumpkin project for most ages!  With very few supplies, you can have a lovely decoration before nap time!

 

Cut out construction paper in pumpkin shape.

 pumpkin craft

 

Glue squares of orange tissue paper on.  Younger kids might just like to randomly place them, older kids might like to put on layers to make it full of orange!  You can also use the end of a pencil to make tissue stand up and have a 3-D pumpkin (it will be heavier and might need to be hung with string)!

 pumpkin craft, momstown.ca

 

Cut out black shapes for face elements using black construction paper, foam or left over scraps!  Let your little artist hang this Halloween decoration on their bedroom door or around the house!

pumpkin craft, momstown.ca

 

Remember, it's a HAPPY Halloween - not a SCARY one!

Posted by momstown mama on 10/10/2012 - 12:58
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40 Fun Fall Activities For Kids

 

1. Jump in a pile of leaves.  Make sure you take pictures!

2. Make baked apples

3. Visit a corn maze

4. Make leaf rubbings

5. Make a things we're thankful for tree (more on this soon)

6. Have a bonfire or campfire

7. Make people, shapes, and letters out of sticks and leaves

8. Roast pumpkin seeds

9. Pop popcorn in a pot on the stove

10. Watch the geese fly south

11. Make apple cider

12. Plant paperwhite bulbs for Christmas gifts and decorations (plant in mid November for Christmas blooms)

13. Make a scarecrow

14. Visit a fall fair

15. Go apple picking

16. Visit a favourite park and observe how it has changed since the summer

17. Join in a turkey trot fun run for a local charity

18. Donate food to the food bank. Consider canvassing your neighbours for donations too

19. Read "Pumpkin Soup" by Helen Cooper, and make pumpkin soup of your own

20. Help a neighbour rake their leaves

21. Spot an owl

22. Bake pumpkin cookies

23. Take a flashlight walk through your neighbourhood

24. Make pumpkin pie smoothies

25. Make leaf prints by dipping leaves into paint

26. Go for a walk in the forest to see the fall colours

27. Visit a pumpkin patch

28. Make thank you cards and give them out to people just because

29. Pumpkin Lattes! (order steamed milk for the kids)

30. Go through last year's winter gear, and make puppets out of single mittens

31. Plant tulip bulbs outside so you'll have flowers in spring

32. Visit a local farm and buy produce

33. Make apple butter

34. Have an indoor campout: set up a tent in the living room, roll out sleeping bags, and have hot dogs, smores, and other camping foods for dinner. Turn off the electronics and lights and read stories and games by flashlight

35. Embrace the wind and fly a kite

36. Collect pinecones.  Try to find different types and sizes.

37. Make a bird feeder

38. Go on a hayride

39. Host a winter kids gear swap with friends. Trade last year's too small coat for one that fits, and let the kids have a fashion show.  Donate any extra gear to charity

40. Make pumpkin pie playdough

 

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Posted by momstown Teach on 09/14/2012 - 16:10
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