It’s Halloween time! That means it’s time for jack-o’-lanterns! This jack-o’-lantern craft is lots of fun, and has a great fine motor skill activity built into the making of it where little ones practice a bit of sewing! Little ones will also love stuffing the jack -o’-lantern to make it puff up like a pumpkin, and choosing what kind of face to give their jack-o’-lantern. You might like to put a face on both sides of your pumpkin, like we did, so you can also practice opposites (we did happy and sad!) or just have more fun with silly faces! For some great pumpkin face ideas, watch our Super Simple Songs videos for Can You Make A Happy Face? and Five Little Pumpkins! Happy Halloween!
Things you’ll need
- two paper plates
- black construction paper for the face
- green or brown construction paper for the stem
- hole punch
- orange craft paint
- paintbrush
- glue stick
- something to stuff the pumpkin with: tissue, newspaper and plastic bags all work great!
Steps
Paint the bottom of two paper plates orange, and set aside to dry.
Cut out the shapes for your jack-o’-lantern face from black construction paper and glue them into place.
Line up your paper plates so that the pumpkin is in upright position with the faces facing out. With a hole punch, punch holes around the edges while holding both plates together. Space the holes about one and a half inches apart. Don’t worry if the plates get a little squished during this process, we are going to puff it out later!
Now it’s time to sew the two plates together! It helps to wrap a piece of tape to the tip of the yarn – this will make it easier to stick through the holes. Sew both plates together with orange yarn but leave an opening of 3 holes!
Stuff your pumpkin with the stuffing of your choice. Tissues, newspaper or plastic bags work well. You may want to check your pumpkin string and make sure it is tight enough and that both plates are close together. Once your pumpkin is stuff, finish sewing the yarn into the remaining holes and tie a knot to secure it into place.
To finish off your pumpkin you can add a stem cut out from brown or green construction paper, and add it to the top of your pumpkin. Just add some glue and stick it into the top of the pumpkin between the plates.
Ta-da! A spooky, squishy jack-o’-lantern!
For more fun and learning with Halloween pumpkins, watch Caitie’s Classroom’s episode all about jack-o’-lanterns!
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