Step 7: Add more finishing touches, like jagged lines where the stem meets the pumpkin. Also, add the veins in the stem by sketching uneven, thin lines with light pressure.
Carving & Decorating Pumpkins: 5 Benefits for Your Child
For most kids, the best part of October may be eating tons of candy on Halloween. However, there’s another part of the season all children can enjoy – decorating a pumpkin!
Here are five benefits of letting your child carve or decorate a pumpkin this fall.
Picking out a pumpkin can be a great learning opportunity, especially for younger children. Bring your children to the store and let them choose a pumpkin! Compare pumpkins, and ask your children about differences in texture, size and more. Will they choose a wide, bumpy pumpkin, or a bright orange, tiny pumpkin? Let their imaginations run wild!
Before your child carves their chosen pumpkin, they have to have a game plan! Although your children may want to jump straight into carving, encourage them to think ahead and draw a design first. Even if your children want simple faces for their pumpkins, having them draw a design first will allow them to think critically about how they will approach their art.
Scooping out the inside of the pumpkin is a fun sensory experience
Your children may have eaten pumpkin pie, but have they seen a pumpkin’s goopy insides? Separating the pumpkin seeds from the pumpkin guts can be a fun sensory experience for many children, especially those who like slime. After baking the separated pumpkin seeds, your children can also enjoy a yummy treat.
The carving process can be difficult for many children. Depending on the age of your child, you should guide their carving hand with your hand. This will allow them to develop those fine motor skills in a safe manner.
Make No-Cook Pumpkin Pies
Here’s what you need:
- Two boxes of vanilla instant pudding
- One 15-ounce can of pumpkin
- Graham crackers
- Whipped cream
- A cleaned, large, empty, preferably plastic coffee container
- Ziploc bag
Open the boxes of vanilla pudding with your child. Smell the pudding powder, lick your finger and put it into the powder and taste it.
Next, pour the pudding powder into the empty coffee container along with the amount of milk needed as per pudding directions. Now the fun part… Shake the container fast, then slow, maybe even to a song. Roll the container to each other back-and-forth. Turn the container upside down, Pat the top, tap the bottom and repeat these motions for about 5 to 7 minutes until you feel the pudding thickening. Open up the container and pour about half of the can of pumpkin inside. Put the top back on and shake, shake, shake, roll, roll, roll, tap, tap, tap, until all mixed.
Set that to the side to prepare the graham crackers. Put several graham crackers in a Ziploc bag and seal the bag. Tap the graham crackers in the bag until they are crushed, tap them slow, fast, maybe to a beat. Pour a small amount inside the cup. Open up the coffee container and pour the pumpkin pudding inside the cup on top of the graham crackers. Top it with whip cream and enjoy.
Make Pumpkin Playdough
Here’s what you’ll need:
- 2 cups plain flour (all purpose)
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup salt
- 2 tablespoons cream of tartar
- Up to 1 cup warm water (adding in increments until it feels just right)
- Orange food coloring (optional)
- Pumpkin spice
Open the boxes of vanilla pudding with your child. Smell the pudding powder, lick your finger and put it into the powder and taste it.
Next, pour the pudding powder into the empty coffee container along with the amount of milk needed as per pudding directions. Now the fun part… Shake the container fast then slow, maybe even to a song. Roll the container to each other back-and-forth. Turn the container upside down, Pat the top, tap the bottom and repeat these motions for about 5 to 7 minutes until you feel the pudding thickening. Open up the container and pour about half of the can of pumpkin inside. Put the top back on and shake, shake, shake, roll, roll, roll, tap, tap, tap, until all mixed.
Set that to the side to prepare the graham crackers. Put several graham crackers in a Ziploc bag and seal the bag. Tap the graham crackers in the bag until they are crushed, tap them slow, fast, maybe to a beat. Pour a small amount inside the cup. Open up the coffee container and pour the pumpkin pudding inside the cup on top of the graham crackers. Top it with whip cream and enjoy.
Make Pumpkin Playdough
Here’s what you’ll need:
- 2 cups plain flour (all purpose)
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup salt
- 2 tablespoons cream of tartar
- Up to 1 cup warm water (adding in increments until it feels just right)
- Orange food coloring (optional)
- Pumpkin spice
Mix the flour, salt, pumpkin spice, cream of tartar and oil in a large mixing bowl
Add food coloring to the warm water and then the dry ingredients (color optional).
Stir continuously until it becomes a sticky, combined dough.
Take it out of the bowl and knead vigorously for a couple of minutes until all the stickiness has gone. This is the most important part of the process, so keep at it until it’s the perfect consistency!
If it remains a little sticky, then add a touch more flour until just right.
Put in a Ziploc bag for storage and have fun over and over again.
How to Draw a Chalk Pumpkin
It’s no surprise that I love chalk art year round, but I think there’s something particularly special about it during the Fall season! Maybe it’s the black of the chalkboard combined with the orange of a pumpkin that I find so fitting. For all of you drawing chalkboards for your Haloween or Thanksgiving decor & projects, this tutorial is for you!
You will need:
A chalkboard
White chalk (Crayola White Anti-Dust is my favorite)
A pencil sharpener with two holes (the larger hole will fit and sharpen the chalk for better precision while you are drawing!)
Step 1: Begin by drawing an oval or circular shaped outline depending on how plump you want your pumpkin drawing to be. Add a thick stem within the outline.
Step 2: Smudge some chalk into the stem and begin drawing in the pumpkin ridges. I like starting with the segment in the middle, which is drawn in the shape of a skinny almond. Draw the rest of the ridges working your way out on the same curve and with similar spaces left in between each. We’re still laying down our base shape.
Step 3: Now it’s time tweak, smudge, and add dimension! Chalk is nothing more than dust on a surface so you can create really lovely texture and shadowing by smudging the dust. Starting on the right side of the pumpkin, extend the ridges by adding chalk dust that will later be smudged. Once you pass the center ridge, add chalk dust to the left side of the ridges.
Step 4: Using your best tool (your fingers!), smudge the chalk so that it approaches the ridge beside it but doesn’t quite touch. Continue with each section of the pumpkin. The darkness on one side gives the appearance of shadowing between each ridge.
Step 5: Finish the bottom of the pumpkin by defining the sections and filling in the shadowing to match the previous step.
Step 6: Add additional texture to the pumpkin with drawn lines and markings. I like to use a “hatch mark” pattern in some places just to give it more interest.
Step 7: Add more finishing touches, like jagged lines where the stem meets the pumpkin. Also, add the veins in the stem by sketching uneven, thin lines with light pressure.
Step 8: The pumpkin itself is finished, but there are a few more add-ons that I love adding to pumpkin drawings! Draw rough lines under the pumpkin to ground it.
Step 9: Add vines and leaves to either side as if they are emerging from behind the pumpkin. Smudge chalk into the leaves for texture and draw their veins.
And here is our finished pumpkin! I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Be sure to get your copy of The Complete Book of Chalk Lettering for all of my chalky tips, tricks, and techniques! Signed copies will be returning to lilyandval.com very soon! Happy Chalking!
