Autumn is a time of colors and rainy evenings. Days get shorter and the cold weather is perfect for staying inside and playing with your children. You can take this time to try and craft some autumn decorations with your little ones. They’ll be a great addition to your home or garden and your child will surely have a lot of fun crafting them.
Paint some pumpkins with the little ones
You’ve probably noticed those tiny pumpkins we can find in shops during the autumn season. They look best carved with a candle inside. Of course, sharp objects don’t belong in children’s hands, so we have to figure out something else to do with them. A better idea is to buy a brush and some acrylic paints your child can safely use on the pumpkins. Let their imagination run wild.
Would you like to add letters or patterns to your pumpkin? Easy! Draw your desired pattern on the surface of the pumpkin and put some sticky tape over it before giving it to your child for painting. Once the paint is dry, simply tear off the tape and your pattern will become visible.
Pumpkins with hand prints are a lovely memory of autumn days. They’re also very easy to craft even when your child is still very young. For older children, we recommend drawing cartoon characters and creatures on the pumpkin instead.
Making a collage
Children love cutting out shapes from a sheet of paper. You can use this to make a nice pumpkin collage. Just draw a pumpkin shape on a sheet of paper and let your child do the rest. You’ll only need a pair of scissors, glue, and some colored papers or magazines. You can use cut-out pieces of paper to craft a spooky Halloween lantern, too. The materials you’ll need are the same as before, but you’ll also need a glass jar.
Try stamping
‘Stamping’ pumpkins on paper is also great fun. The first idea you can try is to stamp painted building blocks onto a pre-drawn picture of a pumpkin. You’ll need acrylic paints, a building block from any building kit, paper, scissors, and glue. Even the smallest children will have no problem handling this activity if you help them cut the pumpkin out once it’s done. You can then hang your child’s picture on your fridge.
If you don’t have any building blocks available around the house, you can also use half of an apple (you can eat the other half). Dip the apple into some orange paint and press it against the paper to leave a mark. When the paint dries, you just need to finish the picture by painting the pumpkin stem and a spooky Halloween face.
Crafting decorations is a fun and fulfilling way to spend some time with your little one. It will bring laughter and joy, but also make a big mess. Children’s motor skills aren’t fully developed yet and even a simple task such as painting a picture will probably result in paint flying far and wide. If you want to avoid cleaning up a big mess, you’d do best to prepare in advance. Pick a place where you’ll do the painting and put down some newspapers or plastic. A little cleaning up is well worth it, though.
Pictures provided by Pinterest.
