Easy Pumpkin Crafts for Kids

Pumpkins are such a fun and easy shape to use for all sorts of craft projects. Even little kids can make super cute crafts with pumpkins like these.

For the littlest kids, this mess-free pumpkin painting project from Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds is a great one. The post includes a printable pumpkin shape you can use to make the project.

This paper strip pumpkin is one of the easiest for little kids to make and gives them a chance to practice their gluing skills. Get the DIY from Color the Moon.

A suncatcher is another easy one for little kids because it looks great almost no matter how you do it. Get the instructions from Fantastic Fun and Learning.

Painting with baking soda is a fun STEAM craft that makes a cool effect. You can find all the details at Inspiration Laboratories.

Using paper strips to make a pumpkin (or an apple if you make it with red paper) is a classic quick and easy craft. You can make this a Thanksgiving craft instead of a Halloween craft by adding things the kids are thankful for to the strips. This idea is from One Little Project. They’ve also got a good post about making yarn pumpkins, which also could be apples if you use red yarn, or you can just make yarn balls in any color you like (add an LED candle to make a super cute lantern).

Speaking of paper pumpkins, another fun three-dimensional paper pumpkin project is this one from Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls. Use plain orange paper, Halloween themed scrapbook paper, or let kids draw on whatever paper you use to make these fun little pumpkins.

Get out your felt and make these little jack o’lantern softies, which can be made no sew as Sunny Day Family shows them, or you can let kids practice their sewing skills on this simple shape.

Next Plan Idea:

Suncatchers for Kids to Make

The celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe is important throughout Mexico and other parts of the world. Her feast day is Dec. 12, and the celebrations honoring her appearance to Juan Diego in 1531 begin a few days before that.

Whether you celebrate yourself or just want to share about the celebration at home or in your classroom, Las Mañanitas: The Beautiful Celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe is a good place to start. The book, by Ernesto Joel Vega Rosales and Jeanette Gonzalez Seneviratne, with illustrations by Dana Sanmar, tells the story of a family’s celebration of the feast day in both English and Spanish.

They prepare with a novena, which is nine days of prayers and preparations. The children, Lucia and Pablo, are given special outfits made by their grandmother that look like what Juan Diego might have worn when he saw Our Lady. The book describes the prayers that are made each day, such as a prayer for respect for life, for families and for the indigenous people of the Americas, to name a few.

As told in the book, Juan Diego was a native Mexican born near modern day Mexico City. His given name was Cuaauhtlatoatzin, which means “He who speaks like an eagle.” When he converted to Christianity his name was changed to Juan Diego, and as he walked to church he passed a hill called Tepeyac. One day he heard the birds singing especially beautifully and a voice called him to go to the top of the hill.

There he saw Our Lady of Guadalupe, who asked him to tell the bishop she wanted a chapel built in her name at the foot of the hill. The bishop asked for a sign that Juan Diego really saw her, and later she had him collect flowers that she blessed and take them to the bishop. When Juan Diego dropped the flowers, an image of Our Lady could be seen on his cloak, which is still on display in her basilica to this day.

The feast day is celebrated as mañanitas, which includes singing, indigenous music and dancing, and children presenting flowers to Our Lady. Juan Diego is remembered today as being humble, brave and faithful, and was the first indigenous American made a saint.

The book is colorful and tells the story in a clear way, and it’s fun to have it both in English and Spanish if you teach Spanish or speak Spanish at home or in the classroom. It’s a great way to learn the basics of the celebration and the story of Juan Diego and why he is still remembered today.

About the book: 40 pages, paperback, published 2024 by Loyola Press. Suggested retail price $14.99.

Next Plan Idea:

Have you read?

Leave a Reply