While I wish time would slow down with our daughter, I’m so excited that she’s reached the age where we can start crafting together. She’s still a little young and doesn’t really understand the concept, but I have to start her young! Last Halloween we had our first experience crafting together. I dipped her foot in white paint and stamped it on a little pumpkin we bought to create a ghost out of the shape of her foot. At the time she was a little over 3 months old, so I did all of the work and she got to sit by the pumpkin and look cute. It was glorious.
A few months ago I made her “paint” out of Greek yogurt and food coloring and sat her on top of a big poster board and we finger painted together. The first time she was very afraid of the paint, but the second time around she was covered and eating all the paint she could get her hands on. Aren’t babies funny?
With Halloween approaching, I wanted to come up with a craft we could work on together and thought, what could be better than painting a pumpkin? I knew it was going to be messy, but was glad it was something she could technically do on her own.
We ended up making a couple of cute, messy polka dot pumpkins by using little circular stick sponges that you can find at any craft store. The sticks the sponges are on made it really easy for her to use and press against the pumpkin. I helped guide her, which she was surprisingly fine with.
Here’s another one we made together. If you’re looking to create a more colorful pumpkin, I’d recommend buying stick sponges (square shaped) and a bunch of different paints and letting your child go wild – let them spark their creativity!
If you end up painting a polka dot pumpkin with your child, don’t forget to tag #marinamakesdiy. I can’t wait to see what you and your child come up with!
Fair warning, our daughter loved it so much that she screamed when I took the sponge away from her. Good luck with that. 🙂
Supplies
- Newspaper or something to cover the surface you’re painting on
- Craft paint (whatever color(s) you desire)
- Paper plate
- Pumpkin(s)
- 3-4 circular sponge sticks
- Smock for your child – we have these bibs from IKEA and they rock!
Directions
Put your child in his/her smock or cover up before any of the mess starts.
Lay newspaper on the surface you’re painting on. Place pumpkin on top of the newspaper. Squirt about a tablespoon of each paint color on the paper plate. Dip each sponge into the different colors of paint and direct your child on how to press the sponge on the pumpkin.
Marina Makes 