I’m all about keeping it simple when it comes to kid activities. Most toddlers/preschoolers (well, at least mine) have the attention span of about 30 seconds, so I try not to over-complicate activities we do together.
This activity was super-simple, and the kids worked on it for half an hour (!!!). If you convert that to adult time (like how dog years convert to human years), that’s the equivalent of 4 hours. Lol! In other words, that’s a long time for my kids to actively engage in a single activity. And it only cost $3.
Supplies:
- Wooden cut-out for painting (this jack-o-lantern was $3 in Target’s dollar spot area)
- Paints (I used some colors I already had on hand)
- Foam brushes or paint brushes
- Aprons
- Newspaper to cover work area
I set the kids up outside to paint on a small table that they could stand at. I learned my lesson the last time we painted inside and I was worried the whole time about my walls getting painted.
To keep mess as minimal as possible, I spread out newspaper and put aprons on both of them. They started by painting the whole pumpkin bright orange. Then I gave them smaller amounts of white, burnt orange, and brown to add in. The different colors looked awesome after my son blended them in. We repeated this process at least 4 times, so that pumpkin has a lot of coats of paint on it!
After the fifth coat of paint, they didn’t want to stop painting and requested something else, so I pulled out these extra wooden butterflies that were leftover from my daughter’s birthday party last month.
Isn’t he cute? They did a great job and had a lot of fun! I’m going to write their names and the year on the back, and it will be a fun & meaningful decoration to use in the coming years.
Here’s a close-up look at the blended colors.
Hope this provides some inspiration! Kid crafts can be super-simple and lots of fun!
View Comments (4)
Great idea & great keepsake! I can see them treasuring this as adults!
Thanks! And they were surprisingly cooperative painting something together! ;-)
What a great job they did! Mom did a great job on this project. Can't wait to see them.
Thanks, Kathy!