Pumpkin Craft with Free Template

It's almost fall and that means pumpkin season!  Today I am sharing with you a pumpkin craft that is great for helping to build those fine motor muscles by tearing paper!  This pumpkin craft can make a great student created bulletin board, door display or hallway display!  Each pumpkin will turn out unique as each child creates the pumpkin in their own way.

This craft is great for toddlers up to kindergarteners.  Toddlers may need some help tearing the paper, or paper squares can be provided for them to glue to their pumpkin.  Kindergarteners can be given an extra step of adding a face to their pumpkin to create a jack-o-lantern.

First, you need to gather your materials.  You will need the pumpkin template (get it for free at the bottom of the post), orange paper, scissors, glue and something to color the stem with.

Each child will get a copy of the pumpkin template.  You will need to prep strips of orange paper for students ahead of time, or you can have the students cut their own strips for extra practice with scissor control.  I cut mine about a half an inch wide.

The next step is to let the students tear the strips of paper into small pieces.  Each student will need 5-6 strips of paper to fill their pumpkin.  You can also have them practice scissor skills here by snipping the strips into squares.

After tearing their paper, the students will glue them to their pumpkin.  They can place them in any way they want to create their own unique fall pumpkin craft.  

Pumpkins can be cut out and displayed as decorations for a pumpkin patch bulletin board, a pumpkin patch door decoration or a fun fall hallway display.

An optional step is to add a face to the pumpkin.  Students can cut their own shapes for their jack-o'lantern or select from precut shapes.  These jack-o'lanterns will also make a great bulletin board, door and hallway displays for Halloween.

CLICK HERE IF YOU CANNOT SEE THE FORM

Pumpkin Freebie Link

More Pumpkin Freebies

Pumpkin Subitizing and Addition Worksheets (The Chatty Kinder)

Pumpkin Color Matching (Live Love Motherhood)

Pumpkin Shapes (Crafty Curriculum)

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Ideas for Using Capital and Lowercase Letter Mats

These alphabet pages are one of my favorite alphabet activity mats.  They are versatile and allow for many kinds of activities.  With these alphabet mats, students can practice identifying letters, recognizing letters, matching letters and building letters.

SORTING MATS

One of my favorite ways to use these mats is as sorting mats.  I give my child a magazine and a pair of scissors and have them cut out examples of each letter and then sort them on these letter mats, putting the capital letter on the capital letter and the lowercase letter one the lowercase letter.  This activity makes a great literacy center or fine motor center for students to practice identifying and matching letters.

PLAYDOUGH MATS

To use these alphabet outlines as playdough mats, simply print the letters on regular paper.  From here, you have 2 options.  You can either laminate the pages or place the pages in page protectors.  By doing one of these two things, you can reuse these mats and not worry about the playdough sticking.  You then grab some playdough and begin filling each letter.

MANIPULATIVE MATS

You start by printing off each letter on regular paper.  Next, you locate objects to fill your letter mat.  For example, you can use apple mini erasers for the letter A, or marshmallows for the letter M.  You use these objects to line the letter outlines to form the letter.

CAPITAL AND LOWERCASE LETTER OUTLINES

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Watermelon Craft for Summer

It's summertime!  One of the things we love most about summer is when the watermelons get ripe!  My dad grows them in his garden and each year we get a few fresh watermelon to munch.  Watermelons also make a great theme to center activities around during the summer!  This watermelon craft is perfect for adding to your summer craft rotation for your little ones.

The first thing you will need is to gather the materials.  You will need the watermelon craft template, strips of red, green and black paper, as well as some glue.   I chose to use two shades of green to get the rind affect of the watermelon, but this is totally optional.

After gathering all of your materials, have your little one tear the paper into small pieces.  By allowing them to teat the pieces, you give the child a chance to develop those fine motor skills that their little hands will need for writing in the future.  If the child is unable to tear, or becomes frustrated with the task of tearing, then you can cut the strips into squares for the child to glue to their watermelon.

The next step is to have the child place the colored paper onto their watermelon template.  I used stick glue and rubbed it on a larger area for my 3 year old to place the paper on.  You can use cotton swabs to dab glue dots as well for less mess with this craft.

Once all your paper pieces are on the template you are done!  Allow the watermelon to dry, then you can leave as is, or cut out the watermelon to create a display!

Watermelon Craft Template

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