Painting Pumpkins With a Six Month Old!

We've been having a lot of fall fun around here! Earlier in the month we went apple picking, we went to a pumpkin patch and the first of several Halloween Parties. I love carving pumpkins, it's one of my favorite parts of the year. I wanted to figure out a way to include H in that fun.

My stroller strides group had a pumpkin painting activity for the little ones that we had to miss. I figured I would recreate the painting experience at home, close to our bathtub. I procured some non-toxic tempera paint, paint brushes, modge-podge spray (since the non-toxic paint is also water soluble) and pumpkins. We've been having beautiful weather so I thought I would set up shop outside - then little H boycotted his nap and ended up falling asleep way early and tonight the weather took a turn for the worst. I wasn't going to let the crazy Colorado weather ruin my fall fun, so I set up shop in the garage. We put H in an old T-shirt and then covered him and the bumbo (without strap) with an old towel.

We let him paint two pumpkins with a little cleaning up in between. For the first pumpkin, I applied the paint to the pumpkin with a sponge brush and let him move it around with his hands. On the second pumpkin, I let him dip his hands in the paint and then tried to aim them at the pumpkin. The first method was much more successful. H loved the feel of the paint and just wanted to put his hands in the paint over and over and over. I was glad we did this at home, close to our washing machine and the bathtub. As soon as he got tired of the activity, he was plucked in the tub and his t-shirt was put in the wash. The paint came right out of both H and our clothing.

Once H was bathed and in bed my artistically inclined sister and I took to the pumpkins. She painted this adorable face, inspired by Tim Burton. I had big plans for using my tulip puff paint to make intricate dots on my pumpkin in a pattern. Unfortunately, the black puff paint must have had a clogged nozzle, because while applying pressure to the bottle the top popped off and went EVERYWHERE. Yes. I made a bigger mess then my 6 month old. With the black paint all over the tarp and only my glow-in-the-dark puff paint left, I decided to stick with something simple. I was able to salvage a bit of the black paint to make a cute little spider. Modge-podge spray was applied to all of the pumpkins and it seems to be helping everything stick, although with the threat of snow, we moved the pumpkins into the garage.

All in all, a very successful activity - H certainly thinks so!

Happy Crafting!