Puffy Pumpkins

Since it is almost Hallowe'en I've been doing some crafts with the special class that I work with in one of my schools.  Last week we made these adorable pumpkins out of two pairs of panyhose, some batting, paint, and black felt.   I love their lumpy-bumpy uniqueness.

They are pretty simple to make so I'll explain how we made them in case you are wanting a last minute Hallowe'en craft.  I didn't take any photos during the process as my hands were busy helping the students. 

Here's how you make them:
1.  Cut off the panty and the toe part of two pairs of pantyhose
2.  Lay all 4 legs of the pantyhose on top of each other on the table and tie a knot in the middle.   When you spread the legs out you now have 8 pieces coming out from the centre knot.
3.  Stuff each leg with batting
4.  Pull the loose ends of each leg together at the top and tie them with some string
5.  Paint the pumpkins - we used tempera paints with orange for the body and a greeny-brown for the stem
6.  Cut out face pieces from black felt (or black foam) and glue them on

I have to say that making these crafts with the kids is a part of my job that I really enjoy.  And in case you are wondering, the classroom teacher and I made the students work for all the pieces they needed to use and before they could paint each section of the pumpkin.  There was a lot of rhyming and identifying sounds happening in the class as the students were all very motivated to make their pumpkins.   

I took pictures of each child's pumpkin so they can write about them next week.  Nothing better than a little pumpkin photo-shoot.

Here's what the same class made last year (you can read how to make them here).