Smoosh and Stamp Pumpkin art for kids: a fun and easy Halloween craft for toddlers and preschoolers to make.
Well, here we are, the day before Halloween! We’ve been doing crafting for Halloween in my daycare these past few weeks. Today, on our last day of daycare before Halloween, we used one of my favourite toddler painting techniques to make this Smoosh and Stamp Pumpkin Art.
It combines a few of the kids’ favourite art techniques – smoosh painting and stamping.
I’ve had this little pumpkin art project in the back of my mind for weeks, and I’m really glad we got around to it today. It was very cool! And like most of our projects, it was inexpensive, and easy enough for even the youngest Hooligans to have fun with.
Supplies needed for smoosh painting your halloween pumpkin art:
- Paint (we used orange, red, yellow, brown and green)
- Plastic grocery bag
- Stamps for eyes/nose/mouth (we used wooden blocks, and I made a couple from yogurt containers and styrofoam)
- Cardboard or sturdy construction paper for your “canvas”
Start by drizzling your paint on your canvas; pumpkin colours on the main part of the page and a small drizzle of green at the top for the stem of the pumpkin.
Now place your plastic bag on top of your canvas and start smooshing, patting and rubbing the paint all around.
Smoosh it well. You want good coverage here. To keep things even tidier, slip your canvas INTO the plastic bag and smoosh away!
Lift up your plastic bag and voila!
If you’re not happy with your coverage, place the bag back down and smoosh again.
We used a hair dryer to dry our pumpkins so we could get to the stamping.
I made a few stamps for eyes, noses and mouths by cutting some foam packaging and hot gluing the pieces to a few small containers (yogurt containers are great for this).
I also pulled out a few wooden blocks from our block bucket so the Hooligan’s would have a variety of shapes to choose from.
They dipped their stamps in some black paint and turned their pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns.
Some chose to be quite deliberate in how they stamped, and some were more creative. This little Hooligans rubbed and smeared her stamps around creating a beautiful collage.
As a final touch, we added “teeth”. I set out corn kernels, borrowed from our corn bin, and white pasta leftover from our “boneyard wreath” project.
How cute is THIS?!
Aren’t they fabulous? I love that each one is so unique and beautiful!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!
Looking for more pumpkin art ideas for toddlers and preschoolers?
Check out this easy and adorable pumpkin art project the kids made recently. And how about these smoosh painted pumpkins? They were a ton of fun to make!
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Jackie is a mom, wife, home daycare provider, and the creative spirit behind Happy Hooligans. She specializes in kids’ crafts and activities, easy recipes, and parenting. She began blogging in 2011, and today, Happy Hooligans inspires more than 2 million parents, caregivers and Early Years Professionals all over the globe.
Arlee
I. Love.These. Seriously!!! So pretty, Jackie!!! Maybe the smalls will get a minute to do these tomorrow!!
happyhooligans
Thanks Arlee! I hope you get a chance to do them! They’re so fun!
Sandi Purdell-Lewis
I love how all the colours mixed together with the plastic bag. Beautiful. Hmmm … thinking blues, purples, black for a night sky ….
Jennifer Denning Carlson
wonder if I’m missing something — All I get is the title and then a sub-title “you may also like” with 8 photos.
happyhooligans
Hi, Jennifer. Thanks for letting me know that the post isn’t loading correctly for you. I’m able to see the full post, but I did just have the same thing happen to another post a few minutes ago, so I’m not sure if it’s just a glitch or if something else is going on. I’m going to look into it. Meantime, if you can check the link again, and if it does load for you, would you please let me know?
Athena
I am getting the same glitch on your pages… 🙁
happyhooligans
Thanks for letting me know, Athena. I’m hoping to have it all resolved today.
Miranda Riley (@warpedweaving)
I love your post! I’m happy that you illustrated that it’s okay for the kids to have a ‘pumpkin’ that doesn’t really look like a real pumpkin. I’m an elementary school special ed teacher and when we do art projects, a lot of times my paraprofessionals want to help the kids make theirs look ‘right.’ Whatever they create is right!! More power to the kiddo that smeared the black stamps all over his/her pumpkin. I think these are fabulous.
happyhooligans
I’m so glad you agree, Miranda. I think one of the greatest lessons that you can offer your paraprofessionals is that the process is so much more important than the product. It’s during the process that the children can experiment, create, and learn while using their own personal skills and creative talents, rather than stressing about their picture being perfect or whether or not it will please someone else. Good for you!
Chelsey @ Buggy and Buddy
I so love this!!! (Not to mention your famous adorable denim aprons are being worn!) What a fun art project for any age. Thank you so much for linking up to this week’s Discover & Explore!
Shelly
Im so jealous that we dont live near you! My kids would be your biggest fans! I ran a Registered Daycare in my home for several years and I loved doing crafty educational projects and field trips. But my own kids are all older now and due to health reasons Im just not able to do as much any more. I follow your pins and posts and look forward to trying some of them with our adopted 1 yr old and bribing my teenagers into participating too!