Silly Pumpkin Gourd

Pumpkin gourds – or jack-be-littles, as some say — are the perfect size for small hands to decorate. Easily grasped and light weight, children love to paint, draw on and stick these fall harvest treasures. This quick and easy craft uses classic, brass push pins with colorful coatings — found at most office supply stores. The push pin points are dull enough to keep most kids safe, but if your children are still at risk of randomly swallowing or sniffing small objects than this is an activity I would avoid. I used this craft for my son’s second grade class Halloween party and they loved it. Some of the children used multiple “eye” push pins to create a monster gourd, others only used one eye to make a cyclops. The pumpkin gourds are inexpensive enough to buy in bulk and display in groups to add a festive Halloween spirit to every room of your home.

Supplies

pumpkin gourd or “jack-be-little”

brass push pins with colorful tops

black, permanent Sharpie marker

white paint pen

1. With black Sharpie marker draw dots on white and yellow push pins to make pupils for your eye balls. Placing the dots in various locations around the circular push pin front will provide added expression for your face as well.

2. Use white paint pen to draw fangs or teeth on other colored push pins like blue, green or red.

3. Push the pins into the pumpkin gourd to create your silly (or scary) face design.

©2010 tricia barry biagi