Happy Halloween! If you guys are anything like me then you are probably frantically running around pulling out storage bins with halloween gear and planning all the things last minute for tonight. How can these holidays sneak up on us so fast?! It seems like yesterday I had Ella and the day before that I was frantically trying to find the Fourth of July shirts! I need time to slow down so that I can catch up! Also I need to stop using exclamation marks (!!!).
So yesterday I realized that we had done no toddler pumpkin with my littlest nugget and since all three little boys were home, I decided to do a craft with them. Introducing our newest arrival…..we shall call him Joseph. (get it? Coat of many colors? Any takers?)
All three boys were super into it. And since this was a ‘sitting-down’ activity….so was I. I’m into anything that burns the fewest calories possible 🙂
So the first thing that we gathered up was some broken crayons. We have plenty of those. Actually all of our crayons were broken….because my kids apparently have the forearm strength required to lift a rhinoceros.
And you need a little white pumpkin. We got ours at a grocery store. And now that grocery store, along with Walmart and Home Depot and all of Loganville has no more carving pumpkins. I wish I were kidding but since I delayed….now I am gonna have to carve a watermelon. Or spending $30 on one pumpkin. I’m still weighing the options.
So we took the crayons and hot glued them into the top. The kids took turns picking the colors.
And then they took turns with the blowdryer. Guys…..I have seen this waxy-pumpkin-tutorial on Instagram and it took less than 7 seconds for all the crayons to melt and blend together. DO NOT BELIEVE THESE LIES. It takes a solid 12 minutes….the kids will loose interest….so you mom will end up blowdrying a pumpkin for 11 minutes….at least.
And it is definitely messy so you want a board under your project. But the shrieks of excitement are pretty fun when the crayons start to melt….and those are just noises from you….you should hear the kids! ha!
The end result is so fun….
We put ours up on the shelf after the wax hardened up and it looks like artwork. And the benefit over doing this with paint is….paint rubs off when you handle a pumpkin….this doesn’t.
It’s super cute right? I definitely see us trying this again….maybe next time with a heat gun instead of a blow dryer….because I think it would be less messy and displace the crayons less at the top.
Have you guys cones this project with your kiddos before? What did you find worked best….heat gun or blow dryer? And did the types of crayons matter? It definitely helps to have a white pumpkin so at least we did that right! And now I’m off to get all the costumes together, find our pumpkin carving stuff, buy candies for the trick or treaters and try to work in a shower! Stay safe y’all and hope you get it all done!