Five Little Pumpkins Craft

Art projects and/or crafts are fun. Decorating with them is even more fun, especially in the Fall. However, with a budget, it's not always easy so I came up with a five little pumpkins craft that is cheap, simple and fun. If you have children, they'll love this. It doesn't take long so they won't lose interest and what child doesn't love painting? Now, if you're a coffee drinker and you do in fact have children, then you should have all the things you'll need for this craft already in your home. 

YOU WILL NEED

Coffee Filters, Glass of Water, Paint Brush, Watercolor Paint, Green Thread, Scissors and Cotton Balls.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Take a coffee filter and crumple it up, so it's all wrinkly. Then smooth it out into a big circle. 
2. Use anywhere between one and five cotton balls. If you want a big pumpkin use five, a baby pumpkin use one. Place the cotton ball(s) in the middle of the coffee filter. Pull the sides of the coffee filter up and over the cotton balls, cinch together and twist. 
3. Take your green thread and cut about a foot off. Use one end of the thread to securely tie the top of your pumpkin together. Leave enough coffee filter for the stem of your pumpkin. If you're making baby pumpkins, then you'll need to trim the excess but always leave enough for a nice stem on your pumpkin.
4. Now comes the paint, the fun part. I love using watercolor on coffee filters because it only takes a tiny bit of water and paint to bleed throughout the paper giving it a really cool look. Don't use too much water though, or the cotton balls will get heavy and rip through the filter. 
5. Once painted, hang to dry. With that long piece of green thread you cut, make a knotted loop at the other end, so you can hang them up. I have mine hanging from my chandelier in the dining room. Now you could opt to add goggly eyes or paint/marker on jack-o-lantern faces to your pumpkins. I didn't because I want to keep them up for Thanksgiving as well.

For my children, I have always tried to do a five little pumpkins theme because since they were babies I've sang them the song. My version may be a little different than some out there but it's close enough... 

There were five little pumpkins sitting on a gate. 

The first one said, "Oh my, it's getting late."

The second one said, "There are witches in the air!" 

The third one said, "Ah, we don't care."

The fourth one said, "Let's run, let's run!"

The fifth one said, "It's Halloween fun!"

And OOOOOOOOH went the wind, 

And OUT went the lights, 

And the five little pumpkins rolled right out of sight.

If you're serious about singing this to children, you gotta do it right and not hold anything back. Be sure to get very animated, like holding up five fingers, then one, two and so on... Sound scared when you say "There are witches in the air!" Shrug your shoulders when you say "Ah, we don't care." Pretend scared again and fake run with your arms like Jim Carrey does in Dumb and Dumber. Get excited because it's Halloween Fun! Clap your hands together loudly when you say "OUT" or be close to a light switch and turn the lights off. I think you get the point and you're probably thinking I'm a little lame, but it can be a really fun song. It's something I have loved since I was little and still makes me excited for Halloween. My kids seem to love it too. So, there you have it. Enjoy and have fun!