Paper Mache Pumpkins

My kids love to go to school and I am so thankful for this.  So, when last week came around and there were a few day without school due to the Teacher's Convention, I decided to find something to do with the kids to get them excited and give them something to do instead of asking me how many more days until they get to go back to school!  So, paper mache pumpkins was the chosen craft.  Kendra was beyond thrilled as she has been asking for probably the last year to paper mache a balloon and I have just always been able to come up with some sort of excuse why it "just wouldn't work today"!  Here is a quick rundown of what we did:

Start with a balloon and position it on a bowl.  Hide behind them while your mom is trying to take your picture!

Rip up lots of strips of newspaper and mix together the paper mache mix.  there are lots of different 'recipes' for this but I just used equal amounts of flour and water with a few squirts of Elmer's glue added.  Seemed to work pretty good!

Use half a toilet paper roll and tape it to the top of your balloon to make the pumpkin stem.

Dip your strips into the mix and apply them to your balloon.  Or, as Owen decided, have you mom do it for you because you don't like getting your hands dirty!

After sitting for a day and drying, apply a second coat of newspaper strips. 

For the final layer, use paper towels.  This gives it a rough texture and makes it easier to paint over later.

Paint.  "Pumpkin Orange" paint from the dollar store worked very well.

Decide on a face for your pumpkin.  Draw on with pencil and then paint black.

And voila, pumpkins that won't rot to display on your mantel, happy and proud children and a mom who doesn't have to hear "When can we paper mache a balloon?" again for a while!!