Pumpkin Fest

Yep, pumpkin season is over as far as crafts go; but you can still buy the colorful gourds at the stores. Since I already did paper strip pumpkins this season, next year I will repeat this pumpkin craft.

When I saw this craft on Pinterest, I jumped at the idea to do these with by kinder/first graders.  I was looking for ideas to improve the kids cutting ability. I got a lot of flack from a few of the older boys for destroying "perfectly good books".  In part, I agreed with them; and on the other hand, I told them I bought them from the thrift store.  The thought of recycling a book into a new object was foreign to them.   Yes, I had to help a few cut, but they were good troupers and hung in there.  There were few complaints, which was amazing in itself.  There were a few steps that I did not follow on http://craftingmom.com/pumpkin-decorations-made-from-recycled-books/ just because I had a young group.

The cutting is the most consuming, repetitious thing. As you can see, our table is crowded with other
crafts the kids are doing.

No sponge painting for us.  We cheated by buying orange spray paint.  Since our room had no windows, we had to make a spray paint station outside.  The fumes would linger too long in the classroom.

Supplies:
1. paperback books
2. markers
3. scissors
4. twigs or construction paper
5. spray paint (orange, or if you prefer, whatever color matches your decor)
6. hot glue gun or regular white glue

Directions:
1. tear cover off of books
2. draw a pumpkin template on book page
3. cut around the template for each page of book
4. open book so that the spine is facing at you
5. hot glue your twig or rolled construction onto the spine of book
6. hot glue across front page, back page, and spine
7. press front page and back page together
8. fan out the pages
9. spray paint your pumpkin
10. add ribbon, leaf, or other decor

Duration:
This project takes 1 week for kinder/first graders.

Note:
If your book is not full enough or does not hold the round shape, glue a few pages together and that should help you out.