How to Make a Paper Plate Pumpkin for Halloween

Halloween is a fun time for kids to dress up, get candy, and run wild for an evening. Let your kids make a paper plate pumpkin to decorate the house for Halloween. These crafts make a great classroom activity, or can be done at home, too. With a few minutes and some basic materials your child can make a paper plate pumpkin of their own.

Things You'll Need

• Large paper plate
• Orange and black craft paint
• Paintbrushes
• Brown and green construction paper
• Glue
• Scissors
• Hole puncher
• String or yarn
• Old newspapers or plastic

Instructions

1. Lay some old newspapers or plastic over a flat work surface to protect it from paint and glue.

2. Place a large paper plate on top of the work surface. You want your paper plate to be upside down on a flat surface.

3. Paint the back of the large paper plate with orange craft paint. You can sprinkle some orange glitter onto the wet paint to give your pumpkin a sparkly look. Allow the orange paint to dry before moving onto the next step.

4. Use black craft paint on the tip of a paintbrush to make a jack-o-lantern face on your pumpkin. Be creative with your pumpkin's face, you can make it as simple or complex as you like.

5. Trace a small pumpkin stem on a piece of brown construction paper.

6. Cut the pumpkin stem out of the paper with scissors. Glue it onto the top of your paper plate pumpkin.

7. Draw two leaf shapes onto a sheet of green construction paper and cut them out.

8. Glue the two leaf shapes onto your paper plate pumpkin near the stem that you just glued on. Allow all the glue to dry before moving onto the next step.

9. Punch a hole into the top of the pumpkin stem with a hole puncher or scissors.

10. Tie a piece of string or yarn to the hole in the stem of the pumpkin, and secure it with a knot. You can use this to hang your pumpkin up if you like. If you do not want to hang your paper plate pumpkin then you can skip over this step, and place your pumpkin wherever you like.

Tips & Warnings

• Sprinkle glitter into the paint of your pumpkin while it is wet to add some sparkle to your craft.

• Supervise young children when they are using scissors and hole punchers.