Do your children want to carve a Jack-O-Lantern, but they’re still too young? Not to worry, we have the perfect solution for you! Jack-O-Lantern face fun will take their minds off of the pumpkin mush and have them giggling once again.
This activity originated when Tristan was just a toddler. In Canada we celebrate Halloween with decorations, dressing up, trick-or-treating, and carving a pumpkin into a Jack-O-Lantern. Pumpkins are easy to find from about the end of September so that we can make a delicious pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving desert.
Over here, you really only find pumpkins in the week leading up to Halloween. Halloween has become bigger in the past 10 years, and it’s much easier to find decorations now, but when the kids were smaller, this activity also doubled as a decoration on the windows or walls. Multi-purpose activities are what we love!
Making this Jack-O-Lantern face couldn’t be easier!
All you need is some cardstock or construction paper in orange and black. Cut out a simple pumpkin shape from the orange paper. Then cut out some forms for the Jack-O-Lantern’s features. I used ‘shapes’ so that we could also review the different shapes when the kids were toddlers. Next year I’ll made some features and use more complex shapes such as polygons and parallelograms!
I laminated everything with sticky-backed plastic to make them more sturdy for little hands. A year later I made another set for Kallista. It only takes a few minutes, and if your child is able, they can do the cutting themselves.
As you see, this the kids love this activity! You could even introduce a little lesson about emotions…
My children have also used the shapes and placed them on a real pumpkin, using some tape of funtac to hold the pieces in place.
We’ve also made some Jack-o-Lantern sun catchers and roasted pumpkin seeds. Hop over and have a look at our Halloween Ideas page for all of our Halloween-themed activities in one place.
And if you’re looking for even more activities to keep the kids busy, Hands On: As We Grow has just released a new book with 7 weeks of activity plans! You can click on the picture (affiliate) link below to find out more!
