Best paint for pumpkin painting projects, kids DYI projects
Best paint for pumpkin painting projects, kids DYI projects
By Spramani Elaun
My favorite autumn art activity to do with my students is personalizing a beautiful natural pumpkin with paint.
This project is a great alternative to carving pumpkins with a knife which can be a difficult process for kids.
Listed below are instructions for best paint for pumpkins.
Pumpkin Paint Prep
Choose any size pumpkin you want to paint.
Pick pumpkins with no blemishes to keep from rotting for the holidays.
Clean pumpkin gently with soap and water.
Let pumpkin air-dry or wipe down with dry cloth before painting.
Prepare a space to paint pumpkin
Prepare a space were you can get messy without worrying about paint spreading.
It’s much easier to paint pumpkin at eye level on a table or sturdy flat surface.
Use a drop cloth or recycled old newsprint to work on top of.
Everyone working in this area will get messy so you and kids should dress in clothes that can get messy.
Pumpkin Painting Supplies
Clothes to get messy in, artist smock or apron cover-up.
Small paint brushes for little pumpkins and large brushes for the bigger pumpkins.
Water jar for washing brushes and easy clean-up.
Napkins or rags for paint brush and paint spills.
I love to have baby wipes handy for quick clean-ups. Baby wipes clean all paints off skin even acrylic.
Palette to hold paints, paper plates work great and so do egg cartons.
Kids non-toxic acrylics will work best and last long on pumpkins
I suggest using fall type colors like green, white, red, orange, yellow, brown and purple which all stand out great on a pumpkin.
* Note I recommend you leave black paint out of young children’s paint palettes. The smallest amount of black will turn all colors gray. Your child’s pumpkins will still look wonderful without black paint.
Squeeze out only a quarter size of paint to start with, and add more paint as you go to manage mess.
I recommended young kids only use non-toxic water-based type paints like: mineral paints, milk paint, acrylic paint or tempera paint.
If you are showing kids how to paint a pumpkin, demonstrate simple strokes first so they can get a good idea how to paint a pumpkin.
Kids love painting pumpkins!
Try to let kids have fun painting without adding complicated instructions.
Pumpkins will look great no matter how they dry.
Pumpkin Art Ideas
Paint cute eyes over your child’s work once it’s done.
Use black so it stands out from all their wonderful colors.
Glue goggly eyes on pumpkin when it’s completely dry.
Use recycle scraps to make fun facial features.
Attach raw veggies from garden to make funny faces.
Paint fun Halloween pictures on your pumpkin!
Purple – Dracula, monsters or bats
Green – witches, goblins or aliens
White – ghosts
puppies,
Black
spiders, bats,
Silver – robots, aliens, Brown – bears, owls, fox
Buy safe pumpkin paints, click here!
How to pick paints for kids art projects, click here!
Spramani Elaun is an American earth-friendly art teacher and the author of: “Nurturing Children in The Visual Arts Naturally” ©
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