Pumpkin Painting & Decorating for Toddlers

Halloween Activities

Pumpkin Painting & Decorating

Always use tempera paint (not acrylic) with young children. To help the paint adhere to the pumpkin you can mix it with liquid glue in the paint tray before starting.

She is painting 2 pumpkins, one for herself and one for her baby sister.

Preferably wait for the paint to dry overnight before decorating, but obviously that didn't happen here. I pre-cut foam shapes for eyes, nose and mouth and you can have your child glue them on or use the self-adhesive foam sheets like I used and they can just stick it on.

Kids love googly eyes so I suggest you stock up if you're doing art regularly with them.

Allow your child the freedom to place things where they want to, even if it doesn't look right. You can give them general guidance but if they don't follow it just remember it's their artwork, not yours. The experience is more important than the finished product!

This is how it turned out. You can use many other materials like glitter (I recommend glitter glue because it's less messy), stickers, playdough, markers, pretty much anything you have on hand.

 

School Bus Sorting Game with Post-it Notes

My daughter has been begging me for several weeks to make a Wheels on the Bus game, so I figured it would be perfect for Back to School for kids to practice and brush up on different concepts before they start school again.

I wanted to make this a customizable game that kids of different ages and skill levels can use as a fun learning activity, so I decided to use Post-it Notes! This makes it extra fun for kids because they will love to peel and stick these colorful pieces of paper.

You can use this game to practice color recognition, letters, numbers, sight words, shapes, word families or pretty much anything else that can be sorted. All you need is this Free printable school bus and 5 pads of 3"x3" Post-it Notes!

STEP 1: Click here to Print out the Free Printable school bus. It comes in 2 pages, so you will have to tape the two sheets together to create the school bus.

STEP 2: Cover the windows of the bus with one Post-it Note on each window.  Use a marker or sharpie to write the numbers, letters, words, etc. that you want your child to sort.

STEP 3: Take your 5 pads of Post-it Notes and write all the numbers, letters, words, etc on each page of the pads.

STEP 4: Your child will peel and stick the Post-it Notes on the correct window!

As you can see there are so many ways you can play this game!

Here are some more Free Printable Sorting Games:

Rhyming Sorting Game

Alphabet Sorting Game

Sorting Recyclables

5 Toddler-Friendly Ways to Decorate a Pumpkin

As an annual Halloween tradition at our house, we always carve a pumpkin. And by we I mean I carve the pumpkin while the kids watch and try to eat the pumpkin parts that I cut out. It's not much of a little kid's activity. So today I am featuring easy, toddler-friendly, no-carve pumpkin decorating ideas that kids can really get involved in.

1. Paint the Pumpkin

Pumpkin painting is great for all ages and simple enough for even the youngest of kids.

Tips: Make sure you use tempera paint or any kid's washable paint. To help the paint adhere to the pumpkin, make a 50/50 mixture of school glue and paint. If you don't add glue, the paint will flake off after it dries. 

For a fun way to combine pumpkin painting and science, check out this Fizzle pumpkin painting activity from Toddler Approved.

2. Decorate the Pumpkin with Stickers

Stickers are very good for developing fine motor skills, and let's face it, all kids love stickers. I sure challenged my kids with these tiny stickers I bought at the dollar store.

You can make pumpkin decorating into a learning activity with this alphabet pumpkin idea from I can Teach my Child.

Here is another great literacy pumpkin idea from The Imagination Tree using letter and number stickers, plus check out the learning games you can play afterwards!

As an alternative to stickers, here is a neat idea from The Educators' Spin on It using a decorative tape called washi tape.

3. Make a Glitter Pumpkin

Glitter pumpkins look gorgeous, but they are a bit messy, so you might want to do this activity outdoors like we did. Have your child use a paintbrush to spread glue all over the pumpkin, then sprinkle glitter!

You can add painting, glitter and gluing things on the pumpkin from The Imagination Tree.

It doesn't have to be craft supplies that you glue to the pumpkin. Here is a creative idea from A Little Pinch of Perfect, making a sensory pumpkin!

Go on a nature walk collecting Fall leaves and try out this clever decorating with nature idea from Stir the Wonder.

5. Hammer Things into the Pumpkin

This is one we haven't tried yet, but it sure looks fun!

Pumpkin Fine Motor Activity from My Nearest and Dearest

Cookie Cutter Pumpkins from Modern Parents Messy Kids

For more toddler activities, see our Toddler Matching Pack!

School Bus Sorting Game with Post-it Notes

My daughter has been begging me for several weeks to make a Wheels on the Bus game, so I figured it would be perfect for Back to School for kids to practice and brush up on different concepts before they start school again.

I wanted to make this a customizable game that kids of different ages and skill levels can use as a fun learning activity, so I decided to use Post-it Notes! This makes it extra fun for kids because they will love to peel and stick these colorful pieces of paper.

You can use this game to practice color recognition, letters, numbers, sight words, shapes, word families or pretty much anything else that can be sorted. All you need is this Free printable school bus and 5 pads of 3"x3" Post-it Notes!

STEP 1: Click here to Print out the Free Printable school bus. It comes in 2 pages, so you will have to tape the two sheets together to create the school bus.

STEP 2: Cover the windows of the bus with one Post-it Note on each window.  Use a marker or sharpie to write the numbers, letters, words, etc. that you want your child to sort.

STEP 3: Take your 5 pads of Post-it Notes and write all the numbers, letters, words, etc on each page of the pads.

STEP 4: Your child will peel and stick the Post-it Notes on the correct window!

As you can see there are so many ways you can play this game!

Here are some more Free Printable Sorting Games:

Rhyming Sorting Game

Alphabet Sorting Game

Sorting Recyclables

5 Toddler-Friendly Ways to Decorate a Pumpkin

As an annual Halloween tradition at our house, we always carve a pumpkin. And by we I mean I carve the pumpkin while the kids watch and try to eat the pumpkin parts that I cut out. It's not much of a little kid's activity. So today I am featuring easy, toddler-friendly, no-carve pumpkin decorating ideas that kids can really get involved in.

1. Paint the Pumpkin

Pumpkin painting is great for all ages and simple enough for even the youngest of kids.

Tips: Make sure you use tempera paint or any kid's washable paint. To help the paint adhere to the pumpkin, make a 50/50 mixture of school glue and paint. If you don't add glue, the paint will flake off after it dries. 

For a fun way to combine pumpkin painting and science, check out this Fizzle pumpkin painting activity from Toddler Approved.

2. Decorate the Pumpkin with Stickers

Stickers are very good for developing fine motor skills, and let's face it, all kids love stickers. I sure challenged my kids with these tiny stickers I bought at the dollar store.

You can make pumpkin decorating into a learning activity with this alphabet pumpkin idea from I can Teach my Child.

Here is another great literacy pumpkin idea from The Imagination Tree using letter and number stickers, plus check out the learning games you can play afterwards!

As an alternative to stickers, here is a neat idea from The Educators' Spin on It using a decorative tape called washi tape.

3. Make a Glitter Pumpkin

Glitter pumpkins look gorgeous, but they are a bit messy, so you might want to do this activity outdoors like we did. Have your child use a paintbrush to spread glue all over the pumpkin, then sprinkle glitter!

You can add painting, glitter and gluing things on the pumpkin from The Imagination Tree.

It doesn't have to be craft supplies that you glue to the pumpkin. Here is a creative idea from A Little Pinch of Perfect, making a sensory pumpkin!

Go on a nature walk collecting Fall leaves and try out this clever decorating with nature idea from Stir the Wonder.

5. Hammer Things into the Pumpkin

This is one we haven't tried yet, but it sure looks fun!

Pumpkin Fine Motor Activity from My Nearest and Dearest

Cookie Cutter Pumpkins from Modern Parents Messy Kids

For more toddler activities, see our Toddler Matching Pack!

12 Creative Ways to Learn with Coloring Pages

Coloring pages seem like the perfect quiet time or busy activity for kids. However, my daughters (and I'm sure my kids aren't the only ones) will spend about 5 minutes or less if I give them a coloring page and crayons. Granted, this may be because they are still young (3 1/2 and almost 2 yrs), but I wanted to find a way to engage my kids and also get some educational value out of a simple coloring page. 

Recently, we went on a vacation which involved an airplane flight as well as multiple car rides. While I thought I had packed enough activities, I ended up running out of things to keep them busy. I went out and bought some coloring books and decided to get creative!

Here are 12 ideas for creative ways of using and learning with coloring pages, as well as a list of my favorite free coloring page resources at the end!

1. Color By Number
This is a super easy way to turn a coloring page into an educational activity! Just create a legend of numbers and their corresponding colors, and write the numbers on the picture where the colors go. For a fun twist, you can play a roll & color game by rolling a die, calling out the number and then coloring one of the numbers in the picture. Keep rolling and playing until the picture is complete.

2. Color by Letter or Sight Word
This is the same idea as number 1 but you can use letters, words, shapes or anything else that your child is learning.

3. Color by Dots
Use a marker to create little circles, essentially labeling which colors go where on the page. Great for color recognition in young children.

4. Color by Sequence 
Write numbers or letters throughout the picture and ask your child to color in numerical or alphabetical order. 

5. Sticker by Number/Letter/Word
This one is a favorite at our house! Hide letters, numbers or words throughout the picture and also write them on a set of stickers (I like to purchase these circle labeling stickers at the dollar store). The child then places the stickers over the correct letter or number.

6. Cut & Make into a Puzzle
This one is really easy to prep. Just cut the paper into 4, 6, 9 or 12 pieces and let your child put it back together. You can also let the child do the cutting and it doubles as cutting practice!

7. Cut in Half and Complete Picture
Learn about symmetry or just let your child use their imagination to complete the picture.

8. Find & Color
Depending on the type of coloring page, ask your child to find a specific shape, object or character and once they find it they color it. Repeat until the whole page is colored. This would be great with a more complex coloring page with many different elements.

9. Make a Collage
We do this one a lot at our house. I give my kids craft supplies such as tissue paper, pom poms, feathers, googly eyes, scrap paper, buttons, etc and have them glue these things onto the coloring page. It usually comes out like a work of art! You may need to reinforce the paper or, if you are printing, you can print on cardstock or heavy paper. 

10. Turn into a Playdough Mat
Any coloring page can be turned into a playdough mat. Just laminate the sheet (or not) and give your child playdough to "color" in the picture. Tons of fun and great for fine motor skills.

11. Turn into a Lacing Card
This one works best if the coloring page is mainly one animal, object or character. Laminate the page (or print on cardstock), then cut out the main object and punch holes around it. Give your child a shoelace, string, yarn etc. to lace around the picture.

12. Cut out Characters/Animals/Objects and Make Story Puppets
Another idea that works only for certain coloring pages. Cut out the main characters, animals, etc. and turn them into puppets by taping a craft stick to the back. Ask your child to come up with a story and use the puppets to act it out.

Free Coloring Pages & Resources:

300+ Disney Princess Coloring Pages by What Mommy Does
35 Free Disney's Frozen Coloring Pages by The Kid's Coloring Pages
1000+ Free Disney Coloring Pages for Kids by The Farm Girl Gabs
Famous Paintings Coloring Pages by Super Coloring
Marvel Superhero Squad Coloring Pages by On Coloring
Robots Coloring Pages by The Art & Craft Giraffe
32 Free Zoo Animal Coloring Pages by Raising Our Kids
Animal Coloring Pages by Better Homes & Gardens
Eric Carle Coloring Pages by Mom Junction