If spending hours scooping out seeds and stringy pumpkin isn’t on your list of fun things to do this Halloween, decorating a pumpkin without carving is a fun option. Forget the knives and break out the permanent markers along with some other household craft items to decorate your pumpkins.
“Decorating pumpkins without carving is a great alternative for younger children who can’t use carving utensils,” says Ms. Shell Herman, president of KidzArt, an international children’s art education franchise. “Without carving, your child’s decorated pumpkin will last a lot longer and it can be displayed in your home throughout the fall season.”
Herman offers some clever pumpkin art projects that will excite the kids, minus a big mess:
- Stenciled Pumpkin Designs - Go online and peruse the hundreds of pumpkin template designs available. But instead of carving, kids can use a stencil to trace a pattern on the pumpkin. Use colored permanent markers (Sharpies® work well) to color, draw patterns, etc.
- Glitter Pumpkins - For kids who love shimmer and sparkle, cover your gourds and pumpkins with a coating of glitter. Using craft glue that dries clear, “paint” the entire pumpkin with glue. While the glue is wet, sprinkle your favorite colored glitter over the pumpkin. Let it dry for an hour and shake off the excess sprinkles.
- Pumpkin People - Kids can create ‘pumpkin people’ by using a variety of household items. Draw eyes, nose, mouth, cheeks on the dry, clean pumpkin. Or get creative and use fruits or vegetables for ears, eyes or a mouth, glue on raffia for hair, add a hat, a bandana, glasses, ribbons or felt to give each pumpkin its own personality.
- Black on White - For a dramatic effect, kids will get a kick out of drawing with black Sharpies on a stark white pumpkin. Try tracing and coloring in simple black silhouettes like bats, cats and spiders!
For more creative art projects or for information on fall and winter art classes, call KidzArt at 800-379-8302 or visit their website to find the nearest KidzArt location in NH.
Filed under: Arts & Crafts, Fall activities, Family fun activities, Halloween for kids, Rainy day activities | Tagged: decorating pumpkins, kids activities, kids crafts, kids fun, KidzArt, Rainy day activities | 3 Comments »
Recently, we learned about the Gonic Trails at Mount Isinglass Recreational Area in Rochester, NH. This facility is located a short distance from Route 125 in Gonic; a village of Rochester. The facility is part of the Waste Management Turnkey Recycling & Environmental Enterprises.
We took the trail for Locke Falls on the 
biking, fishing, swimming, and picnicking in the summer and ice skating, cross-country skiing, and snowshoeing in the winter. Dogs are also allowed.
the Shaw’s Rewards Card can be used to earn discounts. This includes popular spots in ME, NH, MA, VT and CT like the Seacoast Science Center, Strawberry Banke, Fisher Cats Baseball, Water Country, York’s Wild Kingdom and many more. Most offers are only available for the summer of 2009. To view participating destinations, 
easy first hike in the hopes that our four year old would enjoy hiking and we could do additional hikes this summer. We wanted to stay close to home, but do a walk that we have not already done. I found this hike trough 
Just after the homestead is the parking lot and trail head. We parked the stroller and started our climb. The trail winds through mature woods and around multiple rock formations. The trail was a bit wet and slippery in spots. There was only a couple of steep sections of the trail and the hike to the top was fairly easy. Our kids would take turns leading, which provided an incentive for our youngest son to walk
all the way to the top. 
