Simple Pumpkin Craft

Years ago, when I first starting taking my son to preschool, I didn't understand why the school did so many seasonal crafts. At the time my son didn't have a clue what holidays were for or about and I felt it was a waste of time. Since then, I have seen the error in that way of thinking.

Studying holidays and how we celebrate them is really "Social Studies". Though your child might not understand why we have holidays right now, he/she will need to understand them as they get older. Much of what goes on in our society revolves around the seasons and the holidays.

There are lots of ways to incorporate seasonal traditions into your curriculum. One of the easiest ways to do this is with simple crafts. From an "occupational therapy" standpoint, these types of crafts are vital. Doing simple crafts allows your child a fun way to practice cutting, pasting, coloring, etc. These skills strengthen hand grasp and prepare your child for writing.

When picking a craft for your child, think: simple. Don't overwhelm your child with too many steps. Try to limit the craft to 15 minutes from start to finish. Have an example of the finished craft for them to look at, if you can.

We did a simple pumpkin craft today. We were focusing on the pincer grasp (thumb to pointer finger). I have my typical children do the crafts along with my son to provide good modeling and because they enjoy it!

Hint: you can buy pre-cut tissue paper squares at Lakeshore Learning. They're cheap and they've lasted me for years. I use them all the time!

You will need:
orange and green construction paper
black, orange and green tissue paper cut into squares
glue stick

1. Cut out two shapes: an uneven oval out of orange construction paper, and a rectangle out of green construction paper:

2. Glue the stem to the pumpkin.

3. Instruct the child to "pinch" the tissue paper sqaures like this:

4. Instruct the child to glue and "push" the tissue paper onto the matching color.

5. The finished project: