Last year, my friend Elise got some pumpkins and some paint and let her daughter go to town on it. The end result was really cute and much safer and less nerve-wracking, not to mention longer lasting, than carving a pumpkin. Once I saw her post about it, I knew that I wanted to paint pumpkins with the Littlest Brewster this year. And Sunday was the day!
Given the sheer quantity of painted artwork that is sent home from daycare ((I kid you not, it’s like 20 paintings and drawings a week. At least.)), I figured LB would have no trouble wielding her paintbrush and would probably be able to recreate a Monet no problem.
Studying her canvas
Making the first brush strokes
Despite the fact that she was a little sick this weekend and kind of grumpy, LB had a great time painting her pumpkin. I picked up one for me and one for Grandy to paint as well, so we all got in on the action.
Hard at work
Doesn’t LB’s smile look totally posed?
We sent Grandy’s home with her but are proudly displaying ours on the front porch. I asked the DreadBrewer if he wanted to paint the big pumpkin, but he was content in his role as official picture taker.
Beautiful, no?
It was a really easy, fun, and cheap craft that would be great for kids of almost any age. The pie pumpkins were only $2 and I got a 6-pack of tempera paint at Michael’s for $5.99, less 40% with coupon. There’s still plenty of time to paint your own pumpkins before Halloween!
**One thing that I just realized this morning: if you’re going to display your pumpkins outside, either do so in a covered area or don’t use tempera paint! It rained last night and washed the Littlest Brewster’s pumpkin clean! Oops… I guess it just means she gets to paint it again!**
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On a slightly unrelated note, since she has now posted it on her own blog, I can post that Elise had her baby!!! Remember the one she was super pregnant with when I went to visit? Well, her new daughter Marian was born last weekend and I’m almost as proud as if I did the laboring myself! I’ve only seen a few pictures so far, but Marian looks like she’s going to be just as adorable as Ella. And hearing her birth story totally gives me hope that we could do a home birth (or a birth center) for our next baby, when/if we have one.
Congratulations again, buddy! 🙂
