Fall Art Project: A Pumpkin Patch

Fall Art Project: A Pumpkin Patch
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Items Needed:

  • Paper plates
  • Brown construction paper
  • Green construction paper
  • Orange construction paper (optional)
  • Black construction paper (optional)
  • Washable orange paint
  • Paint brushes
  • Glue stick

Skill:

This project promotes fine motor skills. By simply finger painting the paper plate, the student practices fine motor skills and hand/eye coordination.

When the children tear the paper for a collage, they are improving their pincer grasp…a skill needed for cutting with scissors and holding a pencil correctly. A strong pincer grasp will create more security when starting to write with a pencil.

Fine motor skills are also practiced when making the paper chain for the pumpkin vine.

Instructions:

This project can be done on either side of the paper plate.

  1. Children should paint the paper plate with a coat of washable orange paint.
  2. After the paint has dried completely, instruct the children to tear pieces of orange construction paper into little squares. The torn paper can be glued on to the paper plate to create a “collage” effect.
  3. For older children, instruct them to tear black pieces of paper as well. Allow them to create a face with their torn pieces of black paper.
  4. Cut out small rectangles from the brown construction paper and instruct the children to adhere the rectangles to the top of their pumpkins. The brown rectangle will be the pumpkin’s stem.

PUMPKIN VINE:

  1. Cut out strips of green construction paper and instruct the children to create a paper chain. Chain can be attached with each a stapler or a dot of glue.
  2. When decorating the classroom with the pumpkin creations, attach each pumpkin to the vine.

Teacher Note:

This art project is too cute to pass up the opportunity to show it off to others. Plan to do this project just before open house or parent teacher conference. To appear as an authentic “pumpkin patch”, display low on the wall. Pumpkins should be intertwined with the paper chain.