Painting with Mini Pumpkins

What do you do with mini pumpkins?

At the grocery store I came across these cute mini pumpkins. I usually pass them by and just go for the bigger, carvable pumpkins. I mean what are mini pumpkins for other than decor? Can you even carve them?

I thought and thought and realized that at 2 for $4.00  should just bring them home and figure it out in the privacy of my kitchen.

So two mini pumpkins came home with us and have been sitting pretty on my counters. I haven’t done anything with them and I felt compelled to use them somehow….

Hello, process art idea!!

I love process art. I’m like a toddler who wants to paint everything and anything- I just love the creativity and freedom of painting without paintbrushes! And offering my kids process art activities excites me (process art encourages flexible thinking and creative problem solving- two skills I want to encourage in my boys).

New to process art? Start with this activity exploring lines!

Painting with Mini Pumpkins

For this activity, I poured some orange paint in a paper plate (paper plates are universally accepted paint palettes 😉 ), and invited my kids to paint with it!

Now my kids are familiar with all my crazy painting ideas, so they didn’t have to question me or give me a perplexed look. They just went at it.

Read one of our most popular crazy painting ideas- Painting with Fly Swatters!

Of course, the most obvious place to start is dipping the bottom of the pumpkin in the paint and making prints with it. Things to observe and talk about with your munchkins:

• Did the prints make perfect circles?
• Did they leave a texture?

Other ways to continue experimenting (because when you get down to it, process art is really about experimentation!) include dragging the pumpkin across the paper, swirling the pumpkin around on the paper, rolling the pumpkin on its side, etc.

Encourage your child to approach the activity with an open mind. They make become frustrated because they “can’t paint anything!” Let them know that’s ok- this activity is just to explore painting with a new material. There is no need to create a recognizable picture in the end.

Since process art is all about experimentation, you’ll want to take some time to discuss the results of this activity.

How did they like painting with pumpkins?