# Pumpkin Carriage for Princess Pigsty
> Read Princess Pigsty, then turn a painted pumpkin into a muddy carriage with Tinker Toy wheels. Set it beside a small dirt-filled pigsty for small world play and story retelling.
- URL: https://www.funlittles.com/pumpkin-carriage-for-princess-pigsty/
- Ages: 3–7 yrs · Difficulty: medium · Mess: high
- Time: prep none, activity varies
- Works for: one-on-one, small group · one batch serves about 2 kids
- Skills: literacy, storytelling, pretend-play, fine-motor, sensory-exploration
- Cautions: ingestion-risk

## Materials (one batch)
- 1 piece Princess Pigsty by Cornelia Funke (picture book)
- 1 piece Pumpkin (small)
- Brown metallic acrylic paint
- Black acrylic paint
- Paintbrushes (household)
- 1 piece Knife for carving (adult only) (household)
- Tinker Toys stems and wheels
- Bead strings
- 1 piece Small wooden crate
- Dirt (household)
- Water (household)
- 1 piece Toy horse
- 1 piece Toy pig
- 1 piece Princess Pigsty paper puppet stuffed with cotton balls

## Safety
- An adult carves the carriage window. Keep knives away from kids.
- Acrylic paint is not taste-safe. Supervise painting and wash hands afterward.
- Beads, cotton balls and small toy parts are choking hazards for kids who still mouth things. Supervise closely.
- Wash hands after playing in the dirt pigsty.

## Before you start
- Find a copy of Princess Pigsty (the author borrowed hers from the library).
- Paint the pumpkin and let it dry fully before carving and assembling.

## Steps
1. Read Princess Pigsty together. If you like, edit the story a wee bit where the princess misbehaves towards her parents.
2. Paint the pumpkin with brown metallic acrylic paint.
3. Let the paint dry until you have a golden pumpkin.
4. Adult: carve a basic window for the carriage.
5. Adult: attach the Tinker Toy stems to the pumpkin using bead strings.
6. Make a Princess Pigsty puppet from paper stuffed with cotton balls.
7. Pour black acrylic paint over the carriage to give it a dirty pigsty look.
8. Fill a small wooden crate with dirt and a bit of water, then add one pig.
9. Hitch up the horse, set the carriage by the pigsty, and retell the story with new elements.

## Tips
- Keep it simple. My daughter is not a big fan of too many items on her plate. Just a pig, dirt and a carriage was enough to make her happy.
- Kids immediately pick up on the princess's misbehavior towards her own parents. You can avoid that by editing the story a wee bit while reading it.
- My younger one was very eager with the paint, while the older one was eager with the small world play. Give each child the part they love.
- Pigsty Princess would be happier with a dirty carriage than a shiny sparkly one, so don't worry about neat painting.

## The original post by TurkeyMom (2012)

We have been having good fun this season thinking up many [**Halloween crafts a**](https://www.funlittles.com/category/halloween/)nd activities for kids. Today's Halloween activity is a fun book related activity. Have you read Princess Pigsty? If not you should. In a world where the possibility of companies“princessifying” even a single button exists, books about non-princesses are very essential. After checking out **[No Time for Flash Card’s books](http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/2012/05/positive-princess-books-for-kids.html)** about positive princesses, we borrowed a few from the list and Princess Pigsty instantly became my daughter’s favorite. It's about a princess who wants to be independent and follow her own path and not just marry a prince and be served by her servants all day. I agree the kids immediately pick up on the princess's misbehavior towards her own parents. You could easily avoid that by editing the story a wee bit while reading it to them.
Should I call it timing or not we had just painted our pumpkin golden in order to make a carriage. As soon as we read Princess Pigsty, we decided to make Princess Pigsty a carriage.

- Pumpkin
- Brown acrylic paint
- Tinker Toys stems
- Bead strings
- A wooden crate with dirt
- Horse and Pig
- Princess Pigsty 3D puppet

 We painted our pumpkin with brown metallic acrylic paint*. [ If you want to keep your Halloween activities nature based, check out our other [**nature pumpkins**](https://www.funlittles.com/halloween-pumpkin-craft/) post*]My younger one is very eager with the paint while the older one is eager with small world play.

Here is our golden pumpkin.


Once the paint dried, daddy carved out a basic window for the carriage and attached the tinker toy stems to the pumpkin using bead strings.



Since the pigsty princes has not been commercialized yet, we don't have a toy. We had to be satisfied with a home made cotton ball stuffed paper toy puppet. We used the cotton ball technique we saw in our [**Manatees craft**](https://www.funlittles.com/manatee-craft/) to create a princess puppet.

 Pigsty Princess would be happier with a dirty carriage and not shiny sparkly carriage. Right? We poured down black acrylic paint to give it a pigsty look. For a pigsty we used a small wooden crate and filled it up with dirt and a bit of water.. I set up a small pigsty with only one pig..With the dirty carriage and the pigsty nearby, the princess will have a ball of a time here rolling around in the mud.

 This is such a simple set up for my daughter who is not big fan of too many items on her plate. Just a pig, dirt and a carriage was enough to make her happy. We retold the story and added newer elements to it.

**Thanks for reading**

For more [**Halloween activities for kids**](https://www.funlittles.com/category/season/) visit our category page