Fun Littles

Fun and easy kids activities

Pumpkin Carriage for Princess Pigsty

Oct 27, 20126,252 views
Halloween
Ages3–7 yrs
Prep—
Activity—
Levelmedium
MessHigh
Works for1:1 · Small group

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.

⚠️ Safety first

  • 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 the kids arrive

  • 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.from the author
  • 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.from the author
  • 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.from the author
  • Pigsty Princess would be happier with a dirty carriage than a shiny sparkly one, so don't worry about neat painting.from the author

Make it your own

  • Retell the story and add newer elements to it during play.
  • Skip the black paint and keep a shiny golden pumpkin carriage.
  • Try other positive princess books, like the list from No Time For Flash Cards that inspired this one.

The story behind it

By TurkeyMom · October 2012
Halloween Activities for Kids: Pumpkin Carriage for Princess Pigsty
Have you read Princess Pigsty? If not you should. It's about a princess who wants to be independent and follow her own path, and it instantly became my daughter's favorite.
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Pumpkin Carriage for Princess Pigsty: the original post

We have been having good fun this season thinking up many Halloween crafts and 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 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 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 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

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What readers say

💬 2 comments

🎉 Worked for us

A great way to expand a book

A reader who hosts a link party called it a great activity for extending a favorite picture book.

“what a great activity to expand a book.”
andiejaye, Oct 2012

Tried it?

Reviewed before it appears. No links, and please no children's names.

Read all 2 comments
  1. andiejaye · Oct 2012

    haaha! this is too cute! what a great activity to expand a book. thanks for linking up to tip-toe thru tuesday.

  2. Ticia Adventures in Mommydom · Oct 2012

    It's very cute. My kids would love this.

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