# Sparkly Pumpkins
> Brush glue inside a printed pumpkin outline and scatter colored ice cream salt over it, section by section, for a shiny, textured fall pumpkin. Let it dry for a day or two before lifting.
- URL: https://www.funlittles.com/pumpkin-crafts-for-kids-sparkly-pumpkins/
- Ages: 3–6 yrs · Difficulty: easy · Mess: medium
- Time: prep 10 min, activity 25 min
- Works for: one-on-one, small group, whole class
- Skills: fine-motor, art, sensory-exploration, hand-eye-coordination
- Cautions: food-dye, ingestion-risk

## Materials (one batch)
- Ice cream salt (rock salt), colored orange and green
- Washable liquid watercolor paints
- Gel food color (optional)
- Glue
- 1 piece Paintbrush
- 1 sheet Printed pumpkin outline (household)
- 1 piece Cereal box or cardboard (household)
- 1 piece Tape (household)
- 2 piece Plates or small bowls for the colored salt (household)

## Substitutions
- Instead of liquid watercolor: Gel food color (The author lists it as an alternative for coloring the salt.)
- Instead of cereal box: Cardboard (Any heavy backing works.)

## Safety
- Ice cream salt (rock salt) is not food. Small crystals can be a choking hazard, and eating salt is harmful to small children and pets. Supervise closely and keep crystals out of mouths.
- Salt crystals sting eyes and cuts. Wash hands after the activity.
- Liquid watercolors and gel food color used to tint the salt can stain hands, clothes and surfaces.

## Before you start
- Color the ice cream salt orange and green with liquid watercolors or gel food color, and let it dry (see the crystal play dough and homemade rocks and gems posts for the process).
- Print pumpkin outlines in a few different sizes and tape each one to a cereal box or piece of cardboard.

## Steps
1. Tape your pumpkin outline to a cereal box or cardboard so it can hold the heavy salt.
2. Put the orange salt and the green salt on separate plates.
3. Brush glue inside one section of the pumpkin, trying not to cover the lines.
4. Quickly scatter orange salt over the wet glue before it dries.
5. Move on to the next section and repeat, one section at a time.
6. Brush glue in the stem and fill it with green salt.
7. Leave the pumpkin flat to dry for at least a whole day before lifting it.
8. Lift it gently and admire all that texture.

## Tips
- You just need a heavy canvas because the finished pumpkin tends to be super heavy. We taped the paper to a cereal box.
- Getting the glue and the salt on just the insides of the pumpkin is tricky. We did it section by section for better control.
- Getting the green stem all filled in was the highlight, since it instantly gave the pumpkin lots of character.
- Let the pumpkins dry for a whole day before you try to lift them. I let ours dry for 2 days, and only a few salt crystals fell off when I lifted the paper. Most stayed intact and looked gorgeous!

## The original post by TurkeyMom (2014)

Simple idea for creating shiny pumpkin craft for kids. ***Materials***

- **[Ice Cream Salt](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007S3NEUK/?tag=blmemo-20)**
- **[Liquid Watercolor Paints](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0042SR5R2/?tag=blmemo-20)**
- **or [Gel Food Color](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007EMYD8M/?tag=blmemo-20)**

I printed out an outline of a couple of pumpkins of different sizes and taped the paper to a cereal box { you can use cardboard too.} You just need a heavy canvas for creating this pumpkin since the pumpkin craft project's product tends to be super heavy. Those 2 shiny ingredients have already made a couple of appearances on the blog. We have used ice cream salt to make [**crystal play dough**](https://www.funlittles.com/crystal-playdough-recipe13136/) and to make [**homemade rocks and gems.**](https://www.funlittles.com/play-recipe-homemade-rocks-gems/) The links show you the process for coloring them. We love using this brand of **[Washable Liquid Watercolor Paints](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0042SR5R2/?tag=blmemo-20)** and this brand of **[Ice Cream Salt](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0019NC8F2/?tag=blmemo-20)**



This pumpkin crafty art project will make a fantastic collaborative project { Divide the class into groups and make large shiny pumpkins}

We brushed glue on the inside of the pumpkin and quickly scattered the colored salt before the glue dried up.



The kid took care in not covering the lines of the pumpkin. Getting the glue and eventually the salt on just the insides of the pumpkin was tricky. I think she did a great job with this pumpkin craft.



We did section by section for better control of the project.



Getting the green stem,all filled in was the highlight since that instantly gave the pumpkin lots of character.



Let the pumpkins dry for a whole day before attempting to life it. I let it dry for 2 days and when I proceeded to lift the heavy paper just a few salt crystals fell off. Most of them were still intact and looked gorgeous!

 Gotta love all that texture on that pumpkin.



[**More pumpkin crafts here**](https://www.funlittles.com/tag/pumpkin/)



Thanks for reading.



Have you seen our Pumpkin Silhouette Craft?

[](https://www.funlittles.com/pumpkin-crafts-for-kids-pumpkin-silhouttes/)