The story behind it
By TurkeyMom · September 2014
Ages3–6 yrs
Prep10 min
Activity25 min
Leveleasy
MessMedium
Works for1:1 · Small group · Class
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.
⚠️ Safety first
- 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 the kids arrive
- 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
Tape your pumpkin outline to a cereal box or cardboard so it can hold the heavy salt.
Put the orange salt and the green salt on separate plates.
Brush glue inside one section of the pumpkin, trying not to cover the lines.
Quickly scatter orange salt over the wet glue before it dries.
Move on to the next section and repeat, one section at a time.
Brush glue in the stem and fill it with green salt.
Leave the pumpkin flat to dry for at least a whole day before lifting it.
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.from the author
- Getting the glue and the salt on just the insides of the pumpkin is tricky. We did it section by section for better control.from the author
- Getting the green stem all filled in was the highlight, since it instantly gave the pumpkin lots of character.from the author
- 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!from the author
Make it your own
- Make it a collaborative project: divide the class into groups and have each group make a large shiny pumpkin.
- Print pumpkins in different sizes.
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