Kid-Friendly Halloween Decorations Using Acorn Squash

by Michele Cheplic | More from this Blogger

25 Oct 2008 02:19 PM

My daughter's cooking class teacher provided the directions to this next kid-friendly Halloween craft. In fact, she tailored an entire lesson around it. She had the kids decorate acorn squash to look like black cats and then they used the leftovers to make a yummy (and healthy) acorn squash veggie dip.

The cooking class is geared towards kids ages 3-5 so keep that in mind when you are getting your children involved. The students did such an incredible job on their acorn squash cats it's hard to believe that the project only requires a few short steps. All you need are a few basic art materials and some creativity-that's it.

You could place the end product on your front porch or on your mantel. My daughter placed her "cat" on the ledge of a window that looks out onto the front yard. If I had more of them I would group them near the front door so they would be there to greet trick-or-treaters on Halloween.

ACORN SQUASH BLACK CATS

Materials:

Acorn squash (size and shape don't matter)

Black acrylic paint

Paintbrush

Cardboard for ears, eyes, mouths, and whiskers

Glitter glue for whiskers and mouths

Colored markers: yellow, green, blue, and black

Craft glue

Scissors

Pencil

Directions:

Paint each squash black (two coats usually does the trick) and allow to dry thoroughly.

Turn the squash so the stem becomes the nose.

Using the cardboard, draw and cut the following shapes for each: two elongated triangles for ears; two ovals for eyes; two small ovals for the center of each eye; four whiskers; and an anchor-like shape for the mouth.

Use markers to color the ears black and other features blue, green, yellow or black as desired.

Add glitter glue to the whiskers and mouths.

Glue the cardboard facial features and ears onto the painted squash with glue.

Allow to dry thoroughly before displaying.

Michele Cheplic writes about red-hot celebrities in POP CULTURE, fiery topics in PARENTS, sizzling recipes in FOOD, calorie burning exercises in FITNESS, and hot new kid-friendly crafts in FUN. Check out all of her articles here.

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Learn more about Michele Cheplic

Michele Cheplic was born and raised in Hilo, Hawaii, but now lives in Wisconsin. Michele graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in Journalism.

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