Introducing Cinder-Pumpkin

This October the 2nd graders at McKenzie Elementary School have been working on a creative writing project.  The goal of the project was to have the kids create stories in the classroom and then decorate pumpkins at home.  The decorated pumpkins could be created out of anything but had to be based off of the main character in the child's story.



Coming soon to the blog, Cinder-Pumpkin!, a new story from the creative mind of Alyssa  In this Halloween tale, Alyssa's main character Cinder-Pumpkin is based upon the classic Disney Princess Cinderella.  In her tale of hope, despair, disappointment, escape and romance Alyssa takes Cinder-Pumpkin on a harrowing ride in search of her one true love.  In the beginning our pumpkin princess is invited to the Prince's ball.  On the night of the ball she is attacked my mice, who violently tear Cinder-pumpkin's new ball gown to shreds.  In despair, Cinder-pumpkin runs to her step-pumpkin for help and discovers that instead of helping Cinder-pumpkin, the wicked step-pumpkin has other plans for her.  Cinder-pumpkin is bitten and takes on the form of a frog.  As a frog, Cinder-pumpkin must travel the world in search of the only person who can break the spell.  Her travels take her across all of the continents until she ends up in Antarctica and in the presence of her one true love.  In order to break the spell Cinder-pumpkin must remake her destroyed dress and get the prince to fall in love with her.  Upon falling in love, the prince must then kiss Cinder-pumpkin and return her to her pumpkin form. 

The picture to the right is our paper mache creation of the main character Cinder-Pumpkin. I really wish that we had pictures of us creating the character but with it being just me here with the kids and our hands being covered in glue there was no way that anyone was touching the camera until we were done.  In order to make the pumpkin we used the following supplies:

1-paper/foam plate
1-latex balloon
strips of orange construction paper
1-bottle Elmer's glue
2-white bead necklaces
1-white foam sheet
1sheet red felt
1 sheet yellow felt
1 sheet blue felt
1-Cinderella headband
1-permanent marker (black)
1- pair of scissors
1-paper clip
1-paint brush

With our materials gathered we were ready to begin.

Step 1: We poured half a bottle of glue onto the paper plate.
Step 2: We blew up the balloon to the desired size for our pumpkin.
Step 3:  We dipped the strips of construction paper into the glue and placed them onto the balloon.  We continued to do this until the entire balloon was covered in orange construction paper. (Be careful to leave the tied portion of the balloon exposed. You will need something to hold on to and a place to insert the paperclip for hanging.)
Step 4: With the balloon covered with strips of construction paper, we then painted a thin coat of glue on top of the construction paper. (Be sure to cover the entire surface)
Step 5: With the blow dryer set to it's cool air setting we then hung the pumpkin and used the blow dryer to dry the glue.  This took us approximately 20 minutes to do so but if you're not in any hurry you could always just hang it up to dry overnight.
Step 6:  We cut little strips of yellow felt, folded them over and glued them to the top of the pumpkin as the hair.
Step 7:  We cut two triangles out of the white foam (pumpkin eyes) and two penny sized circles out of the blue felt (eyeballs).  We then glued the blue felt to the center of the triangles and glued the triangles to the pumpkin.
Step 8: We cut a pair of lips out of the red felt, drew in a line with a black permanent marker to show the separation of the top and bottom lip then glued the lips to the pumpkin.
Step 9: We placed the headband on top of the pumpkin.
Step 10:  We cut some eyelashes from the yellow felt and glued them next to the outsides of the eyes.
Step 11: We glued one beaded necklace to the bottom as a necklace for the pumpkin (you may have to cut the necklace to size) and cut two beads off of the 2nd necklace and glued them onto the pumpkin as earrings.
Step 12: Using the permanent marker we drew eyebrows about the eyes.

I have to say that while this project was not hard to do at all it was extremely messy.  Our hands were covered in glue as were the cardboard protectors that I laid on the table before starting.  If you plan on doing this with a younger child I would suggest using aprons or smocks to protect your clothes and some sort of covering to protect your work space. Of course by using the Elmer's washable glue the mess all cleaned up easily and no damage was done.

It was a fun project and Alyssa was able to not only see but help create a visual of her main character.  She was so excited and can't wait to bring it to school tomorrow to show it off.  I can't wait for her to bring home her story.  I'm thinking that when that happens I'll set her up and video her reading Cinder-Pumpkin for all of us to enjoy.  Now to go find our Halloween decorations!