Cotton Pad Pumpkin Craft for Kids

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy. Adult supervision is required for all activities found on HappyToddlerPlaytime.com.

Cotton Pad Pumpkin craft is a cute pumpkin craft using cotton pads and coloured water. This easy to set up pumpkin craft is a fun activity to do with your kids at Halloween!

Helpful tips for letting your child complete this craft on their own

The great thing about this craft, is that you can help your child set it up almost completely on their own. For older kids, have them trace a paper plate to create the body of the pumpkin and them draw a stem. They can complete all the other steps on their own. You can set up the cups with water and then they can can squeeze in the food colouring.

For younger kids, help them trace a paper plate for the pumpkin body (or you can help them draw it by making a dotted line pumpkin that they can trace. Invite them to complete the rest of the steps on their own. You can set up the cups with water and then they can can squeeze in the food colouring. Help them learn how to use the eye droppers if this is the first time using them.

How to Make the Cotton Pad Pumpkin Craft

Grab a piece of cardboard. You’ll want it to be large enough to fit the pumpkin and have extra room around it to help to keep the mess down. Trace the outline of a pumpkin with a marker or pencil.

Pour glue all over the middle of the pumpkin.

Stick cotton pads in the glue, covering the entire middle of the pumpkin.

Fill two bowls or cups with a small amount of water and add a few drops of green and orange food colouring to each, respectively. Add eye dropppers to each.
Practice using the eye droppers so they get the hang of squeezing and letting go to draw the water up the eye dropper.

Invite your child to use the eye droppers to colour the cotton pad pumpkin orange!

Cut the rounded sides off 2 or 3 cotton pads and glue them down for the stem on the top of the pumpkin.

Colour the stem with the green coloured water.

Grab some black foam sheets and cut out a face for the pumpkin, including eyes and a mouth. Gently glue them down on top of the cotton pads pumpkin. Since they are foam sheets you can glue them down before the cotton pads have fully dried. Be sure not to press down on the cotton pads as you are gluing the faces down as the coloured water will start to run.

Let your pumpkin fully dry.

Looking for more Halloween Activities? Check out these fun ideas:

Age Suitability

This activity is good for toddlers, pre-k, kindergarten aged children 2.5 years old and up. My kids are 4.5, 4.5 and 8 years old.

Mess Level

The mess level for this activity is medium.

Difficulty to Create

Easy.

Skills Developed

Colour recognition, language development, hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, imaginative play, creativity.

Supplies

(This post and list contains affiliate links for your convenience. If you make a purchase using one of these links, I may earn a commission. Please visit my disclosure policy for more information.)

Cardboard
Marker or pencil
Cotton Pads
Glue
Scissors
Eye droppers
Green and orange food colouring
Bowls
Water
Black foam sheets

Books, TV Show & Play Kits!

Book: Exciting Sensory Bins for Curious Kids

Did you know I wrote a book of sensory bins? Click here for more information Exciting Sensory Bin for Curious Kids. Or grab your copy at Amazon.

Engage your child in hours of play with my colorful collection of over 60 sensory bin activities, recipes and play projects that aid with memory formation, language development, problem-solving skills and more. Perfect for toddlers from eighteen months to three years old and beyond, each bin makes use of materials you already have at home and helps reignite your kids’ interest in toys long forgotten.

Boring afternoons are made exciting with awesome animal-based bins, like Salty Shark Bay or Yarn Farm. Pretend play bins like Birthday Cake Sensory Play or Bubble Tea Party encourage creativity and imagination. And your kids will have so much fun they won’t even know they’re getting smarter with STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) activities like Sink or Float Soup, Magnetic Letter Hunt or Ice Cream Scoop and Count.

With setup instructions, details on how to guide your child through each activity, suggestions for what to talk about with your child as they play and other useful tips, Mandisa gives you all the information you need for creative sensory activities your kids are bound to love.

Designed for toddlers 18 months and up.

Book: Super STEAM Activity Book for Kids

Learning all about science, technology, engineering, art, and math sets kids up for scholastic success―and it can be so much fun! Watch kids enjoy building STEAM skills as they color friendly fish, help water find its way to tree roots, solve math problems with mazes, and more.

Find out more and grab your copy here.

Designed for preschoolers 3 years old and up.

How to Make Colored Spaghetti for Sensory Play

Book: Big Book of Riddles for Kids

Riddle me this: What’s an exciting way to practice critical thinking while having a blast? The Big Riddle Book for Kids, of course! From hilarious puns to tough brain teasers, kids can build problem-solving skills with hundreds of riddles that show them how to think outside the box.

350 riddles for kids—Have hours of fun with riddles, puns and jokes, and math and logic puzzles that’ll get their wheels turning!
Level up their skills—Riddles get trickier as kids progress through the book, challenging them as they get better at solving puzzles!
Double-check their work—Kids can check their answers in the back of the book with a handy answer key.

Help children expand their minds while having fun with this puzzle book for kids!

Designed for kids ages 6 years old and up.

TV Show: Curious Crafting

I’m so excited to finally share my new crafting TV show Curious Crafting which launched July 1 at on TVOkids and TVOkids YouTube!

Set in the ultimate crafting space, Curious Crafting is a short form pre-school age series about the joy of making crafts. I lead a rotating cast of adorable little preschoolers (including my own) making magic out of common household objects.

In each episode we transform recycled items into magical crafts like a milk carton school bus, paper bag puppet or cotton pad turtle. The crafters learn and laugh their way through each activity while demonstrating what their young imaginations can create.

Curious Crafting shares the adventure and joy of making art with takeaway lessons for creating crafts at home.

This show designed for toddlers and preschoolers 2.5 years old and up.

The Best Sensory Play Kits for Kids

Play is at the core of learning during the early years and it can take many forms. One of the most important of these is sensory play because it engages all of a child’s senses (taste, touch, smell, sight and hearing) and has a enoumous positive impact on brain development.

Our Sensory Play Kits are some fun and easy ways to keep your child engaged while at the same time using sensory play to nurture their mind!