OK, I admit, these pumpkins with the ping pong ball eyes are the brainchild of the folks at Martha Stewart. But what a great idea for your preschoolers for a change from triangle cutouts in a plain orange pumpkin. Granted, Martha's crafters version will probably look better than what your kids churn out, but hey, you may be teaching the future Martha's! I love the idea of thinking outside the box for the eyes for this pumpkin by using the ping pong balls decorated with markers. If you are worried about your preschoolers cutting the mouth out, consider using paint or gluing some felt cutouts onto the pumpkin. I guarantee the kids will get a real kick out of making the bloodshot eyeballs!
The photo above is another idea from Martha. The eyes of the pumpkins are made from PUSH PINS! Genius! Worried about the safety issue of letting the kids use the push pins? Use some pompoms from the craft store. Safer and just as attractive.
But my favorite is the bat-pumpkin in the back of this photo. Just add some black poster board or balsa wood wings and you have bat-o-lanterns! The bat-o-lantern looks best if shown off on top of a clear plastic cylinder so it looks like it's flying. Don't use full size pumpkins for these, instead smaller 'individual' size pumpkins are perfect.
Trying to save some $$ on this project? Work with plain orange pumpkins, they won't cost as much as the white ones and will look just as great for the kids. Another option? Have students work in a group instead of each having an individual pumpkin. They can show off their work at school instead of taking it home. If your school has the space, consider planting some pumpkins next year, you may not have a large enough crop for the whole school but you won't need to buy as many.
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