Spider project

This is one of my favorite Halloween art projects to do with the kids. It's also the source of one of the funniest stories we have of Ronny attempting art with the children. Two years ago when I was still teaching, I had to stay late for parent conferences one October night. I left Ronny simple instructions - just paint these pumpkins black with the kids. I'll help them finish in the morning when they're dry. Easy, right? Just paint - one color - done.

This is Ronny's version: Set the kids up on the kitchen floor with newspaper down. Give them a paintbrush and black paint (first mistake). Immediately, Elie decides to paint her hand. While washing her hand in the sink (with my back turned - second mistake) Cameron sets his foot in the black paint and decides to wash it himself so he walks into the bathroom leaving black footprints in his tracks. I turned around from 30 seconds of washing Elie's hand and realize what happened. Walk into the bathroom and am greeted with black paint on the toilet, sink, walls, floor, towels - everywhere. Try to help him get clean (third mistake). In the meantime Tyler's in the kitchen alone(fourth mistake) with his paint (mind you - about 90 seconds have passed since I gave them the paint). Tyler's decided to paint his entire body instead of the pumpkin. 2 minutes into the project, with paint in 3 rooms of the house now, and everybody painted black (but not the pumpkins) I threw the kids into the tub and painted the goddamn things myself.

Anyway - if you want to try it out - here's the instructions. Paint every part of a small pumpkin or gourd with any color tempera paint. Make sure to start by painting the bottom first - this way you can hold onto the stem before it's painted.
Let dry. Take 4 large pipe cleaners, twist together in the center and hot glue the center to the top of the pumpkin (around the stem). Once dry bend the legs to make 8 big, furry legs. If you have big, google eyes they look the best - but they need to be stuck on with either hot glue, or a glue dot (orientaltradingsupply.com). This year I used eye stickers - but still used a glue dot or they don't stay.