Halloween Pumpkin Carving Stencils

Halloween Pumpkin Carving Stencils - Parenting.com

I love Parenting magazine.  Here are some stencils to help you make the perfect Pumpkin Jack!

Make Your Own Monster

This is a project I did while I was a camp counselor at the Boys & Girls Club.  I had to get pre-teen boys excited about art--not very easy, especially since they were so attached to their PSPs and Nintendo DS's (even though they weren't even allowed at camp grrr).  So I made this project.

I made a simple body template for a monster.  Then the boys needed to cut out shapes from construction paper to glue on to the body and make their monster.  Some were reluctant at first, but by the end of the class the boys were happy to have made 2, even 3 monsters of their own, some even ventured away from the body template I created and designed their own.  I was so proud of them!  My only regret is not getting pictures of all the cool monsters they made!

This would be a fun activity to do at a Halloween or birthday party or to make cards or decorations.  I think children of all ages could really enjoy this, maybe even a creative teen or two if they're want to do something fun with their younger siblings.

Construction Paper Jack-O-Lantern

Here's a template I made for you to make your own construction paper Jack-o-Lanterns.

Cut out 1 Large Pumpkin piece, 2 Mediums pieces, 2 small ones, and 1 top.  Glue the medium pieces on either side of the back of the large piece, then the 1 small piece next to one medium and the other on the other side.  Glue the top at the top of the large pumpkin piece OR make long green winding vines and add lots of leaves.

To make a Jack-O-Lantern cut out triangle, square, and circle shapes for the eyes and nose and a crescent piece for the mouth.  I didn't make any template pieces for this part because there are so many different ways to do this part, it's really up to your imagination.

This is a great project for kids that may not be old enough to carve pumpkins or for parents who aren't so keen on the idea of chopping up pumpkins.

These make great cards, party invites, or decorations you can save or scrapbook later.