When pumpkins fill the fields, autumn is here. This time of a year pumpkins also fill our garden and local farmer’s market. A couple of pumpkins decorates our porch, and the freezer is getting filled with pumpkin puree, which will be turned into many pumpkin pies and cookies later on. In celebration of this pumpkin bonanza, we made a pumpkin button collage.
After our previous moon collage, I was looking forward to making more button crafts with my toddler. It was so much fun to make, and I like the look of the finished project on the wall! This month pumpkins worked as our inspiration.
Materials to Make the Pumpkin Button Craft
- free template (download at the end of the post)
- black cardstock paper
(other colours, like green or white, will work as well)
- packing tape
- many orange buttons
and beads
- a few green buttons
and beads
- (optional) orange glitter
How to Make a Button Pumpkin Craft
1. Download the template at the end of the post and print it on a piece of paper. Even if you choose black paper, like we did, you will still be able to see the shape well enough.
2. Cut the pumpkin shape out with a hobby knife and scissors.
3. Apply overlapping strips of tape
4. Cut the strips of paper that go inside of the design and stick them to the tape.
5. Collect buttons and beads in a bowl. Get buttons of various shapes and shades. Dollar stores and craft stores usually carry fun button packs for scrapbooking and other crafts.
6. Set up an invitation to play!
As many toddlers before him, my son loves playing with buttons and stickers. His attachment is charming: every time we use a tape gun, he comes over and asks for a little piece of tape. Upon getting it, he acts very excited and walks around, looking for the best place to stick his piece. And this time he got so much tape all to himself!
He carefully selected one button after another and contemplated them before making a final decision of where to stick them onto the pumpkin. Sometimes he would sort buttons on the side, but soon return back to his pumpkin. It was getting filled with buttons pretty quickly!
Not only these button collages make for pretty art projects, but they are great for exercising fine motor skills! Simply picking round buttons and tiny bead – one after another – another takes a lot of concentration from a toddler, but if you want to make this part compelling for an older child, you can always add tweezers to the game.
Even though we do not have a single orange button left in our collection, we still did not have enough to fill the whole pumpkin. But not to worry! As a final step, I sprinkled some glitter
Afterwards, I removed the glitter excess by brushing it off, and the pumpkin was finished!
You can make your own with the free printable below.
Also Try!
Build a life-size skeleton model from paper!
Make stained glass leaf suncatchers.
I love it. But where did you get all your buttons?
Thank you, Stefanie! I got Buttons from the Dollar Store – they have them in the scrapbooking and in sewing sections, and they are often sorted by colours. :) I also got beads and glitter there.
Hello! I decided to do this project to decorate my college dorm room! However, some of the (most adorable) buttons I bought have the little loop on the bottom of them. Do you know a way I could remove the loops or find a frame that would give enough room for the buttons with loops on them?
I adore your button pumpkin, and what a great process to create it. Beautiful!! :)
Thank you so much for this awesome craft. My son and I did this today and he loved it. It looks awesome!