DIY Pumpkin Patch Centerpiece
Just in time for Halloween, I want to show you how to make this awesome DIY Pumpkin Patch! It is super easy, you can do it for virtually FREE and you can build it with your kids in about 2 hours! We started and finished this project today and it was a blast to do with my girls who are 3 and 5 years old. It allowed me to use a little skill in the shop, get rid of some scrap wood and let them use some art and creative skills.
In this project, your kids can participate in the all of these skills: Painting, Coloring, Finger Painting, Glueing and Using a Hammer.
If you have a few scraps laying around your shop and a small assortment of tools, you can make this happen TODAY!
Here’s what you need:
- Scrap Wood (Here is what I used)
- (1) – 2″ x 10″ at 19 inches in length of pine scrap
- (1) – 2″ x 4″ at 20 inches in length pine that I cut into 3 pieces – 4 inches, 4 inches and 5 inches
- (1) – 1″ x 5″ at 15 inches in length white wood that I cut in to 2 pieces – 5.5 inches and 6 inches
- Saw
- Sander
- Drill ( with a drill bit and a philips driver)
- Countersink or Forster bit at 1/2 inches (optional)
- (10) #8, 1 inch Wood Screws
- Glue
- Paint (small amounts in the color you choose)
- Hammer
- Dowel Rod (optional) 1/2 inch diameter and 5 inches in length
- Marker (Color of choice for leaf/stem)
- Black Paint, Marker for Pumpkin Faces
- Stencil or Art Skills for Pumpkin Faces
That’s it! Go gather your supplies and let’s have some fun!
Start by cutting your scrap boards to length.
I just grabbed a few scraps that were laying around my shop. (My list that I used is above.)
For the base, I used a 2″x10″ piece of pine that was already 19″ in length. Perfect!
Dry test looks good! Don’t forget to sand your blocks. You can keep the sides square or round them off a bit.
Flip your board over and lay out your test fit again. Trace each block so you know where to drill your pilot holes or counter sink holes. This is optional but I like it because you can bury the screws inside the board and not scratch the table you will place your pumpkin patch on.
For each block, I drilled two 1/2 inch holes about halfway into the board.
Luckily there is a natural (depth marker) on the forstner bit so I just went to the collar and stopped.
For the rest of the way, I drilled a small 3/16 hole all the way through to the top side. This allows the screw to pass through easily when it is time to assemble but also gave me markers on where I would place the “pumpkins” when ready.
The top side of the board with very tiny screw holes.
All set! Let’s take it inside and call the kids over to help!
Having small paper plates on hand is awesome when painting with children. They had a blast learning how to paint like mom and dad.
Next we painted the “patch” part. We had some extra orange and foam green that we used. It turned out great.
I wanted to have a little more fun with the kids so I had them dip their fingers in the orange paint and stick on little tiny pumpkins. They loved doing the finger painting!
I love seeing messy hands. It’s so fun to help my little ones be creative.
All finished painting. Time to let it dry while we work on the faces.
A quick Google search helped me find fun faces. I just copied them to a document and printed them out to make sure they would each fit well on each block (Pumpkin). If you do not have official stencil making supplies, you can easily cut out the faces using an X-acto knife or scissors and skip a few steps down.
If you happen to have stencil making supplies, you can do this pretty easily. I have another post on how to make stencils HERE if you want to check that out. I love making stencils because it makes it sharp and they are reusable again and again.
Some details on making the stencil.
After we cut all the stencils, the girls gathered round while I placed them on and then painted the faces on.
Awesome!
Boom!
Next I grabbed the base board (the Patch) and screwed in each screw.
I made sure to screw through the board just enough so I could stick each block (Pumpkin) on top of the screw so it would hold a little while I got in position to screw it in from underneath.
A little glue before placing them on. You have to figure out what works for you to screw these on as it is a little tricky.
After all the Pumpkins were in place, I had an idea to make them even better! Stems! I looked around my shop for a dowel rod and sure enough, I had one! I grabbed my forstner bit and started drilling.
Just a little ways in is enough.
All ready for stems.
By the way, here is how I cut my stems. Since my meter saw is huge, I used a few scraps to act as a disposable fence to be able to cut my dowel rod into small pieces safely. I cut them in all sizes.
A quick trip to the belt sander put a little character into them.
TIP: Since these are so small, I used a pair of pliers to hold each stem while sanding them down on one side.
Ready to rock!
I asked the girls to grab green markers and this was a fun detailed item for them to color.
I love seeing their little hands work!
Every spot!
Stems are ready.
The test fit worked out great.
Just a little bit of glue to help hold them in place.
This was another fun part. I had bought the girls small kid sized hammers a while back and they finally got to use them on an actual project. You can buy them HERE.
Just a few taps.
My girls LOVE to hammer things. Isn’t this WAY better than those plastic black and decker toy sets?!
And now for the grand reveal of the DIY Pumpkin Patch!
This DIY PUMPKIN PATCH was a super FUN and EASY project for me and my kids! I highly recommend it.
Hope everyone has a Happy Halloween!
SHOPPING LIST (Special Tools and Supplies I used or mentioned)
- Kids Hammer – Buy HERE.
- Belt Sander – Buy HERE.
- Forstner Bit Set – Buy HERE.
- Stencil Cutter – Buy HERE.
- Stencil Paper – Buy HERE.
AFTER THOUGHTS
- You could easily paint the faces on the back too if this will be on your table or if both sides will be shown.
- I unintentionally made as many Pumpkins as there are in our family. My girls loved naming each one after a member of our family. Might be a fun idea for you to try!
- Putting down paper (in our case, packing paper) is awesome for clean up after you are done.
- Take time to invest in stencil making. So worth it! Check out my blog post on that HERE.
