Since my little Ellie Belly turned 3 this summer and she started preschool a few days a week this fall, we have been using her “off” days to do some fun crafts that help to develop her fine motor skills. You know, the fine, precise thumb, finger, hand, and wrist movements involved in writing, cutting with scissors, buttoning up shirts and sweaters. She isn’t developmentally delayed but we like to be on top of things so she can be ahead of the game….plus it’s pretty sweet that she can button her own cardigans and put on her own socks!

We were sent an Elmer’s Early Learners Academy Kit and asked to create an educational craft for the preschool aged set using their new Glue Sticks and Glue Pens designed specifically for preschool-aged children. These products have a unique triangular shape that helps kids develop fine motor skills. Perfect as that is exactly what we want to do with my Ellie!

I love crafting (duh!) but what I love even more is crafting with the littles that ends up being decorations for the house so that is exactly what we did. Our educational craft for Ellie was to make a pumpkin out of small tissue paper squares, a paper plate, a green popsicle stick, and the new glue pen from Elmer’s.

She had so much fun! First I drew a small line on the backside of the paper plate where I wanted to to place the glue. She did traced it like a boss.

Then she pressed the green popsicle stick onto the glue…this was going to be our pumpkin’s stem!

Then, flip the paper plate around and have your preschooler dab glue in small sections all over the plate. Take squares of tissue paper and scrunch them up and place them all over the glue on the paper plate.

Continue doing this until your paper plate is nicely covered in orange tissue paper.