Materials:

• 12 inch Balloons

• Elmer’s School Glue

• Orange Yarn

• Green and Brown Pipe Cleaners

• A Bowl

• Plastic Fork

Step 1:

Cut your yarn into 21 strips all about 36 inches long.  [You don’t want them too long because they will tangle in the glue and you don’t want them to short that they can’t wrap around the ballon.  And this only makes one pumpkin!]

Step 2:

Blow up the 12 inch balloons only half way. (If you blow the balloon up too much you will have to use more yarn and if you use too little it will be in the shape of an egg.)

Step 3:

Tie a strand of yarn to the end of the ballon.  Then tie it to a surface so it is ¨floating¨ in the air.  (You don’t have too, but it reduces mess and is easier to apply the gluey yarn. Plus it is already there to dry.)

Step 4:

In a bowl pour a bottle of glue. One bottle can makes 1 to 2 pumpkins.  You can use straight glue or you can a little cornstarch or flour to make the yarn more stiff.  If you really want it to be stiff you can try using mod Podge that is watered down a little.

Step 5:

Dunk a piece of yarn in the glue and use the plastic fork to stir it around.  Use the for to take the piece of yarn out, then between the prongs of the fork slowly pull the yarn though to get the excess glue off.

Step 6:

Now take the gluey piece of yarn and start on the top or bottom by pressing down and then wrapping it around the balloon the pressing on the opposite end of where you started.  Repeat with the remaining pieces of yarn.

Step 7:

When you finish wrapping the balloon in the yarn, hang them up somewhere to dry.  They will drip some glue so make sure you lay down a towel or some paper towels. It takes 24 hours to dry.

Step 8:

Next you need to press the balloon so that it detaches from the yarn.  If you don’t and you just pop it it will deform the shape of the pumpkin.

Step 9:

Make a small hole near the knot of the balloon.  You want the air to slowly leak out so that you can detach any strands of yarn that are still attached to the balloon.  Then pull the deflated balloon through one of the openings.

Step 10:

Take the pipe cleans and make a stem (brown) by making a spiral to you desired length and just tucking carefully into the yarn.  Do the same with the leafs (green) just make it wavy instead of curly.

These yarn pumpkins are a cute, fun project to do when you are bored.