pumpkin magnets

Last week on one of our dreary days Cami and I did an easy little project making pumpkin magnets with stuff we already had lying around the house. I’ve seen bottle cap magnets around and decided to make our own version. Materials:
• Beer bottle caps (or something close to it)
• Orange Construction or Tissue Paper
• Paper Mache Glue (Boil 3/4 c. water. Add in 1/4 c. cold water & 1T cornstarch mixture. Mix over heat until thickened.)
• Green felt
• Tacky Glue
• Magnet
This is a lot quicker and easier than an actual paper mache project because its so small but its still just as fun. Cami loved it, Noah just ate the liquid starch we made, tore up the pieces of paper (which was helpful) and ran around squealing. Some days, he’s just that way. Camille covered all the bottle caps, making sure none of the logos from underneath were showing through. I made sure that she didn’t cover the back so that the magnet could be directly glued onto it.
After the paper had fully dried we glued a little piece of felt onto the top and held it there with a clothespin. After that had dried, Camille squeezed a bunch of glue in the bottle cap and we placed the magnet inside. I put a couple little black lines on it and we were done. To give them a more glossy finish, you can simply paint an acrylic gloss medium overtop. We did that with one of them. They are now all over the fridge and Camille has asked to give them to different people too. She’s so proud.

Tagged as: celebrate autumn, child craft, indoor fun, kid art