Fall Storybook Pumpkin – Super Narwhal & Jelly Jolt

Earlier this month, my daughter brought home the first of what I know will be many “family” projects.  Every parent dreads these projects, because let’s face it, at this age, it’s less of a family project and more a “mom and dad” project.  The ask? Design a Fall Storybook Pumpkin based on your child’s favorite book. In our daughter’s case that was Super Narwhal & Jelly Jolt.  

Sharing our story and some tips on what we used to create our Fall Storybook Pumpkin – Super Narwhal & Jelly Jolt!

Now the ask was to create a single storybook pumpkin, but our daughter wanted to stay true to the story and create Super Narwhal AND Jelly Jolt.  Below are the main supplies we purchased:

From Craft Store:

• *1 medium fake pumpkin (used for Super Narwhal)
• *1 small fake pumpkin (used for Jelly Jolt)
• 1 unique gourd from local pumpkin farm (used for base of Jelly Jolt)
• 1 tube gray acrylic paint
• 1 tube light blue acrylic paint
• 1 small
• 1 small yellow t-shirt
• 1 package of googly eyes
• 1 tube of super/gorilla glue
• 3-4 foam paint brushes

*Important Tip* We initially intended on using real pumpkins for this project, but after talking with some of the other parents at a birthday party, we decided to do fake pumpkins.  We were told the paint doesn’t stick as well to the real pumpkins and they are harder for the child to transport.

Directions

1. Paint medium pumpkin gray and small pumpkin light blue. Let dry for 30 minutes
2. If using gourd for the base of Jelly Jolt, paint the same light blue color. Let dry for about 45 minutes
3. While drying, cut off bottom hem of yellow t-shirt and set aside.  This will become the tie for Super Narwhal’s cape.
4. Cut off a second strip from the yellow t-shirt. The strip needs to be long enough to tie around the small pumpkin.
5. Once the small pumpkin is dry, take the second yellow strip and tie around the pumpkin. You can also super glue this if needed.
6. To create the cape, from the neckline of the t-shirt, cut straight down to the bottom from the left and right shoulder area.
7. Lay the piece you just cut, now the cape, flat on the table.
8. Take the bottom hem you cut off in step 3 and cut into two equal length pieces.
9. Superglue the first piece to the left side of the cape; and the second piece to the right side of the cape. Let glue dry.
10. Place eyes on Super Narwhal and eyes on the yellow mask for Jelly Jolt
11. Paint mouth on Super Narwhal and Jelly Jolt.
12. Tie cape around Super Narwhal/medium sized pumpkin.  You may need to fold a bit and super glue the cape up a bit higher on the back of the pumpkin so it doesn’t hang as much.
13. For Jelly Jolt’s base if you use the unique gourd (we got lucky and found one that we thought was perfect!), use some glue and glitter to make his “tentacles” sparkle.
14. Drill hole in base of small pumpkin large enough to fit the gourd’s stem through.

If your little one comes home from school with a Fall Storybook Pumpkin project, I hope you’ll find this useful. Pinterest is also jam-packed full of great ideas as well.

Have you had to create a Fall Storybook Pumpkin with your child? Share in the comments below!