This St. John the Baptist pumpkin is the perfect All Saints Day craft ideas to keep your kids motivated about learning about the lives of the saints. Plus they are super cute and easy to do, especially with preschoolers!
All Saints Day Crafts
My 8-year-old son, who likes to devour the Autom catalog when it comes in the mail, suggested that this year’s stash of Saint Pumpkins should include John the Baptist. Not usually crafty, he was so excited when I began prepping one, he even sifted through our mountain of foam shapes to find bodies for the clearly necessary and indispensable locusts. If you don’t want to spend the extra $1 and car trip to find craft fur, you can opt for brown felt for the body with small chunks of brown yarn glued on it for texture.
We make several saint pumpkins at our mom’s group every year, and all the kids and adults love them. So far, we’ve created St. Nick, St. Patrick, St. Therese, St. Joan of Arc, St. Michael the Archangel, Our Lady of Guadalupe, St. Rose, St. Padre Pio, Pope St. JP II, Our Lady of Lourdes, St. Faustina, and a few more. I vary the number of girl and boy Saints based on the group we have, and we often create pumpkins based on the names of the kids or new babies in the group. You can see many of the ones we’ve been able to photograph here.
Who was St. John the Baptist?
St. John the Baptist was Jesus’s cousin, son of Elizabeth and Zachariah. When Mary rushed to the house of Elizabeth to tell her the news the Angel Gabriel had shared with her, it is John the Baptist, in the womb of Elizabeth that leaps for joy. He is described in scripture as being arrayed in a “camel’s hair” garment secured by a leather belt, and having a diet of locusts and wild honey. His mission was to prepare the way for the Lord by calling others to repent because the kingdom of God was at hand. He was called “the Baptist,” because he would baptize people as a sign of their repentance. One of my favorite Bible passages relates to St. John the Baptist. John responds, “He must increase; I must decrease.” (John 3:30). St. John the Baptist pray for us!
The Craft: St John the Baptist Pumpkin
- If you can’t find craft fur, you can opt for brown felt for the body, with small chunks of brown yarn glued on it for texture.
- You can also print out an illustration of a locust and have the kids color that.
- Have fun!!
All Saints Day Crafts: St. John the Baptist Pumpkin
This St. John the Baptist pumpkin is the perfect all saints day craft idea.
Materials
- 4 - 4” pumpkins
- 1 9 x 12 craft fur sheet
- 1 brown 9 x 12 felt sheet (sticky-back optional)
- 1 green sticky-back foam sheet or small green foam pieces
- 1 yellow sticky-back foam sheet or small yellow foam pieces
- 2 green pipe cleaners
- 1’ green floral wire
- 8 -Sticky googly or sticker eyes
- tacky glue
- small paper or plastic cups
- sharpie marker
Tools
- paint brushes
Instructions
St. John’s clothes:
- Cut a 9” x 12” sheet of brown craft fur into 5 strips lengthwise (about 1 4/5” x 12” each). This will be St. John’s body covering.
- Cut 4 pieces of brown yarn the length of the fur strip, plus 2 inches. Tie the each yarn length in a circle, leaving extra dangling past the knot. Fold the knotted yarn in half and cut it across from the knot you just made. This is for his belt. Tying and then cutting it allows it to lay flat for gluing. Line up the ends of the yarn with the ends of the fur (the knot should be somewhere near center), and glue it down the middle of each fur strip.
St. John’s beard, and mustache:
- Cut one, brown 9” x 12” piece of felt into 4 rectangles. Fold each rectangle in half and cut a ragged oval from each.
- Make perpendicular slits in the middle to slide over the pumpkin stem. You can do this by folding the ovals in half and cutting about ½” line. Then, fold the oval the opposite direction and make another ½” cut that passes through the first.
- With each oval folded in half, cut a hole near the perpendicular slits you just made. This will be for the eyes. Cut one below for the mouth. Make the mouth hole as small as possible.
St. John’s accessories:
- To make the wild honey, grab a scrap of yellow sticky-back foam. Make any shape you want. Draw on honeycomb hexagons and drips of honey with a pen. Stick the honey to St. John’s fur. Repeat for each pumpkin.
- Create a locust body using sticky-back green craft foam. The body on ours was a dragonfly body from a foam craft kit. Look closely at the photos to mimic the shape.
- Poke the green pipe cleaner and green floral paddle wire right through the foam body. Twist the pipe cleaner just once under the body to keep it in place. You can do the same with the floral wire to keep it more secure. Bend the wires to create feet and legs.
- Cut one last piece of sticky-back green foam into an elongated tear drop shape. This will be the wing. Take the backing off of the foam and attach it the body of the locust. Repeat 4 times.
- Place the locust anywhere on St. John’s fur, using the sticky backing to adhere it.
Instructing the kids:
- Put tacky glue in small paper or plastic cups and provide paint brushes. You can find cheap ones in large quantity at the dollar store. Keep paper towels and baby wipes handy!
- Have kids remove all items from the bag. (Bags can be labeled with a Saint card or printed image, especially for non-readers)
- Help the kids cover the back of the fur with glue and put around the bottom of the pumpkin. The clothes can also be secured at the back with a return address or shipping label, printed with the Saint name, information about the Saint, or a corresponding prayer.
- Let the kids place any hair or head covering over the stem through the perpendicular slits. If using sticky-back brown felt, be sure they take off the paper backing.
- Draw on a mouth with a Sharpie marker wherever the child shows you to.
- Make St. John Pumpkin a friend, maybe St. Faustina?
- Take lots of pictures and link them back to this post!
Notes
- If you can't find craft fur, you can opt for brown felt for the body, with small chunks of brown yarn glued on it for texture.
- You can also print out an illustration of a locust and have the kids color that.
