Cinderella's Carriage

What You Need:

• Newspaper, cut or torn into strips
• Extra sheets of newspaper for covering your work surface
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 2 cups water
• Mixing bowl
• Balloon
• 4 empty wood spools, plus one smaller wood spool
• Craft glue
• Paint in pink, white, and purple
• Paint brushes and water for rinsing
• Black permanent marker
• Glitter glue (optional)

What You Do:

1. Start by covering your workspace with newspaper to make clean-up easier.
2. Make the papier-mache paste. Have your child place the flour in the mixing bowl. Gradually add the water, mixing as you do. Keep adding water and stirring until the paste is smooth, with a thick, gooey consistency.
3. Blow up the balloon. This will be the base for your papier-mache pumpkin.
4. Now invite her to dip a newspaper strip into the papier-mache paste, squeeze off the excess, and drape it over the balloon. Have her continue adding newspaper strips in this way until the balloon is completely covered.
5. Set the pumpkin aside to dry.
6. Once the pumpkin is dry, it's time to paint. Squeeze out a little of each color and let her paint the pumpkin in whatever color scheme she likes. Make it white with pink and purple trim, pink with purple and white trim, or purple with pink and white trim. Encourage her to paint decorative vines and curlicues on the side of the coach, too!
7. Once the pumpkin is painted, do the wheels. Have her paint the four larger spools any color she likes, and paint the smaller one, which will be the pumpkin's stem, the same color as the pumpkin's body.
8. Let the paint dry.
9. Once everything is dry, attach the wheels. Lie the pumpkin on its side and glue the four larger spools to the bottom, one on each corner like wheels. Glue the smaller spool on top of the pumpkin like a stem. Let dry overnight.
10. When thoroughly dry, turn the pumpkin over so it sits on the wheels. Use the marker to draw doors and windows on the coach as well as pumpkin contours to make it look more pumpkin-like.
11. Use the marker to draw doors and windows on the sides of the coach. If using, brush glitter glue lightly over the whole coach and let dry.

Use your pumpkin coach to reenact the story of Cinderella with your child.