Fall Festival Posters

Our Family Fall Festival is tomorrow!  Since we needed to make signs for the event, it was the perfect opportunity for the Camp kids to help.  They are really creative and had a lot of fun decorating.  Here is one of the posters.

Isn't it cute!  It will definitely add some festivity to the festival!  Here is how we did the posters.  First, we (the adults) did some preparation.

1) Buy sheets of white posterboard.  We found ours at Target.
2) Decide on letters.  For the "FALL FESTIVAL" letters, we printed them out using Microsoft Word so we could choose a good font and make the letters big.  Then, we cut them out.  The red letters came from a bulletin board set.  For the black & orange headings on the other signs, we used stencils and markers.  Then, we used red paint for everything else on those signs.
3) Glue the letters to the posterboard.  I used a glue stick on the letters and then went back with regular Elmer's glue to touch up any edges that didn't adhere the first time.  (The one thing I learned about this is that the ink from the printed letters will rub off onto the posterboard if you get glue on your fingers, which I did a lot.  So, you may want to have a damp tissue handy!)
4) Print out pumpkins and leaves.  We searched for images and then printed them out, making sure we had a variety of sizes.  We printed the pumpkins on orange paper for the younger kids to color.  We chose white paper for the leaves so the older kids could decide what color they wanted them to be.
5) Let everything dry overnight.

Now, it's time for the kids to decorate!  About 12 of the Camp kids wanted to decorate.  Some of them were younger (K-2 grades), and some were older (3-5 grades); so it was perfect!

1) Pass out sheets of pumpkins to the younger kids and leaves to the older kids.  We gave the younger kids crayons and the older kids markers to use while decorating.  We also passed out kid-friendly scissors to each child.
2) Let the kids decorate as many items as they would like, using their imaginations and creativity.  Once everything was colored, the younger kids went back to their groups to play while the older kids stayed to do some special decorating.
3) Pick a few colors of paint, and pour onto a plate.  (We used orange, blue, and red paint.)  Use foam stamps to stamp images onto the posters.  (We found a set of these stamps in the craft section at a store.  You could also use stickers or stencils if you wanted.)
4) Glue the kids' decorated pumpkins and leaves to the posterboard.  (You could let the kids help with this step too.  One of our kids was especially skilled at picking good spots for the artwork.)

Here's how everything looks!

We used most of the stamps on this poster.  Some of them turned out well, while some are hard to recognize.  It seemed to help if you blotted the stamp to remove excess paint before using it on the posterboard.

The kids did great!  I'm sure they'll be excited to see their artwork when we hang the signs tomorrow.  I think it is so important to find ways for kids to be involved in events like this.  It makes them feel important and gives them a way to participate.  Plus, they get to put their minds to work in creative ways.

Do you have any Fall Festival decoration ideas?  Do you have ideas of other ways to get kids involved? Let us know!