Attack of the Venus Fly Trap

Higgins loves Venus Fly Traps. We have two containers of them on our kitchen window sill (one he grew from seeds and one he transported home on a 12 hour car ride from vacation). When he saw a picture of a giant Venus Fly Trap Halloween decoration, he fell in love with it. Last year we finally made his giant Venus Fly Trap and it was pretty easy to do. Not so easy to store since it is pretty big, but easy to make. With the quick drying paint and concrete, it was done in a day!

There are a lot of variations online and a lot of varying degrees of complexity. There are some that are just the heads of the fly trap hanging on fences with wire stems, and some that are a stemmed plant with multiple heads that are taller than I am. The thing I loved about this craft is that you can make it however you want it. You really just need a foam pumpkin, a sharp knife, and some paint (if you didn't buy a green pumpkin). Everything else is optional to fit your tastes!

I kept ours pretty simple. It really only needed a few supplies from the craft store and/or a hardware store. At the craft store (I used Michael's), I bought a foam pumpkin and small decorative skulls. They have a range of pumpkin sizes, so you can make whatever size(s) you want. I think I went with a medium sized pumpkin. At the hardware store, I bought a green spray paint that had paint+primer. I figured the paint+primer would mean less coats of paint. I reused an old flower pot, a bag of quick set concrete, decorative moss from a school project, red craft paint, and a metal plant stake (like these: Amazon affiliate link). You can find all of these things in the craft and hardware store.

The stem of the pumpkin will be the back of the fly trap, where it connects to the stem (metal stake). With the pumpkin on its side, I traced a spiky toothy mouth in the middle of the pumpkin. I cut it out using an exacto knife and a utility knife. Once I had the mouth cut out, I spray painted the pumpkin green. While the first coat was drying, I bent the mental plant stake to form the stem. I then mixed up the concrete and filled flower pot. Once I had it pretty full and level, I inserted the plant stake into the middle and let set. I ended up propping the tip of the plant stake against a wall so that it would set where I wanted it to. I applied a second coat of paint to the pumpkin and let it dry. I used a thin rod to set in between the teeth and hung it over a shelf to dry. Once the outside was dry, I turned it upside down and painted the inside of the mouth. I first did a coat of the green spray paint and then painted it using the red craft paint and a paint brush. I even added a few blood drops along the edges. I also attached a tongue made from a foam craft sheet to the bottom of the mouth with hot glue.

Once the concrete was set, I glued on the decorative moss. It was then time to place the Venus Fly Trap pumpkin onto the stem. I drilled out a small hole and made sure it would fit tightly around the stem. I had to adjust the size a few times, but starting small and working your way up is best way to get a tight fit. I filled the hole with hot glue and placed the pumpkin on the stem. Once that was set, I hot glued the skulls around the base of the stem. I touched up any spots with paint and it was good to go!


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