ACS staff and parents get together for ‘‘Pumpkin Painting and Potluck in the Park” Oct. 29 at Highlands Park in Arlington to get ready for Halloween.
Halloween can be both safe and fun, especially when Fort Myer Army Community Service hosts activities for parents to build lasting memories with their children.
ACS held a ‘‘Pumpkin Painting and Potluck in the Park” Oct. 29 to allow for parents and children to get together for some fun, fall-focused activities at Highlands Park in Arlington County.
Patricia Shamburger, ACS community educator, brought boxes filled with pumpkins, finger paints and markers. She turned park benches into art studios by putting down a table cloth and organizing palettes designed for children.
‘‘We get together and do this with ACS every year. My children love to paint pumpkins,” said Clarissa Gallo, a military spouse. Gallo has been a stay at home mom for five years, and said she appreciates play dates that are both free and fun. She helped her son Joshua get his hands covered in paint so he could get started painting his pumpkin.
Time flew by as children and parents created the perfect Halloween pumpkin to sit on their porch.
‘‘My daughter and I do this every year, but this is my son Jacob’s first year. He just turned one. We plan on going to the parade at my daughter’s school tomorrow and trick or treating Saturday. Painting these pumpkins is fun. It’s nice to get a head start on Halloween,” said Jane Tran, another military spouse at the event. She tried to hold her son up as he reached for an array of art supplies to turn his pumpkin into something new.
At noon parents and ACS employees took a little break for a reception that included fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes and some pumpkin bread brought by a parent. Moms exchanged parenting tips and laughed at each other’s tiny parenting mishaps along the way.
‘‘I think this program offers children and parents a great venue to get to know each other — a venue that is safe and allows for unstructured creativity,” said Heather Taylor, ACS’s new parent support program nurse. Taylor assisted Shamburger in set up of the art tables and the lunch delivery.
Finished with their pumpkins, kids hit the playground behind the park benches to swing, slide or play tag.
‘‘To the best of my knowledge the Army didn’t have all of these programs 20 years ago. They’re wonderful and I wish they had them while I was raising my daughter, who is all grown up with a child of her own,” said Karen St. Pierre, training coordinator for ACS.
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