12 No Carve Pumpkin Decorating Ideas

These no-carve pumpkin decorating ideas for kids are fun for all ages! They’ll make your pumpkins look great and last a long time.

Updated August 2022

Carving pumpkins is a Halloween tradition, but it’s not very little-kid friendly. Plus you need to wait until practically Halloween Eve if you want your Jack-o’-lantern to look good for the big night.

These process art pumpkin decorating ideas are different.

They are great for little kids (and big!), look great, and are long lasting since they are no-carve. So it’s a big win all around.

You can start decorating your pumpkins as early as they become available in the pumpkin patches, stores, and farms, get into the Halloween spirit, and have great Halloween decorations all month long.

Plus, these process art pumpkin decorating ideas for kids make for great seasonal art invitations as well as party activities and family art sessions.

No Carve Pumpkin Decorating Ideas

1. Pumpkin Painting

The perfect Halloween art activity for toddlers! Paint your pumpkin with a brush or with your fingers. Black and white look especially striking on pumpkins, but you can use any colors, of course!

We especially like BioColor paint for painting on pumpkins as it adheres well and dries shiny, but tempera paint will work too.

Further Reading: 5 Pumpkin Painting Ideas for Kids

2. Decorate Your Pumpkin with Stickers

Use stationery store stickers such as hole reinforcement stickers, circle stickers, or mailing labels (try cutting some into triangles!) to decorate your pumpkins.

3. Sticker Resist Pumpkins

You can use the idea above and take it one step further by doing sticker resist art on your pumpkin. Simply paint over the stickers and pumpkin, then remove the stickers to reveal your design.

Note: Use tempera paint rather than the BioColors I mentioned earlier for this one. The stickers will be easier to remove.

4. Scribble Drawing Pumpkins

Scribble, doodle, and draw all over your pumpkin with Sharpie permanent markers, crayons, or oil pastels.

5. Color Your Pumpkin

Use crayons, oil pastels, or tempera paint sticks to color your pumpkin.

Note: A Toddler Art Class used gel crayons to color this white pumpkin. An older child could color an entire pumpkin with crayons if they wanted to!

6. Pumpkins Zentangle Style

Use Sharpie markers to doodle different tangle designs in each vertical pumpkin section. Chalk markers work, too, but are not permanent.

Further Reading: How to Make Zentangle Leaves with Sharpies for Fun

7. Polka Dot Pumpkin Decorating

Use a pompom held in a clothespin to print dots all over your pumpkin with paint.

Or try Q-tip pointillism for smaller polka dots.

8. Decorate A Pumpkin with Face Paint

Draw facial features on the pumpkin first with Sharpies (optional) then decorate with face paint. We’ve used and like a Snazaroo face paint kit.

Bonus: you can wash it off and start again as often as you like!

9. Splatter Paint Pumpkins

Use a splatter painting technique to give your pumpkin a Jackson Pollock effect. Hint: Do this one outside!

10. Decorate a Pumpkin with Pour Paint or Drip Paint

Pour or drip paint over the top of the pumpkin and watch it drip down the sides of the pumpkin to create a neat effect.

11. Washi Tape Pumpkin Decorating

Wrap washi tape around your pumpkin in any design you like. Or use pieces of the washi tape like stickers.

Here’s a festive set of Halloween washi tape! And glow-in-the-dark tape would be fun for this, too.

12. Add Clay Faces to Your Pumpkin

Use modeling clay or playdough to add three dimensional faces (or other designs) to your pumpkin.

Further Reading: Make Awesome 3D Pumpkin Faces with Playdough and Poke-Ins

How about you? Which of these kids pumpkin decorating ideas would you like to try?

Autumn Arts & Crafts Ideas & Supplies

Download our FREE printable idea list of 31 Halloween activities for kids & families! Or just check out the blog post with the links. So many fun ideas for Halloween!

And be sure to check out our FALL family fun list in our Amazon store! It includes supplies for fall arts & crafts, autumn toys, Halloween ideas, and picture books about autumn.

And if you want even MORE Halloween arts and crafts, check out our Halloween Arts and Crafts Workshop at the Kids Art Spot, our kids art club. You’ll get 15 videos of fun and spooky art activities PLUS 17 Halloween-themed drawing prompts!

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