Carving pumpkins is a Halloween tradition, but it’s not terribly 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.
I encourage you to choose 1 or 2 of the dozen ideas here and give them a try!
12 Kids Pumpkin Decorating Ideas Using Process Art Techniques
1) Pumpkin Painting
Paint your pumpkin with a brush or with your fingers. Black and white look especially striking on pumpkins, but you can use any colors.
We especially like BioColor paint for painting on pumpkins as it adheres well and dries shiny, but tempera paint will work too.
Further Reading: Pumpkin Painting with Kids is the Perfect Halloween Sensory Activity
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
If you like, do a sticker resist by painting over the stickers and pumpkin, then removing the stickers to reveal your sticker 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 or oil pastels to color your pumpkin.
Note: The 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! (See this crayon pumpkin post on The Swell Designer for inspiration.)
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.
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. My kids used 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? Any others to add to the list? (If so, please leave a comment below!)
Want more Halloween ideas? See my 31 Days of Halloween Activities for Kids (with printable list).
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