How Do 2 Year Olds Decorate Pumpkins?

Several ideas here...

You can draw some eyes, noses, mouths and let the little ones decide where to glue stick them.

Or you can hand over washable markers to decorate the pumpkins themselves...

Or you can pull out the MR. Potato Head accessories and use them on the pumpkin. They just tell you where to put the stuff but it's their design...

Maybe that'll help? At any rate-HAVE FUN!

Walmart has pumpkin tattoos. you can put eyes, mouth etc and all it takes is a wet sponge and they stick to the pumpkin

I know you dont want mess but thats half the fun for them. I let my girls paint theirs, but the mess free way is stickers. I think they have tattoos for pumpkins also.

You could let them use finger paint to decorate them and some stickers just put down a big sheet or something where they'll be doing it and put some old clothes on them.

You can help them draw a face with a Sharpie. Then you use yarn to glue on "hair." You could buy those little plastic eyes at a craft store. Let them put some stickers on the pumpkin. My daughter did something similar at a pumpkin patch when she was two but I can't remember what all they used to decorate them. Just go to a craft store and see what you can find that they could use to make the pumpkin fun. The yarn hair was really cute. ( :

Decorate with halloween stickers.

My twins are two also! We bought the paintbrushes that have the paint already in the handle (Wal-Mart in the school supply marker area). They just squeeze the handle and the paint gets to the brush. I put a cheap plastic table cloth on the porch and it wasn't all that messy and they did it for about 45 minutes!!

If you don't want to do paint, you could buy stick-on googly eyes and stuff like that. But, I'd go with the paint. I got some great pics and they giggled the entire time. We just talked about how paint goes only on the pumpkin and it worked!

I found Mr. Potato Head decorations for Pumpkins at Michaels. I hear that they can be found at Wal Mart as well.

They come in Princess (what we bought), Witch, Pirate and another but I can remember.

I found some other things at Michaels that are foam parts that another mom said (cat, pirate) but my DD is a girl and didnt work for her.

There are rub ons, paint and stickers that can be found at craft stores as well.

I have a 2 year old granddaughter and we are always doing crafts. Amazingly, the mess is not to bad.

We found, and I wish I could tell you where, some Jack-O-Lantern "parts". They are kind of like Mr. Potato head pieces but only bigger and shaped like Jack-O-Lantern eyes, nose, mouth, etc. We also paint them, and my husband actually lets her help him carve one. She loves getting the "goo" out of the middle (she helped last year too).

One thing I didn't notice in the other posts, let your twins use their imagination. The pumpkins may not look like perfect Jack', but they will look like master pieces to you. Oh, and don't forget to take pictures of the process and the final project.

Have fun.

Lasat year my MIL found "Mr. Potato-Head" decorations for our pumpkins. They came with hands, feet, hats, eyes and mouths in cute cotumes. No mess at all, just stick them in the pumpkin.

A washable marker is what I would suggest to draw faces on the pumpkin

When my kids (I have 12 year old twin boys) were 2 we decorated pumpkins with Crayola washable markers. You could also let them decorate them with stickers or other craft items. Just let them experiment a little and most of all have fun doing it.

I know you are looking for something easy and not messy but I found finger painting pumpkins was the most fun when my kids were young. I have also carved pumpkins and let them clean them out (as best as they could). They love how it feels! Good luck, it sounds like you have your hands full!

J.

my two year old just had a blast decorating a pumpkin by glueing on feathers, pompons, etc. if you don't want to deal with glue, stickers and adhesive googly eyes are a fun alternative.

I plan to let my 2 year old use either markers or paint on his. We've done this in the past with my daughter, and it works well. If you use washable paint, then the mess cleans up quickly and they still have a fun time doing it. Good luck!

My son is turning 2 on Monday! We bought a "craft pumpkin" at Michaels (plastic) for...I can't remember, but no more than $5. There were Mr Pumpkin Head kits there at Michaels (I saw a pirate and a cat), and we did the cat because he loves his pet cat and always meows when he sees them, so I thought it'd be cute. I took a marker and wrote the date on the bottom of the pumpkin. These kits have foam stickers, pipe cleaners, etc and I just used a couple dabs of superglue for the pipecleaner parts to make sure the ears and whiskers didn't fall off. I thought it'd be cute to get 1 craft pumpkin a year and work on it as a team, getting more involved with higher degrees of difficulty as he gets older, date each one with the year, and someday we'll have enough to line the patio or path to the porch. Just thought it'd be sweet. On the other hand, you can give them colored markers or stickers or really "whatever", although I LOVED the first comment about cleaning out a pumpkin and then carving out what your child colors, lol. That sounds too cute.

Stickers are always a nice no-mess option. You can find them that look like funny face parts (eyes, nose, mouth) or you could also do halloween stickers.

Finger paints while messier is always another option. I've also done glue with sequins, feathers, etc.

Good luck, sounds like you've got your hands full.

Last year my little girl was 2 and I just cleaned out the pumpkin, let her draw on it with a marker and then I cut out where she had drawn put a light in it. She was so proud of her creation!!

Good morning!

My little one used lot of those foam stickers and paint! She had lots of fun!

M.

Last year, I bought a pie pumpkin and told my daughter that she could paint it but not carve it. She had a blast using regular finger paints. They washed right off when Halloween was over. I then chopped it up, cooked the pieces and made pie (far easier than you would imagine IF you use the pie pumpkins).

We also bought a large and used the potato head stuff. They enjoy that and the best part is that you can clean them off and use them year after year.

AT that age, the little pumpkins are alot easier for the kids to deal with. If you are brave, you give them each a black sharpie and let them draw their own faces. And, then maybe have one of the older kids mark a face with a pencil that you can cutout on the larger pumpkins. Another idea is to give them all stickers. I'm also recalling that craft stores/sections in Walmart have little kits that have the faces where you just poke the parts into the pumpkin. YOu could give each child a part to poke in.

Also, on your "about me", you've actually got your own "preschool" with all the young kids. Kudos to you for taking on your nieces and nephew!

Stickers are the least messy. Permanant Markers are another option. Paint in the back yard is more messy, but fun. just a few ideas. Pumpkins don't have to be carved!

My three year old and I just drew with sharpies. He had a blast and there was no mess.

What about using stickers or washable markers...

Check out the October issue of North Texas Kids magazine. They have a great article on carving (or not carving) pumpkins. You can read the issue on their online viewer:
www.northtexaskids.com

Hi M., you can paint them, put stickers on them, or decorate them with Mr. Potato head parts. We like to make a pumpkin to look like each person in our family, complete with earrings, hats, glasses, pony tail holders, and years ago a pacifier!

I didn't read all of your responses but I found some "push in" sets of pumpkin decorations (eyes, nose, ears, etc.) kind of like Mr. Potato Head at Walmart. They weren't very expensive and I think they'll be great!
D.

You can always use Felt cut outs, or those foam cut-outs you can get out JoAnn's or Michaels. Let them glue them on.
When mine were little we let them draw the face, we cut the top off, they cleaned out the pumpkin and then we carved what they had drawn. They were some "Scarey" lookin' pumpkins! *L*
The best thing to do is just have fun with it. The mess can always be cleaned up.

Soooooooooo many things you can do! You could draw different faces on a sheet of paper, for them to copy and have them use markers or paint.

You could have them push different objects into the pumpkins...toothpicks, old costume jewelry, etc.

Or do both of the above...just have lots of stuff for them to choose from and let them create away!!! Good Luck!

Well I saw a kit at Walmart that had parts in it that looked like Potato Head parts. That would be lots of fun and no mess!!!!!

Have fun!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't have any new pumpkin ideas that weren't already listed here, but couldn't resist giving you some props for even having the energy to THINK about pumpkin-decorating when you have five kids under the age of five in your house! You must be Superwoman!!! Whatever you do for them for Halloween will be fabulous!

I loved painting pumpkins when I was little, and I love how much kids learn while being messy, However, I did happen to see a mess-free option at Wal-mart. They have pumpkin push ins, picture mr. potato head pieces. I'm sure you could use anything of that nature to stick in and decorate those pumpkins! Have fun! Let them do all they can and praise their efforts!

If you do not want to actually crave the pumpkin, you can have them draw on the outside. We use those great Crayola Window markers that can be washed off. There is no mess and during Thanksgiving and Christmas we use them on the windows and doors with glass panes.

They have things that you can just stick into them similar to a Mr. Potato Head that would be easy enough for a toddler to do. I also used to let my little ones color with markers on them, although that can get messy too.

Don't forget about stickers too!

The little Halloween foamies work well. The kids can just peel and stick them on the pumpkins. HTH!

Every year my little ones paint pumpkins with washable tempra paint. They always have a blast. As they get older, they have started painting them to be characters. Then they need to remain inside on display of course, or you can spray with them with a clear sealant to go outside. Family Fun magazine has some neat ideas for decorating pumpkins too. You could check their web site. My favorite idea is to cut out eyes/noses/mouths/ears from magazines and let them glue random parts on. Kind of like a Mr. Potato head thing. Have fun!

I saw on the Today show a few days ago that they used buttons and glued them on as eyes and nose and mouth and then had an adult poke little holes in the top of the pumpkins and the kids stuck colored pipe cleaners in them to make crazy hair.

when my daughter was this age I had the same thought as you. I bought the washable crayola paint and let her loose in the garage. I laid newspaper down, put her in a ratty tshirt and let her paint her heart out. She had the best time EVER and the paint came right off her without any problems. Bathwater was rather nasty LOL!! Made for some great pictures.

Buy halloween stickers (or any of their favorite characters) and let them decorate with stickers. It's easy, inexpensive and they can take them off and decorate the pumpkins many times!! Good luck & Happy Halloween