Ideas for a Pumkin Without Carving

Take a look at all the cute decorated pumpkins at local grocery stores or pumpkin patches. Use paint, marker, squiggly eyes, yarn, whatever.

I've seen some fantastic painting jobs done on pumpkins. You could spray paint the entire pumpkin. Then using that sticky-gum stuff....stick on different decorations or eyes/nose/mouth...whatever you want to do.

Walmart carries pumpkin decorating kits. The plastic pieces kind of look like Mr. Potato Head accessories. Each has a different theme, like funny faces, dogs, monsters, etc. and comes with several sets of eyes, noses, mouths, and ears to mix and match. My daughter is 3 and not ready for carving, so these were perfect for her. I laid out each set and let her pick which of each she wanted. The result is adorable. The pieces push right in and she was able to help me do it. The best part is the set was only a couple dollars and can be used again next year.

I make an artist pallette of paints on a paper plate and the kids are thrilled to paint their pumpkins annually. Sometimes with rainbows, faces but this year with this unusual blend of all the colors together. They're very proud of them!

I don't know if you have a save-a-lot where you live but they have this plastic pumpkin decorating kit for a $1 it is like the stuff you put on Mr. Potato head but you put it in the pumpkin, it was very very cute. I am not sure but if you don't have a save-a-lot maybe wal-mart or something would have it that is what we did with my sons and he loved doing every minute of it he is actually the one that said it was like decorating mr. potato head.
GOOD LUCK !

target has mr. potato head pieces for pumpkins. my 3 year old chose one for himself and one for his sister and loved putting the pieces into the pumpkins. last year, he painted a pumpkin with acrylic paints...an activity to be done outdoors or in a non-carpeted easily cleaned area! Have fun!

paint and stickers! we have a ton of fun with our pumpkins without carving them. plus they stay good longer.
Have fun!

I have done puffy paint with my class, and they love it!

i would do some glitter and glue maybe. see if you can find the kinds tht is mixed already. another thing maybe you can make eyes for the pumpkin like cut out some construction paper and some hair out of yarn and glue it on.

They do have mr potato head face pieces that are made to go onto the pumpkins. Giant sells them. How about light bright pieces? All you have to do is cut the top and gut the pumkin and then use a batterie powered candle light.

Last year I had my triplets use markers and colored their pumpkins. I just was sure the pumpkins were dry and used Sharpies. This year I saw in stores that they have faces you can add to your pumpkins. You push in the eyes, nose, mouth, ears, etc, like giant push pins. I was thinking of trying those this year.

K. B
mom to 5 including triplets

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Hi K., At our school the little kids do small pumkins every year, paint, glitter, foam shapes, glue & cardboard, construction paper, sharpies, pipe cleaners of any and all colors, scrap pieces of fabric...all work great!

This year we made our pumpkins look like us. We used pipe cleaners for hair and made my glasses out of them. We used the silly eyes and just some other fun things we found around the house. It was so much fun to see how the girls view themselves.

You could paint it or draw on it with markers.

You could cut out face parts from construction paper and glue them on.

You could glue on sequins, feathers, stickers, etc.

I just saw plastic face parts in the drugstores (CVS in particular) that you poke into the pumpkin to decorate it.

Plastic parts(cvs or rite aide), that you poke into the pumpkin. They have dogs, cats, and faces.

Hi K.,

We also don't carve our pumpkins. You can have her paint it with acrylic paints, or use markers to draw on it. Or what we did this year, was use fabric, sequin, yarn and made hair from pieces of yarn and eyes from sequin, etc. and used pins to attach. It was alot of fun.

Check out the Family Fun magazine (october issue). There are great ideas for non-carving pumpkins.

we bought a mr potatoe kit and it is very cute..go to family fun web site

What a great idea! Put that Mr. Potato Head to use! LOL

I have always let my children paint their pumpkins.
Good luck. V.

A craft store like Michael's will sell faces that are foamie and have adhesive on the back. We bought a witch, frankenstein and a pirate. SO very cute!! Everything came in the envelope. Even my 2 year old did one and was sooo proud of himself.

stencil black cats or witches, spray paint over lace, hot glue seasonal ribbons on, hot glue pieces of dried corn, raffia, wood buttons, bits of flannel or felt, leather, birdseed, feathers, small stones, the possibilities are endless.

I work with people with disabilities and it is often hard for them to carve a pumpkin so we draw a design on the pumpkin with marker. We then have them paint glue on the pumpkin inside the marker lines with a paintbrush. After they are done paining on the glue we sprinkle it with glitter. They really look nice and when the light hits it the glitter shines beautifully. Good Luck!

Last year, I let my preschooler paint our pumpkin w/ acrylic paints. We did it outside, so I didn't have to worry about a big mess & I just put a smock on her first.

She had a blast & it looked adorable!

Two ideas...

1. Use tempura paint to paint the pumpkin's face or any design your child wants to paint.

2. My friends used precut foam shapes (I believe she got them at Michael's... special Halloween ones) to glue on to make a pumpkin face. She also made hats for the pumpkins out of the paper.

Anyhow, hope this helps.

My 4 year old daughter paints hers. We bought pumpkin paint at the store where we bought our pumpkins. She loves painting them. Even my older son who carved his ended up adding some paint to his. They look great!