Kids Halloween Craft: No-Carve Pumpkins

If your kids are too young to get real joy out of gutting a pumpkin (or if you don't want to do it yourself and can't trust them with a knife…) here are some alternative ideas.

Fingerpainted Pumpkins. Believe it or not, this actually worked really well, and I think it was less messy than actually carving pumpkins.  We did it as an activity with mini pumpkins for my baby's first birthday earlier this month.  We bought a pack of Crayola finger paints, squirted them onto paper plates, put the kids in old clothes and let them have at it! We had to mix paints to get some colors; my 3 year old is very proud of having made brown…

Permanent Marker. This method is even less messy than finger painting.  Just draw your face on with marker! Permanent markers come in all different colors these days, so you can really get creative. Which I didn't.  Here's my traditional jack-o-lantern on a pie pumpkin.

Craft Supplies. Use whatever craft supplies you have on hand and some glue to decorate your pumpkin however you like!  You could use pompoms, pipe cleaners, shapes cut from construction paper, glitter, and more.  Here is one I made using googly eyes.  I bought a pack of 125 googly eyes at the dollar store to make ghosts with, and had plenty left over to use on my pumpkin.  I glued them randomly around my pumpkin and it looks just the right amount of spooky.

Want more ideas?  Members shared no-carve pumpkin ideas in our Creative Side forum.  Also, click on our pumpkin tag for more blog posts related to decorating pumpkins.