Easy Pumpkin Decorating Craft

What is a fun Halloween craft that will keep my kids busy, but take minimal effort to prepare?

With October in full swing, I really wanted to do a fun Halloween craft with my kiddies. Last year we did some really fun crafts (check out our Halloween Crafts post with over 25 craft ideas), but I wanted to do some pumpkin decorating. Let me start by saying that coming up with craft ideas takes a ton of effort for me. I’m just not a naturally crafty person. Luckily, I came up with something that was really fun for both of my boys and that was pretty easy for me to set up and monitor. They did all of the hard work themselves.

The idea was to decorate jack-o-lantern faces on blank paper pumpkins. I started by drawing and cutting a bunch of pumpkins shapes from orange construction paper. I really, really wanted to find a pumpkin outline for this so I wouldn’t have to freehand it (because my drawing is terrible), but I was unsuccessful. The good news is, if I can draw it, pretty much anyone on the planet can too. :) Anyway, I then got a few glass bowls and filled them with things that could be used to make jack-o-lantern faces on the pumpkin outline.

Here’s a list of what I used along with some other ideas:

• Tissue paper
• Pompoms
• Beads
• Pre-Cut Shapes from construction paper
• Crayons
• Buttons
• Foam shapes
• Cut Pipe Cleaner pieces
• Stickers

I set out the bowls, the blank pumpkin shapes, some glue, and 2 jack-o-lantern faces that I made just to give Little Bear and Smiley Man an idea of the end goal. I didn’t encourage my boys to make their pumpkins just like mine. In fact, I didn’t say anything about mine. I just set them out with the materials so they would know what to do with all of the materials.

Honestly, this was one of the best craft ideas I’ve ever had. I set my kids at the table with the all the supplies and didn’t say one word of explanation. They immediately got to work creating cute jack-o-lanterns with the materials and it kept them busy for quite a bit longer than I anticipated. Plus, they had a lot of fun making different faces. They were both so proud of their work. Once the jack-o-lanterns were all finished, I taped them to a piece of green yarn and hung them up on our wall. As one of the first homemade decorations in our new home, this project will always hold a special place in my heart.

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No Time for Flashcards, Train Up a Child, Teach Beside Me, 1+1+1=1, Living Montessori Now, In Lieu of Preschool, ABC & 123, Sun Scholars, All Our Days, Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails, Homeschool Creations, 123 Homeschool 4 Me, Teaching Mama.