Pumpkin Painting

Fall Bucket List Check!

While pumpkin carving has always been an annual tradition in my family, I was not about to hand over a very sharp knife to my two year old son. I have a feeling that would have resulted in a much gorier Halloween than any of us wanted. It is for this reason that our fall bucket list specifically included pumpkin painting, rather than pumpkin carving. I would like to say that this was a well-organized activity that I had thoroughly thought and planned out, but in all honesty I ended up using whatever we had lying around the house to get the project done.

Supplies: pumpkin, paint, paint brushes/sponges (or our wacky alternative), additional stickers or decoration, and an area that is prepared for messy paint splatters.

It is always so sweet to see our child’s eye light up as they stare at all of the new pumpkins as they start popping up in pumpkin patches and grocery store. Picking out the perfect pumpkin for the project is easy. Simply have you child choose whatever pumpkin they want to paint and presto the perfect painting pumpkin. It really doesn’t matter what the pumpkin looks like because it is just going to be beautifully decorated with splatters of paint. The one thing I would suggest is stay away from cut pumpkins that may generate mold or pumpkins that have already started to mold!

As far as the type of paint you should use, I would suggest water based paint that can be easily washed off of your children and their clothes. Non-toxic is also a plus, because let’s face it you never really know where the paint is going to end up. Due to my unpreparedness we resorted to using acrylic paint, and painting in our diaper to avoid stains.

Unfortunately, I was not able to find our sponge brushes (which I would highly recommend for this project), and my toddlers eagerness to paint didn’t give me much time to search so we improvised. I took some cotton balls and clothes pins that I had purchased at the dollar store and made dabbing utensils. They worked pretty well and were easy for my toddlers little fingers to maneuver. Some higher quality cotton balls may have even sweetened the deal, but it was super easy to switch out the used cotton balls with fresh ones when they became too weighted down with paint.

Once the pumpkin was painted we let it sit outside to dry. When it was dry I let my boy show me where he wanted his spooky glow in the dark google eyes and we glued them on the pumpkin. Sticking some silly pipe cleaners in the pumpkin or adding some cool fall stickers could also add a nice touch!

Declan was so proud of his pumpkin, and could not wait to show it off to anyone that passed by. While it is not exactly pumpkin carving, I am excited to carry on this fall tradition with my little ones.