No-Carve Pumpkin Ideas for Kids
Try one of these no-carve pumpkin ideas if carving jack-o'-lanterns is something you want to avoid.
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Want a pumpkin that will make everyone smile? Add goofy eyes with bolts and washers. Finish off the face with decorative upholstery nails for the smile and eye screws for hair.
Mr. Pumpkin Head
Try using Mr. Potato Head pieces to decorate your pumpkins! Just drill holes (Mom or Dad, you may want to do this part) where the pieces will go, and let your tots push in the face.
Duct Tape Pumpkins
Our favorite sticky craft supply: Duct tape. There really is no way you can mess this up. Don't like what you did? Just unstick the tape and start again!
No Carve Pumpkin Animals
Experiment by making all sorts of creatures from pumpkins, squash, and other vegetables to add fun to your Halloween party. And when you have finished you can still cook and eat everything you have used! Excerpted from My First Gardening Book, Ryland Peters & Small, $14.95; rylandpeters.com
You Will Need
- Pumpkins and squash in any shape, size, and color
- Selection of other vegetables—carrots, Brussels sprouts, eggplants (aubergine), and zucchini (courgette) are all great
- Pumpkin and sunflower seeds, fresh ginger root, bay leaves
- Sharp knife
- Chopping board
- Toothpicks (cocktail sticks)
- Wooden skewers
Directions
- Lay all your vegetables out on the table so you can see what you have. Start thinking about which animals you would like to make and play around with different arrangements to create some crazy creatures!
- Push one end of a toothpick (cocktail stick) into the vegetable you would like to use, such as a carrot, and then push the other end into your pumpkin.
- Push seeds into pumpkins to make eyebrows, teeth, nose, etc.
- Seeds make great spikes for hedgehogs. Push them into a squash, using the pointed top of the squash as a nose.
- Use a sharp knife and chopping board to cut slices of vegetables. (Remember to keep your fingers out of the way or ask an adult to help you.) The slices make great eyes when held in place with toothpicks.
- Push half of one of the wooden skewers into a squash to join one onto the other.
- Push another squash onto the rest of the skewer to join two together.
- Make antlers, ears, arms, and eyes by attaching vegetables to the squash with toothpicks—Brussels sprouts make great ears!
- Bay leaves are a good shape to use as hair or headdresses and decoration on your creatures. It is easy to push toothpicks through them, which can then be pushed into the pumpkins.
Here at NYMetroParents, we've got everything you need to have a safe, fun, and festive fall and Halloween season. Whether it is pumpkin or apple picking, getting lost in a corn maze, making Halloween crafts or finding costumes and decorations, we're here to help.
