Great No-Carve Pumpkin Ideas for Kids

Even if your kids are too young to handle a knife, they can still participate in making a great no-carve pumpkin for Halloween. There are plenty of ways young kids can decorate a pumpkin. With these three simple ideas, young children can join in the fun - and, as an added bonus, parents won't have to clean up any pumpkin guts.

1. Draw or Paint On Your Pumpkin
One easy way to create fun no-carve Halloween pumpkins is to let kids use permanent markers or acrylic paint to make their own designs. Older kids may want to create a spooky face on their own, while parents may want to draw something on the pumpkin and then let younger kids paint or color inside the lines. For some great inspiration, check out the cute pumpkin bats on CafeMom. You can also cut out a pumpkin carving template and use it as a mask for painting.

2. Accessorize Your Pumpkin
Adding push-in pieces is probably the easiest way for very little kids to participate in making Halloween pumpkins. You can buy premade kits, such as the Mr. Potato Head accessories (shown at the top of this page) that allow you to create witches, vampires and other Halloween icons, or you can use materials around the house to create your own no-carve jack-o-lantern.

3. Make Pumpkin Creatures
If you have multiple pumpkins, you can stack them together to create pumpkin people (stacked like a snowman) or pumpkin creatures. Use paint or markers and materials around the house or from the craft store to decorate your creation. One of my favorites is the pumpkin caterpillar you'll find at Better Homes and Gardens (and shown here at right). Little kids will love gluing on the felt dots!