How to Paint Pumpkins With Children

Smaller pumpkins are ideal for children to paint, as they have less surface area and are easier to carry.

Pumpkin activities are essential for Halloween and other autumn and harvest celebrations. Teenagers and adults love to carve pumpkins with funny or grotesque images, and children too young to handle sharp knives can join in the fun by painting their own pumpkins. This exercise presents a marvelous opportunity for children to gain experience recreating an image from one medium onto another, as well as to develop a sense of how primary colors create other colors.

Things You'll Need

• Pumpkins (1 per child)
• Tape
• Newspapers or other protective layer for pumpkin guts
• Acrylic paint (black, red, yellow, blue)
• Patterns or copies of designs
• Paint brushes
• Old ink pens
• Water buckets or pots
• Gloss sealer

Instructions

1. Clear off a flat pumpkin-painting area that's large enough for everyone to sit comfortably. Arrange pumpkins and children in a circle.

2. Allow each child to pick out a design, and hand each child an old ink pen.

3. Instruct the children to trace the outline of their design, using their ink pens. They need to press down a bit to make an impression on the surface of their pumpkins. Walk around and assist anyone who needs help doing this.

4. Set out and open the black acrylic paint, and instruct the children to paint over the indentions they made with the ink pens, using the black acrylic paint. Hand each child a paint brush, and walk around to assist anyone who needs help.

5. Set out and open the red, yellow and blue acrylic paint. Instruct the children to use the primary colors to complete their pumpkin designs. If they wish to use colors other than the three primary colors, they can combine paint to produce any number of colors. Allow them to experiment, and walk around to assist anyone who needs help.

6. Place the pumpkins in a secure place and allow them to dry. Spray a coating of gloss sealer on each pumpkin, and everyone can enjoy them for approximately one month.

References

• Ohio State University 4H: Pumpkin Painting (PDF)