26 No-Carve Pumpkin Crafts For Kids

It’s highly likely you already have everything you need to make this Preschool Inspirations craft. You can even make DIY puffy paint with a little shaving cream, glue, and food coloring! Add some pumpkin spice – yes, the kind you cook with – for a more well-rounded sensory experience. Make sure you leave plenty of time for the “puffy paint” to dry and have cleaning supplies on hand. This is also simple to make in big batches for an entire class during a school Halloween party. Preschoolers, kindergarteners, and children with special sensory needs will absolutely love getting messy with this pumpkin craft!

As the daylight wanes and the sun sets earlier and earlier each day, it’s nice to have some lights to brighten up the house. And this craft from Fireflies And Mudpies definitely puts the “lantern” in Jack-O-Lantern! By using washed baby food jars or very small mason jars, these will fit pretty much anywhere you need a bit of warm light. Encouraging children to help make their own provides a reassuring nightlight for their bedside tables, one that’s not bright enough to keep them awake. No more spooky gloom!

Tired of running to the store every time your children accidentally let their Play-Dough dry out? Well, run no more! Natural Beach Living has a super easy recipe for making your own batch of Play-Dough at home any time you need it. Add some pumpkin spice (see #1, above), and soon your entire playroom, living room, kitchen, or classroom will smell like fresh-baked pumpkin pie. Gather up some fall-themed cookie cutters for cutting out autumnal shapes. Your kids won’t miss the store-bought stuff. Make sure you bookmark this recipe for future seasonal projects, too!

If you’ve ever thought that the shape of an apple and the shape of a pumpkin bear more than a slight resemblance to one another, you’re not alone. Over at Frugal Mom Eh, you’ll find inspiration for using one fall food to make another! It’s a super simple craft that will tickle the fancy of any toddler, preschooler, or kindergartener. The supplies and directions are simple enough to make this ideal for a classroom activity, a Halloween party, or just something to do with those extra apples you picked on a family farm trip.

There’s nothing scary about this witchy pumpkin from Glued To My Crafts, but it might just put a spell of cuteness on the whole family! This craft is great for your youngest witches (and wizards) or for an entire class because it uses few materials besides some colorful cardstock and glue. For parties, cut the pieces out ahead of time so that kids can simply grab what they need and glue them together. And kindergarteners and first graders can use this project as a way to practice scissor skills.

Salt painting is a great way to break out of an arts and crafts rut. The technique is easier than it seems and creates a wonderfully vivid work of art that your child can be proud of. Click on over to Rhythms Of Play for the straightforward directions on this super cool project. Black construction paper or cardstock makes orange salt-paint really POP! Once you get the hang of this, you’ll be salt-painting your way through every holiday of the year.

For a wonderfully tactile — yet easy and fun — pumpkin craft, check out Arty Crafty Kids‘ tissue paper pumpkin. Very young children, or those whose fine motor skills are not fully developed, can help by tearing up pieces of orange tissue paper. If you are already a member of Arty Crafty Kids, there is a template you can download and use; otherwise, it’s easy to find a pumpkin outline by clicking here. Once you’re ready to go, this pumpkin craft becomes a wonderful tool for hand-eye-coordination as children glue on the tissue paper piece by careful piece.

Before you dump those old parenting magazines and IKEA catalogs into the recycling bin, hand them to your child along with a pair of scissors. The only cutting skills children need for this pumpkin craft from The Pinterested Parent is the ability to cut in a straight line — and even that doesn’t have to be exact. Doing this project not only helps your children or students learn about upcycling, but they will have fun searching for the color orange in photographs, and when they’ve found enough they can learn how to make a pattern by gluing them into stripes.

Here’s a classic craft that kids can have lots of messy fun making! The painting part is straightforward enough that children with limited fine motor skills can get in on the action. There are no lines to stay inside, and no designs to follow. Just orange and green, all over the place. Children of all ages and abilities can also crumple up newspaper to stuff inside the bags. For those who are feeling ambitious, wait until the paint dries and then use markers to turn this paper bag pumpkin into a spooky Halloween Jack-O-Lantern. Click on over to Kid-Friendly Things To Do for all the inspiration you need to get going.

Beaded crafts not only look awesome, but they help children develop fine-motor skills. This one in particular at Glue Sticks And Gum Drops is easy to assemble and makes a fantastic Halloween decoration. String a bunch of these together to hang up in a doorway, or set them in a row on a fireplace mantel. Tip: make sure you pour the beads into a bowl or tray before your child gets started so that they are easy for little fingers to pick up, and make less of a mess for you to clean up.

At first glance, this may seem like just another paper plate pumpkin craft, but look closer: it’s actually a fun, interactive way to teach children about reading emotions! And yes, even you can make a moveable craft, thanks to the creatives over at Hello Wonderful. This pumpkin craft is a super fun way to celebrate Halloween throughout the entire month of October: each morning, ask your child to show you how they feel using the emotions pumpkin. Be sure you read all the instructions for this craft before starting!

For another glowing pumpkin craft (see #2, above), check out Non-Toy Gift‘s incredible inspiration. The secret is in the flameless tea light, which doesn’t need to be plugged in and won’t get hot. Children of almost any age and ability can help with this pumpkin craft, either by painting an entire cup orange, by cutting out a place for the “stem” on top or by making cool and unique Jack-O-Lantern faces. When they’re dry and done, turn off all the lights and check out the spooky way these Jack-O-Lantern light up your Halloween!

Fans of the modern classic story, “The Legend of Spookly the Square Pumpkin” by Joe Troiano absolutely must bookmark the page for this wonderful pumpkin craft. By gluing craft sticks together, Today’s Creative Ideas shows you how to make the perfect square-shaped pumpkin — just like Spookly! Add a magnet to the back and you’ve got yourself an instant Halloween keepsake that can be carefully wrapped up and saved with the other Halloween decorations. This is also a perfect classroom activity for students to make and take home after a class Halloween party.

Daylight may be waning, but you can make the most of it with this darling pumpkin suncatcher. Click on over to Crafts On Sea for the inspiration and directions. The best part of this craft is how creative your children or students can get while making it: don’t just set out orange tissue paper, set out some red and yellow to create a mosaic effect in your pumpkin. It’s so easy, even toddlers can stick tissue paper onto the sticky side of contact paper and “make” one of their own.

Remember those pool noodles that got so much use just a few weeks ago? Go dig them out of storage and get ready to cut them up for this super easy pumpkin craft from Toddler Approved. Here’s something that’s quick enough for even the busiest households or wild classrooms. One pool noodle can make enough stampers for the entire class, or for your children and all their friends. Hosting a Halloween party? This is great for all the younger kids who will be showing up. And you can make clean-up a breeze by laying out newsprint or towels ahead of time.

This pumpkin craft immediately doubles in value for the time and effort spent making it. By adding a simple Jack-O-Lantern face to one side, Red Ted Art shows how this quickly becomes both a Halloween decoration and then a Thanksgiving decoration. If you’ve jumped on the Halloween Tree trend, they look great hanging up as ornaments. Or, string them together to make decorative bunting. Try alternating Jack-O-Lanterns and plain pumpkins, too. However you do it, this craft will pay for itself several times over.

Your child’s handprint on some green construction paper provides the perfect leaf on the stem for this instant keepsake craft courtesy of the creative guru at Glued To My Crafts. The rest of the craft is pretty simple, and might prove to be a fun activity for very little siblings to “help” out with, as they can tear up some orange tissue paper that can be glued on. For teachers, this craft is ideal for a classroom Halloween party, which kids can then take home as a treat for Mom or Dad.

Not everyone loves Halloween, and that’s just fine. If the idea of costumes, parties, and spooky decorations makes your child a ball of stress, then click over to Little Bins For Little Hands. There, you’ll find a fun and simple way for your anxious child to create their own Jack-O-Lantern stress ball. They can use it to smoosh and smash out all those unpleasant feelings, even bring it to bed to hold in the dark. And for kids who can’t get enough Halloween, playing with a stress ball will help build up those hand muscles for holding heavy trick-or-treat bags!

If your children or students love using creative stampers to make crafts (see #4 and #15, above), then they will absolutely adore this Every Little Adventure pumpkin project. Just take a few LEGOs or Duplos — you know you have tons of “extra” pieces laying around — and use them to stamp and paint patterns all over a pumpkin shape. It’s that easy! Set out various shades of orange for different effects, encourage kids to see if they can get paint over every inch of the pumpkin, or just stamp out an abstract design. It’s a fun and unique twist on painting a pumpkin!

Quilling is a fantastic modern trend in arts and crafts, and it’s one that will inspire you for many future projects. And it’s not hard at all: The Inspiration Edit shows you how simple yet versatile this remarkable craft can be. Definitely bookmark this page so that you can go back to it over and over again for all your Halloween crafting needs: decorations, class activities, or just something fun to do at home with the kids.

If you don’t mind the mess of pumpkin-carving, but you hate the actual carving part, here’s a messy, no-carve, gorgeous way to make your pumpkins stand out this season. The instructions at Mom Dot will have you and your children gasping with delight at the way the colors run and swirl together. The blog even has an affiliate link to buy milk paint online, the preferred paint of the genius blogger. Beyond that, the only limits are your imagination…and your tolerance for paint messes.

Pom-poms are an amazingly versatile material for arts and crafts, and here they make awesome and adorable little pumpkins. With inspiration from Glued To My Crafts, you can help your child put together an entire fuzzy and sweet pumpkin patch. This craft is perfect for toddlers who are just starting to learn hand-eye coordination. It also goes well with a family viewing of “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!” The creative mind at the blog is even generous enough to provide a free printable download for your pumpkin vines.

Got leftover shaving cream from your DIY puffy paint? (See #1, above.) Put it to crafty use making this marbled-effect pumpkin from Nurture Store. Marbling with paint and shaving cream is a simple way to create a truly darling work of art with children. Make sure you have a good plastic box, bin, or baking pan for this craft, as the rolling marbles will get shaving cream and paint absolutely everywhere they roll. This project works well with children of nearly any ability level, as all they have to do is tilt the pan a few times to get the marble going.

What is a list of crafts for children without the ubiquitous slime? Here’s a fun and kinda gross twist on that squishy substance that kids just can’t seem to get enough of these days. This truly creative slime comes from the genius at Crafty Morning, and involves — what else? — pumpkin seeds to add that little extra something. Some pumpkin pie seasoning (see #1 and #3, above) adds a yummy smell to the sloppy slime that feels weirdly satisfying slipping through your fingers.

When you’re ready to brighten up your Halloween with colors other than orange and black, check out Toddler Approved‘s instructions for a mosaic pumpkin craft for kids. Cut out the colorful squares ahead of time for younger kids or for a quicker craft — say, for a class activity or Halloween party. Older kids, or those who want to practice scissor skills, can cut squares out pretty easily themselves. Then, get gluing! Ask your children or students who can make a pattern, a rainbow, or who can use the most colors.

If you have scissors and glue, you already have half the materials you need to make this deceptively simple 3D paper pumpkin craft. The only other things that are required are orange cardstock and green pipe cleaners. That’s it! This project is absolutely a keeper, and can easily be customized by using glitter cardstock, gold pipe cleaners, or stickers. Set these up on your snack table for a Halloween party and bask in the compliments, knowing how easy this really was to make!