Fall hits and I cannot resist buying far too many pumpkins. Pumpkin carving is one of the most exciting parts of Halloween. That said, I’m not about to hand my kids their own knives and let them have at ‘er. Having toddlers seems to be the mother of invention. Anything that keeps them preoccupied, allows them to try new skill-sets, and is safe makes for one very happy mama. Here are several super simple mini pumpkin crafts we have done (and loved).

 Super Simple Mini Pumpkin Crafts

Paint or draw on your mini pumpkins tempera paint, chalk markers, or washable markers.

What I love about this is that we can get multiple uses out of a couple of mini pumpkins. They’re blown away by whatever they’ve drawn and like seeing how different colours show up on orange or white skinned pumpkins. All of these options are washable, so we get multiple uses out of our pumpkins!

Make reusable chalkboard pumpkins

This idea is thanks to Sue Parke. She recommends painting mini pumpkins (or the regular variety) with chalk paint and handing your little one some chalk. She uses this activity while trying to prep dinner for Thanksgiving and finds it buys her a lot of quiet time!

Stamp with pumpkins

Cut one mini pumpkin in half length-wise, puncture the middle of the back of each with salad forks (these act as handles). Pour about three tbs. of paint onto a side plate, and let them stamp away. I like to use poster board or parchment paper when doing this craft as either can cover a larger surface area than just paper. If using parchment paper, you can later tape it to your window to create a stain glass effect (stain glass idea is from Happy Hooligans).

Cover them in stickers

I bought jack-o-lantern decals at the dollar store for another craft and used those first. I also bought a package of small Halloween stickers and let my kids cover mini pumpkins. Even if you don’t have Halloween stickers, any small stickers work well. Plus, I promise you, this will buy you A LOT of quiet time.

Mummify mini pumpkins

I’ve used toilet paper for bigger pumpkins, but white streamers or paper towel cut into 1/2-inch strips tend to work best. Do not set your mummies outside unless the forecast is for dry weather or it’s Halloween night (moisture means the paper will eventually fall off). Give your kids some tape, strips of paper towel, and let them have at ‘er! After they’re done mummifying their pumpkins, with Elmer’s glue or a glue gun, affix eyes on to the skin of the pumpkin.

Melt crayons onto your pumpkins

Grab a garbage bag, broken crayons, a glue gun, and a hair dryer. First, place a garbage bag down on the surface you will be working on. You want this so the melted crayons don’t ruin your patio, kitchen table or floor. Then, peel broken crayons. Using a glue gun secure broken crayon pieces to the mini pumpkin. Your crayon pieces should be about 1/2 inch long. The glue gun is necessary so that the crayons do not blow away. Turn on your hair dryer and point it directly above the crayons. It will take about 3 – 5 minutes for the crayons to completely melt, dripping down the crevices of the pumpkin.

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