Since one-year-olds aren’t exactly ready to carve pumpkins, we wanted a way to include Clara in our pumpkin decorating this year. She deserved an upgrade from last year’s role as hand model, so we brainstormed a toddler-friendly project that would be safe, simple, and a lot of fun for everyone.
We set up three pumpkins as our cast: Big Brother, Middle Child, and Little Piggy. Each pumpkin got a different stencil or pattern made from painter’s tape so the design would be easy to paint around and reveal once the tape was removed.
For Middle Child I used painter’s tape to outline a classic jack-o’-lantern face. I cut the stencil with an X-Acto knife and peeled off the extra tape, taking care to leave the face shape in place. It wasn’t a perfect, surgical cut (I nicked the pumpkin a little), but it gave us a clear area to paint and protected the rest from stray color.
Little Piggy received narrow, evenly spaced stripes made by slicing thin tape with a ruler. The stripes created a bold, graphic pattern that would look playful when the paint came off. For Big Brother, we elected to mask out a single monogrammed initial to represent the Petersik family — yes, we like letters around here, and pets count too.
A few more snips of tape and we had our trio ready for paint. Clara, stripped down to a diaper and ready to get messy, was the designated artist. We squeezed some Crayola washable paints onto paper plates and handed her a brush. With a little encouragement she started painting the pumpkins, exploring color and texture with surprising concentration.
After the first couple of pumpkins she got more interested in dipping her hands into the paint than in painting the pumpkins themselves, so Sherry stepped in to finish Big Brother. Since we wanted a rough circle around the monogram, that choice was probably for the best — toddlers don’t usually keep their strokes inside tight boundaries.
Clara clearly enjoyed the process. When she signaled she was done — the toddler equivalent of “all done!” — we wrapped up the session, took a few final photos, and gave her a quick trip to the tub to clean off paint and pumpkin residue.
Later, while the paint was still slightly wet (we wanted to avoid peeling paint later), I carefully removed the painter’s tape to reveal the finished designs. The result was what we called our “psychedelic pumpkins”: bright, cheerful, and utterly charming. They aren’t refined works of art, but they bring personality and the unmistakable touch of a toddler artist to our porch.
If you prefer a more polished look, consider using white pumpkins and a limited color palette like yellow and gray, emerald and navy, or teal and a warm chartreuse. We also sealed our painted pumpkins with Aileen’s Gloss Spray Acrylic Sealer to help protect the washable paint from rain — fingers crossed that the awning plus the sealer keeps the colors intact.
Thinking about past pumpkin projects, we’ve tried a range of styles over the years: handprint-eyed jack-o’-lanterns, puffy-painted pumpkins, painted insect motifs on white gourds, and even carved monograms. Some projects were creepier, some brighter, and some more intricate, but all of them were fun to make with family and, in some cases, with kids helping.
What are you planning for pumpkins this year? We’d love to hear about your ideas, tips for including toddlers, or see photos of your projects. If you have tricks for keeping little hands involved without the mess getting out of hand, Clara and plenty of parents will appreciate the advice next Halloween.
Psst — we did some fall activities over the weekend too; more on Young House Life.
