Pumpkins. Paint. And a Toddler.

Jack loves to cut up his food. Butter knife, of course.

“Me do it,” he constantly cries. So overwhelmingly independent already and only two years old.

So, when we sat down to carve pumpkins one night, Jack was more than anxious to perform surgery. Unfortunately his parents do set limits. I decided he could complete his magic in other forms with soft, gentle paintbrushes.

For little ones too young to use a knife, but old enough to enjoy the fall pumpkin activities, here’s a few pumpkin painting projects to enjoy:

Craft a Painted Picture

Pick up the perfect pumpkin(s). Then stop at your local crafts or Halloween store to choose a few washable, non-toxic paints and variety of paint brushes. If the kids are above toddler-age and would enjoy painting a picture, both stores carry stencils or pumpkin patterns that could be taped on to create a unique design.

Use pumpkin carving patterns, some found at Martha Stewart online, as templates for painting projects. Just cut out the areas that would be carved and instead of carving, have the tot paint the areas.

One-of-a-Kind Ghosts & Spiders

A fun pumpkin painting activity for smaller children is creating a handprint or footprint ghost. Use white glossy paint for the body and black paint for the eyes and mouth. Paint one foot or hand and press against the pumpkin. Next, make small dots with the black paint for the eyes and mouth. Use leftover black paint to create a handprint spider. Simply paint both hands with black. Then apply, one at a time, with palms overlapping each other. Glue on googly eyes or paint the eyes with the leftover white paint from the ghost.

Paint a Jack-O-Lantern

Another fun pumpkin painting project is to have the little one paint a Jack-o-Lantern, as opposed to carving one. Form a reverse carved pumpkin by masking out a face on the pumpkin. Tape on the eyes, nose and mouth and let the tot paint all around.