Since Clara is still a few years away from wielding a real pumpkin-carving knife, every year we look for toddler-friendly ways to include her in decorating pumpkins. When she was five months old we used the outline of her hand to inspire a lady-like Jack-o’-Lantern.
Last year we took advantage of her improved dexterity and let her finger-paint pumpkins that we’d taped off ahead of time to create simple designs.
This year we put a slight twist on that idea and made tissue-paper “sticker” pumpkins. Clara is obsessed with stickers, so instead of using store-bought characters we decided to make our own colorful stickers from tissue paper and Mod Podge that we already had at home.
Sherry dug out leftover tissue paper from Clara’s pink-and-orange birthday party and cut circles in different sizes. She used a roll of electrical tape to trace perfect rounds—tracing the outside produced the larger circles and tracing the inside made smaller ones. It was a quick, resourceful solution using items we had on hand.
I painted a thin layer of Mod Podge onto the pumpkin and let Clara place the tissue circles where she wanted. The process was simple and immediate, which kept her engaged.
We found these pumpkins at Kroger and liked that they were a lighter, slightly orangey-pink shade rather than a stark white—this made the tissue colors pop more than on a standard orange pumpkin. A portion of proceeds from those pumpkins went to breast cancer research, which was an added bonus.
The tissue paper crinkled a bit when applied—toddler fingers plus a bumpy pumpkin surface rarely yields a perfectly smooth finish—but that didn’t bother us. I dabbed extra Mod Podge over a few edges to make sure the pieces stayed in place.
Clara absolutely loved the project. She might look focused in the photos rather than gleeful, but she asked several times that night to do it again. We were pleasantly surprised at how little mess it made—the table was covered in craft paper and cleanup was easy. I managed to get more Mod Podge on myself than she did, but it rinsed off like ordinary school glue.
We decorated two pumpkins, and Clara kept playing with the leftover tissue circles—sorting, lining them up, singing to them, and even placing them on her head. The extra pieces extended the fun long after the pumpkins were finished.
After Clara went to bed, Sherry applied a full coat of Mod Podge over the pumpkins to ensure all the edges were sealed. That final layer also gave the pumpkins a smooth, glossy finish.
We’re happy with how they turned out, especially since the project used mostly items we had around the house. If you have a toddler who loves stickers, this is an inexpensive and simple weekend craft—tissue paper is cheap and the results are colorful and cheerful.
I tried to get a posed photo of Clara next to her pumpkins, but she wasn’t interested in staying still. She wore the same “it’s ok to get messy” shirt from the project the next day since it stayed clean enough and paired it with a skirt she chose herself.
The most interaction I managed to capture was Clara singing “Rock-A-Bye, Baby” to the pumpkins while rocking on the glider bench. Shortly after, she found a broom and moved on to sweeping as if the pumpkins never existed—when a girl’s got to sweep, she’s got to sweep.
And for those looking for simple paper pumpkin crafts, there are free printable pumpkin outlines available that work well for kids of any skill level and offer other easy ways to decorate for fall.
Psst – Sherry is trying her hand at DIY for parts of Clara and Burger’s costumes this year. We’ll share photos when they’re done, likely right on Halloween.