Since one-year-olds aren’t quite ready for pumpkin carving, we wanted to find a safe, fun way to include Clara in our pumpkin decorating this year. She deserved an upgrade from last year’s role as hand model:
We finally landed on a plan that would let Clara help without any knives. First, some introductions: we referred to our pumpkins as Big Brother, Middle Child, and Little Piggy.
Monday night I pulled out my go-to material—painter’s tape—and created a classic jack-o’-lantern stencil on Middle Child.
Using an X-Acto knife I cut the pattern (admittedly with a minor slip into the pumpkin) and peeled off the extra tape.
There it was—ready for paint. See where this is heading?
For Little Piggy I used a ruler to cut thin strips of painter’s tape and made a striped pattern all the way around.
Big Brother got a big “P” to stand for the Petersik family of four (yes, our pets count too).
A few more cuts and the trio was primed for painting.
Clara arrived, stripped down to a diaper and ready to make a mess.
We poured some Crayola washable paints onto paper plates and gently encouraged her to start decorating her orange canvases.
After the first two pumpkins she grew more interested in dabbing paint with her hands than in painting the pumpkins themselves, so Sherry finished Big Brother. That worked out well since we wanted a rough circle around the monogram—something toddler hands would have trouble keeping tidy.
Clara clearly had a great time. At one point she signaled she was done, so we wrapped up the session.
Of course we grabbed a few more cute photos before bath time called.
Once Clara was in the tub, I inspected her work. It was tape-peeling time.
I carefully removed the painter’s tape while the paint was still wet to avoid lifting dried paint. The result: bright, psychedelic pumpkins.
They aren’t ultra-sophisticated, but they were a lot of fun. I can imagine using white pumpkins with a more refined palette—yellow and gray, emerald and navy, or teal and gold—for a different look instead of the rainbow colors Clara picked. We sprayed them with Aileen’s Gloss Spray Acrylic Sealer to protect the washable paint from rain and accidental smudging. With the porch awning and sealer, they should hold up fine.
Looking back, we’ve tried a lot of pumpkin ideas over the years. You may remember our handprint-eyed jack-o’-lantern from 2010, plus last year’s puffy-painted pumpkins, which remain favorites and would be great projects to do with kids.
In 2009 we painted insects on white pumpkins for a slightly creepy vibe—monograms and initials have been a recurring theme for us, and kids can certainly join in on those designs.
There’s even a time-lapse video of that insect project.
And in 2008 we actually carved some intricate pumpkins. Only one turned out especially well—the monogram—so it seems letters on pumpkins are a long-standing favorite.
So what are your plans for pumpkins this year? If you’ve got photos or tips for including toddlers in pumpkin decorating, we’d love to hear them—Clara will thank you next Halloween.
Psst—We had some fall fun this past weekend (more over on Young House Life).