Mr. Pumpkin Head: A No Carve, No Mess, Last-Minute Decorating Idea

two boys putting pumpkin head together

Is your kiddo too young to help with pumpkin carving this Halloween? Perhaps you came home with a few too many pumpkins from the patch. Either way, consider giving your Halloween squash the Mr. Potato Head treatment with fun foam stickers. It’s cheap, easy, and 100% goo-free.

What You Will Need

Pumpkins
A variety of foam face stickers, available at Michaels or on Amazon. Find similar owl-mug stickers to the ones pictured here at Joann Fabric and Craft Stores, along with lots of other colorful foam shapes and letters.

materials for pumpkin head face

Directions

1. Spread the stickers out on the table—eyes with eyes, mouths with mouths, etc.—so that your child knows what he’s working with. He can hold them up to the pumpkin to get a feel for the face he’ll create before it’s permanent.

2. Invite him to peel the backs off the stickers, helping as needed, and then stick them to the pumpkin wherever he desires. It may actually end up looking like a face (or cheerful owl), but keep in mind that child-directed sticker-ing could also yield more of a Chagall effect: dreamy floating objects on a field of pumpkin. And that’s okay.

finished pumpkin head

Feeling extra crafty? Make your own “stickers” with construction paper and double-sided Duck Tape. Encourage your child to practice her scissor skills by cutting out shapes you’ve traced onto the construction paper: eyes, noses, mouths, mustaches, witches hats, and more. Attach a piece of Duck Tape to the back of each shape and watch the silly-spooky-sweet pumpkin people appear.

At-Home Activities Arts And Crafts From KinderCare Educators Toddler Pre-K Kindergarten Fall Preschool (3-5)