Fingerpaint Pumpkins - No Carve Pumpkin Decorating Ideas

Oct 15, 2015
2 min read

Little hand fingerprinting a pumpkin with purple paint

When you don't have the tools and the skills, the time and the patience, or perhaps simply the comfort of safety for carving a pumpkin this Halloween, you should fingerpaint one!

Madilyn was not interested in carving a pumpkin and there wasn't much she could do to participate so we decided to paint one instead. I dressed her in old playtime clothes, put down lots of paper and plastic to keep the house relatively clean, gave her the pumpkin and the paint, then let her go at it all by herself! She needed a little direction getting started but soon she was finding the plates of fingerpaint to squish her hands in then applying the paint all around the pumpkin.

Materials:

Pumpkin

Washable Fingerpaints

Playclothes or Smock

Lots of Paper and Plastic to Cover the Area (or do it outside!)

Plastic Plates or Containers for Paint

Instructions:

This activity is pretty straight forward but don't forget to make it fun for kids with tactile defensiveness who may avoid messy play. (If this sounds like your child, check out this checklist for assesing sensory processing disorders.) If your child does not like getting messy, then don't force it. Give him the opportunity to explore the paint and pumpkin in his own way. For blind children, sometimes hand-over-hand or hand-under-hand techniques can help but some kids may resist if they don't have complete control.

Set up the area so your child can easily access the paints and the pumpkin from his/her seat. To prevent the plates from moving, use tape or removable tacky pieces to adhere them temporarily to the table.