Pumpkin Painting

As a mother of three young children, I have found the best thing to use is Gel Markers by Foohy. If you cannot find them, I know they are sold at Quality Art in Garden City. My mother in-law works there and that is what they would recommend for pumpkin painting too. They work GREAT!

I think the other comments have covered it. We did it 2 years ago at our halloween party, 8 kids sitting round the table. Put down a BIG drop cloth or plastic shower curtain, we used tempera paint to paint them. You can buy an acrylic sealer to put on them after they dry. You can do stencils or any of that if you want. I just gave the kids some mini pumpkins and lil gords, and said have at it! they had a blast (there were 2- 5 year olds, 1- 3 year old, 3- 6 year olds, a 7 year old and a 9 year old). if you want to you can put forth some money and buy mans white t-shirts and put them on the kids to protect their clothes. and you can use permenant marker to put thier name on the bottoms of the pumpkins. remember to take lots of pictures, it's Fun!

we painted at my daughter's 3rd birthday party (Curious Georget theme - the painting on the wall scene). I cleared out the garage and put down plastic drop cloths ($2 or so at Home Depot or Wal Mart). We always keep my husband's old undershirts around for rags, so we put one of those on each kid, using clothes pins in back so they weren't tripping on them. I put each color of washable paint in a disposable bowl (paper plate like - but be sure they'll be leak proof - styrofoam or Chinette) and then put out a couple of brushes in each. by grouping the bowls of paint, I only had to do 1 set of colors for each group of four children. We had a small group (7 kids) that were all very well behaved and had almost no mess other than we needed to wash hands. when they were done painting, I dropped all the paintbrushes into a can of water so I could do clean up later. although at the price I paid for the brushes, I probably could've just tossed them. have fun!

Buy a cheap large plastic tablecloth that you can have the kids work on (not too thinthat it will tear easily). Give each kid an old t-shirt to wear. Buy washable poster paint. Be sure its bright in colors. You may want to show the kids how you painted a pumpkin but let them paint theirs as they see fit. Don't expect them all to look the same. Let the kids express themselves through their own paint job. You may want to put the kids in the tub or shower after if they get too messy. Clean up will be a breeze, just roll up the tablecloth and throw it away. Have fun!

Our preschool in Calif. used to always add a couple squirts of liquid hand soap (not the antibacterial) to the paints (tempra paints I believe, but you could do the same with washable paints by Crayola). The paint would wash out of my kids clothes super easy!

Paint outside have a brushes for each color seperate. Use desert plates or empty yoplait yogurt containers (non-tipping wich is awesome!)for the paints and maybe empty kleenex boxes to hold the paint brushes brush side up.
get creative. Oh, if they paint on the grass or a plastic table cloth you won't even need to spray off the patio.
Don't forget to pre-wash the pumpkins so the paint will stick better. Glitter markers work well on pumpkins too!

R.

My daughters birthday is in the month of October and for her 3rd Birthday we had a pumpkin party as well. What I did is went to Hobby Lobby and found I would call them parts like Mr. Potato Head,they were Faces that you could put into the pumpkin with out a mess and the kids were able to do it. It was a lot of fun to see how they thought that their pumpkins should look like and were able to take them home. Good luck!!

K.,

Try using markers on the pumpkins. I know that permanent markers are good, but I think it is a good idea to but one "kid safe" marker and try it on a pumpkin to see how well it will work. I think this will minimize the mess and might even be washable.

E.

When I was a teen, I used to paint pumpkins and sell them at the craft shows that my mom sold her handcrafted angels at. So, I suggest you use what I did. They have patterns and paint kits at your local craft store. You can design your own silly, scary or cute faces and even add yarn or raffia for hair. When the paint is dry you can spray the pumpkin with acrylic sealer and it will last for weeks. You can also try Wal-Mart for the kits, but I think you will get a better variety at a craft store. What a great idea! Go figure, I used to do this, and I didn't even think of doing that with my own kids. Thanks for putting the memory back in my head so we can have a fun family craft to do this Halloween.

K., I saw some cute little ideas in the oriental trading magazine I get. You can look at the things on their website its orientaltrading.com

Good luck

S.

Other than painting, you could also go and buy the foam stickers at Walmart or Micheals and use them to decorate the pumpkins -- they are self sticking and you don't have to worry too much about paint everwhere -- the foam stickers are really cheap and the kids love to use them!

Family fun magazine had some fun ideas for decorating pumpkins. I get the magazine but I bet it would be on their website too. They had some great suggestions for the gords and very small pumpkins. Check it out. Have fun.

my best bet would be something non toxic and water based, that way it is easier to clean up after. You could probably get advice on different types of paint from a craft store. and to keep the kids a little cleaner I would see if you could find some sort of smocks for everyone to wear. That way the parents of your daughters friends wont get upset that they messed up their clothes. Cause kids are messy! Good luck! sounds like it will be a lot of fun!

You can buy paint pens at a hobby/craft store. They are great for kids! No brushes or water.
What a great idea!! Good luck!!!

last year I let my 1yr. old son paint his first pumpkin I just used crayola finger paints that come in tubes I put each color on a plate and then just let him go to town with it its non toxic so if they get a little in thier mouth it wont hurt them (wich he did) and its very easy to clean up its comes of everything no problem you can just wipe it right up with water he really loved it I think we are going to do the same thing again this year you can get the paints at walmart in the school supply section with the other crayola paints and crayons and stuff

You probably already thought of this, but cover your kitchen table with newspaper or butcher paper, or an old vinyl table cloth. You can use plastic plates as palates to give each kid some paint. For smocks, my mom used to put big old tee shirts or and old mens' dress shirt (backwards) on us kids. They cover kids to their knees! You may want to ask parents to send one to the party with their child.

what a good idea for a birthday party activity! i don't know about what kind of paint because we only have the kind that seems to wipe off hard surfaces fine, but because it doesn't wash out of clothing i just put one of my old t-shirts over the kids' clothes. (truthfully i never allow my kids to use the paint unless another adult is helping with it because it stresses me out so much!) anyway, another thing my kids enjoyed along with the painting was gluing leaves and sticks to the pumpkins. we cut little holes in the sides of the pumpkins last year so that the sticks could be arms.