Fingerpainting makes it easy to create all kinds of charming pumpkin characters. We made jack-o-lanterns, soft-colored ghosts, witches, and Frankensteins.
Keep these painted pumpkins indoors to help them look their best until Halloween. Tempera paint is non-toxic and washes off easily, so it will not hold up well when exposed to outdoor weather.
If you would like your craft to last longer, choose faux pumpkins and follow the same instructions rather than using fresh pumpkins.
Supplies Needed
- Paintbrushes – medium and fine
How to Make Fingerprint Art Pumpkins
Witch
Cover your child’s thumb with green, non-toxic tempera paint. Although fingers work too, a thumb produces the biggest print. Help your child press the painted thumb onto the white pumpkin.
Add prints around the pumpkin until you are happy with the design, then help your child wash the paint from their hands.
Once the green paint has dried completely, paint a black witch hat on top of each fingerprint.
Give each witch a head of orange-painted hair.
Complete the witch characters by drawing their faces with a black permanent marker.
Ghost
Apply purple, non-toxic tempera paint to your child’s thumb, then guide them as they make a thumbprint on the pumpkin.
Create several purple prints, then help your child clean their hands. Repeat the process with blue and pink paint until the pumpkin is covered in pastel fingerprints.
Let all the pastel prints dry well. Next, use black paint or a black permanent marker to give each ghost a face.
Jack-o-Lantern
Paint your child’s thumb with orange, non-toxic tempera paint and help them make horizontal thumbprints across the white pumpkin.
Continue stamping orange prints over the pumpkin, then set it aside until the paint is dry.
Use a fine paintbrush to add a green stem above every orange pumpkin print.
To finish each one, draw a jack-o-lantern face on the orange prints with a black permanent marker.
Frankenstein
Brush green, non-toxic tempera paint onto your child’s thumb, then help them press the painted thumb onto the white pumpkin.
Fill the pumpkin with additional green prints, then leave the paint to
completely dry.
Use a fine paintbrush or black permanent marker to add black hair along the upper edge of each green spot.
Then, add grey bolts to either side of each Frankenstein’s head.
Create the ears by placing a small dab of the matching green paint on both sides of the head, just below the bolts.
To complete the design, draw Frankenstein’s facial features on each green dot with a black permanent marker.
Your fingerprint-painted pumpkins are ready to enjoy!
Keep them indoors, as tempera paint can wash off if the pumpkins get wet in the rain.
Artificial pumpkins work well for this project too!
