Paper Plate Pumpkin Craft

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Get crafty this fall with these adorably spooky Paper Plate Pumpkins! This simple craft is a great way to celebrate autumn with the kids. These are fantastic for a Halloween party or to keep the kids busy on a fall afternoon.

Three paper plate pumpkins - black and orange

Easy Paper Plate Pumpkins

With fall approaching, I am so excited to share these paper plate pumpkins with all of you. If you’ve been reading the blog for a while, you know that I am all about easy crafts that are super cute and fun for kids. For this reason, I’ve shared a lot of paper plate crafts on my page. This unassuming household object creates a great base for tons of kid-friendly crafts. Plus, they are inexpensive and easy to get!

When it comes to autumn, my family isn’t big on spooky and scary Halloween celebrations. Instead, we prefer “cute” spooky! I think these paper plate jack-o-lantern faces are the perfect way to celebrate Halloween while keeping everything kid-friendly. They are so cute to hang up at home, in your child’s room, or in the classroom.

These paper plate pumpkins would be great for a kids Halloween party, a class party, or a celebration of the season right at home. If you go to the pumpkin patch with your family every year like we do, you could add this activity to your agenda. Since they involve a lot of cutting out shapes, they help kiddos practice their fine motor skills. It’s a fantastic craft if you’re entertaining a range of ages, as lots of kids would find this activity engaging and fun! Kids can make one of each color or choose their favorite color to recreate.

How to make Paper Plate Pumpkins

I love how simple this pumpkin craft is. Although it is easy to recreate, kids get to paint, cut out shapes, and glue them onto their pumpkins. Best of all, there are only four steps to the process.

First, paint your paper plates. Paint one plate orange and one plate black. Alternatively, kids can choose which color they want their pumpkin to be and just paint one. You’ll want to paint the underside of the paper plate so that it looks 3D and round.
Next, cut out your jack-o-lantern face pieces. It’s easy to find a template for these online or create your own. You will need a set of orange and a set of black pieces.
Add your orange face pieces to the black paper plate, and add the black face pieces to the orange paper plate.
Cut out a brown stem and a green leaf for each pumpkin. Then, simply glue the stems and leaves to the top of the paper plate. Glue them on the opposite side of the jack-o-lantern so that the excess doesn’t show.
Once the glue has set, you are all finished! Enjoy your adorable paper plate pumpkins.

how to make paper plate pumpkins- jack o lantern

Tips for making Paper Plate Pumpkins

I would recommend letting the kids use a large paint brush or sponge brush to apply their paint to the paper plates. Since there is a good amount of space to cover, this will make the painting process quicker and easier for them. Keep cups of water on hand so that they can rinse off their brushes when switching from black to orange.
Lay out some newspaper before starting to paint. If you’ve ever done a painting craft with kids, you know it can get messy very quickly. Newspaper will help keep the mess at bay and make cleanup a breeze!
Using templates will help kids make their shapes even. You can create your own or use THIS template here. If you are recreating this craft with a group of kids, prepare several templates so that no one has to argue over who gets the template next.
Allow your paint to dry before attempting to glue the face pieces down. Otherwise, the pieces could slip and slide around instead of staying in place. Plus, working with a dry plate will help curtail any extra mess!