25+ Pumpkin Painting Ideas

Cute and Easy Pumpkin Painting Ideas

Everyone of all ages will love these fun & easy pumpkin painting ideas for Halloween!

October is here, and now is the time to start planning your pumpkin display! If pumpkin carving has never really been you’re thing, you’re in luck! You can still create an amazing faux pumpkin with paint—no knife required! Create an awesome pumpkin display for indoors or outdoors with these fun and simple methods!

Don’t like to carve pumpkins? These pumpkin painting ideas are super easy and aren’t nearly as time-consuming as carving. Even more importantly, pumpkin painting is a great way for little kids to join in the fun and help make your Halloween decorations since you’re using paintbrushes instead of sharp carving tools. 

Take a look through this list of the best pumpkin painting ideas, and see which ones strike a chord with you. You’re sure to find a creative pumpkin you like!

Painted Unicorn Pumpkin

This Painted Unicorn Pumpkin from Better Homes & Gardens is super cute! A fun painted pumpkin project that you’ll want to keep long after Halloween (we recommend using a craft pumpkin if you want to keep your creation indefinitely!)!

Pikachu and Pokeball Pokemon Painted Pumpkins

Pikachu and Pokeball Pokemon Painted Pumpkins from Happiness is Homemade: Pokemon fans are going to love our painted Pikachu and Pokeball pumpkins! It’s such a fun way to bring your favorite game to life for the Halloween season!

Donut Pumpkins

Everyone knows that we LOVE a good donut DIY around here, and these painted Donut Pumpkins from Studio DIY are seriously adorable! All it takes is a little craft paint to make the cutest pumpkins in the patch!

Emoji Pumpkins

These adorable Emoji Pumpkins from Cutefetti are so fun and easy, and you can create all of your favorite emojis! Which emoji is your favorite? Ours is the one with heart eyes!

Troll Pumpkins

Troll Pumpkins from Craft Create Cook: Trolls will be popular this upcoming Halloween season thanks to the most recent Trolls movie. But let’s face it; these colorful little creatures with crazy hair are always cute! The faux fur hair looks and feels just like the troll hair from when you were a kid, but if you can’t find faux fur, you could also use tulle instead.

Sports Painted Pumpkins

How cute are these Sports Painted Pumpkins featured on BHG.com? What a quick and easy way to give your pumpkins some BIG personality!

Harlequin Painted Pumpkins

Harlequin Painted Pumpkins from DIY Candy: If you’d like your pumpkins to last through November, it’s best to stay away from traditional Halloween décor and use something a little more suited to the entire fall season. These Harlequin painted pumpkins are a great choice!

Textured Painted Pumpkins

This awesome tutorial from The Country Chic Cottage will teach you a new painting trick and technique to Add Texture to Painted Pumpkins and make them look like cast concrete!

White Pumpkin Decor

White Pumpkin Decor from Making Manzanita: If you’re looking for something simple to go along with neutral fall décor, try this white pumpkin tutorial (perfect for faux pumpkins that you can reuse year after year!). Paint your family initial, when you were established as a family, a fall saying, or a pretty painted laurel wreath, etc.

Black and Gold Pumpkins

Black and Gold Pumpkins from As for Me and My Homestead: Another color combination that’s always a classic is black, white, and gold paint. Our favorite is the gold heart on the black and white striped pumpkin, but they’re all lovely.

Ice Cream Cone Pumpkin

This adorable Ice Cream Cone Pumpkin from Frugal Coupon Living is seriously one of the cutest pumpkin painting ideas EVER! Use a terracotta pot as the “cone” and add a squirt of spray insulation foam for the base of the ice cream scoop – easy peasy!

Squeeze Paint Pumpkins

Squeeze Paint Pumpkins from Hello, Wonderful: Kids of all ages will have a blast trying their hands at squeeze painting. It’s just like it sounds—squeezing paint over the object you’re painting. There’s no wrong way to do it. Just put paint in coordinating colors in squeeze bottles, and let the squeezing begin. The paint will create unique patterns as it drips down the pumpkin.

Squeeze Paint Turkey Pumpkin

Squeeze Paint Turkey Pumpkin from Hello, Wonderful: Once Halloween is done, turn those squeeze-painted pumpkins into colorful turkeys by adding a rainbow of tail feathers, a beard, beak, feet, and googly eyes. This turkey sure is looking snazzy!

Galaxy Pumpkin

These amazing Galaxy Pumpkin from Dream a Little Bigger takes pumpkin painting to the next level by adding lighting elements – SO cool!

Ghost Handprint Pumpkin

Ghost Handprint Pumpkin from Fun Handprint Art: Painting with handprints is a fun way to get toddlers and preschoolers involved in the Halloween festivities. Turn your toddler’s handprints into a spooky ghost or silly spider printed on the pumpkin.

Marshmallow Painted Pumpkins

Marshmallow Painted Pumpkins from Glitter on a Dime: This may sound a little crazy, but have you ever painted with marshmallows? They’re perfect for stamping out nice, big polka dots, as you can see here. It’s a terrific art technique for your preschooler to try.

Painted Pumpkin Lego Heads

Painted Pumpkin Lego Heads from Handmade Charlotte: LEGO fans will think these figure heads are a hoot! These pumpkin ideas are super easy, too, so it’s easy for the kids to do mostly independently. Paint the pumpkin a solid color and grab a paint pen to add the face! Which LEGO face is your favorite?

Cactus Painted Pumpkin

Cactus Painted Pumpkin from Craft Create Cook: We love how easy and cute this cactus pumpkin is! Paint the pumpkin green; add pipe cleaner “needles,” and don’t forget some pretty blooms on top. This would be really cute for a southwestern-themed party, too!

Q-Tip Painted Pumpkins

Q-Tip Painted Pumpkins from Projects with Kids: Exploring different painting techniques with the kids is a fun experience and encourages creative thinking. One of the easiest ways to get young kids involved is using bright colors to make Q-tip painted pumpkins this year. They’re simple enough for all ages and will look cute on your table. It’s best to use small or mini pumpkins with younger children, so that they don’t get overwhelmed with covering it up in dots. Older kids may enjoy making more detailed patterns with Q-tips on larger pumpkins.

Bat Pumpkin

Bat Pumpkin from Glue Sticks & Gumdrops: This painted pumpkin idea is super easy to implement. Simply use black paint, add some wings made from construction paper, cardstock, or poster board (depending on how big your pumpkin is), and then add googly eyes.

Green Pumpkins

Green Pumpkins from Gluesticks: Here’s another fun pumpkin idea that’s great for neutral or farmhouse décor, and you can use real or fake pumpkins. If you’re using real pumpkins, you may want to go over the whole pumpkin with a primer first before applying the green paint.

Stencil Painted Pumpkins

Stencil Painted Pumpkins from Handmade Charlotte: Use painters tape and stencils to create gorgeous, failproof designs that will really wow. Put your artistic skills to the test and create a floral pumpkin or a geometric pumpkin in lots of different colors! They’ll look amazing on your hearth, table, or outside on your porch. If you don’t have the steadiest hand or just think you’re “not the creative type,” stenciling can really save the day!

Starry Night Pumpkin

Starry Night Pumpkin from PMQ for Two: This black pumpkin with gold stars looks just like a dark, starry night. It’s incredibly easy to recreate this cute idea, and it’ll look great with almost any Halloween décor. Whether you’re going classic or whimsical, it’ll fit right in!

This collection of pumpkin painting ideas has something for everyone – there are so many creative ways to paint pumpkins! They’re all so much fun! Which idea was your favorite?