Trick-or-treat

Young daughter carving out a pumpkin for Halloween while her parents are sitting next to her.
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12 Easy Pumpkin Carving Ideas For Kids & Their Non-Artistic Parents

Serious DIY skills not required.

Pumpkin carving is one of the best activities to do around Halloween — but it’s also one of the hardest. You’ve probably seen a lot of intricate designs on social media that you feel like you could never achieve yourself, especially since you have to help your kids with their carvings too. The goal is definitely to make sure no one gets hurt while a Halloween pumpkin, especially little kids, and you don’t want your design to get messed up either.

When it comes to carving, the first thing you want to do is brush up on some pumpkin carving hacks by perusing the web or watching some tutorials first. Tips like drawing out your design first directly onto the pumpkin or using a hand mixer to loosen the seeds before scooping them out can make the whole pumpkin-carving experience go a little more smoothly.

You might also want to invest in some good carving tools. It’s worth it to spend a little more money here if you can, because the really inexpensive kits rarely get the job done. Or These stencils will help you create traditional shapes and designs without having to carve them out yourself.

Keep reading to see some fun and easy carving ideas you can pull off if you’re creating some Jack-o’-lanterns with kids or if you’re just a true beginner.

Jack Skellington

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Jack Skellington is an irresistible Jack O’Lantern design, plus this gives you an excuse to watch Nightmare Before Christmas with the kids. This is another easy one as you just need to cut big holes for the eyes and nose, and carve a thin mouth.

Jack O’Lantern with a side of guts

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Looks like this Jack-O’-lantern ate too much candy this Halloween. This is a relatively easy one because you just need to carve a large hole for the mouth, poke two holes for the nose, and then carve three straight lines for each eye. Don’t throw the insides of the pumpkin away, obviously. Since some animals enjoy eating pumpkins, the seeds might attract them to your porch — check out these tips to prevent that.

A Pumpkin with a Message

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These is both adorable ideas for someone who doesn’t love the gore of Halloween. For both, you’ll want to start by tracing the designs with a pencil. If you think it might be hard to do the flowers, since they’re round, draw them on much bigger.

Silly Monsters

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For these silly monsters, you’ll want to start by choosing whatever object you want to stick in their eyes and cut eyeholes based on how big they are. You could use rocks, Play-Doh, or cotton balls and glue little dots carved from another part of the pumpkin on top of the object. Then, you can do whatever shape you want for the mouth and use any excess for the tongue, like the one on the left.

Polka Dots

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Instead of carving these even dots with a knife, you’ll want to do these with a drill. That might seem excessive, but using a drill will make the activity fly by and they’ll all come out even. You just have to be careful not to do it too hard since your pumpkin probably isn’t made of steel. They’ll look so pretty with the light coming out of the polka dots.

Simple Skull

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A lot of skull carvings are really difficult, but this one isn’t too bad. Start by cutting two eyes, a rounded triangle for a nose, and teeth. Then, start cutting around the face to make out the shape of the skull. Leave a little bit of space between the cheekbones and the smile.

Easy Owl

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Owls have autumn energy. This is a really easy carving because you can start with the downward facing D-shaped eyes — leaving little circles for the pupils — a triangle nose and wings. Make the triangles for the fur after the wings so you know where exactly to cut them.

Cute Critter

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This little critter is easy, partially because the more messed up he looks, the better. Cut the outline of his head and ears, and then do the sort of janky eyes and mouth. Finally, cut the circle above his head so the light can come through more.

Big Carving on a Small Pumpkin

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Just because you get a small pumpkin, doesn’t mean the pumpkin has to have small face. You can get the most out of it by carving a big face that takes up most of the pumpkin, which will allow a lot of light to come through it.

Individual Letters

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There’s so many ways you can do something fun with individual letters on pumpkins. You can carve the first initial of your family’s last name, or create a message like this one if you have the room for a lot of Jack O’Lanterns. Some other messages could be “trick or treat” or “Boo!”

Geometric Shaped Face

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This face made out of geometric shapes is really cool. Carve a long rhombus for the eyebrows, with four triangles underneath for eyes. Two triangles will make up the nose and an oval shaped mouth with teeth and/or fangs will make for a cute mouth.

Spooky Cat

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This carving is a bit harder, but why not challenge yourself this Halloween? After tracing the cat, start by carving the head and ears. Work your way and carve a straight line into a curved line for the back and tail. Then carve the legs, leaving some space between each. Add the circle around the cat, but make sure the legs and top of the ear are attached to the pumpkin. Once you’re done with the outline, use a smaller knife to cut the face.

All of these designs are perfect for Halloween and some can be done with little kids. You’ll definitely have a lot of fun, even if they aren’t perfect.