We’ve all seen and loved traditional carved pumpkins for Halloween with their wild faces and flickering lights but they are not particularly kiddy friendly are they? Pumpkin skins are far too hard for children to carve safely and then there’s the candle light inside too, although battery operated tea lights can help with this.
My boys really wanted a traditional looking pumpkin again for Halloween this year but I really wanted to challenge them with something they could do independently too. We put our thinking caps on and came up with this wax resist pumpkin carving alternative. It worked a treat and got the kiddies exploring an art technique we’d not done for a while too. So it was a win, win!
How To Make A Pumpkin Carving Alternative – Wax Resist Pumpkin
Supplies For Wax Resist Pumpkin Painting
- Pumpkin
- White Candle
- Black water based paint.
- Brush
How To Use Wax Resist Painting on Pumpkins
- Use the candle to draw your features onto the pumpkin. You need to press quite firmly to get a good covering of wax.
- Simply paint the pumpkin and allow to dry. The paint can’t stick to the wax and runs straight off leaving the lovely orange of the pumpkin showing through.
How Simple Is That?
Top Tip For Wax Resist Pumpkin Painting…
It is a bit tricky to see where you’ve drawn with the wax so I let my children experiment with the technique and finalising their design on some pumpkin shaped card I’d cut out first. These would make great little decorations or Halloween party invites too.
Here’s some Autumn books you might enjoy… (affiliate links)
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