If you want a mess-free strategy for pumpkin painting, you’ve come to the right place. Painting in beautiful colors and adding decorative touches sounds nice (and the pictures on Instagram this time of year are incredibly inspiring), but when you’re decorating pumpkins with kids, the simpler the better.

Pumpkin Painting Made Simple

For simple, colorful pumpkins, you can paint with a neat product called Kwik Stix. Instead of buying messy paint and paint brushes, this cost effective method works great for children who want to work create a colorful pumpkin.

Decorating Pumpkins with Kwik Stix Paint

When you’re facing a rainy weekend before Halloween, this simple activity leaves no mess to clean up afterwards. Your children can have tons of fun. With a 24 pack multi-color kit of Kwik Stix tempera paint, your children can draw, color, and decorate the pumpkin however they would like.
Mess-Free Pumpkin Painting - Decorating Pumpkins with Kwik Stix Paint - Found on Theresa's Reviews

First, buy any size pumpkin. Preschoolers can enjoy working with a medium size pumpkin because it has enough space for abstract, creative drawing. Scribbling is the perfect way for preschoolers to try out their emerging writing skills. Since the colors are so vibrant, even the most simple scribbles look beautiful.

With the brighter shades, the paint has a metallic look that kids find very appealing. The green and the gold have an especially nice shine to them.Mess-Free Pumpkin Painting - Decorating Pumpkins with Kwik Stix Paint - Found on Theresa's Reviews

One of the neatest things about this paint is that it comes in a small container that looks like a marker or a tube of lipstick. This is why applying the paint to any surface is a mess-free process.

Mess-Free Pumpkin Painting - Decorating Pumpkins with Kwik Stix Paint - Found on Theresa's Reviews

If you have a small pumpkin, you can paint stripes for each section. Using this strategy creates a fun, multi-colored design. Simply apply each color to each section. Fill the color in as much as possible to prevent streaks.
Mess-Free Pumpkin Painting - Decorating Pumpkins with Kwik Stix Paint - Found on Theresa's Reviews

As you can see, the paint doesn’t go on the pumpkin as smoothly as liquid paint would, but a major pro is that it dries in only 90 seconds. For that reason, you can’t use the paint to create handprint pumpkins (the paint dries to your hand immediately). To make the paint look as smooth as possible, allow it to dry on the pumpkin before filling in any empty space afterwards.Mess-Free Pumpkin Painting - Decorating Pumpkins with Kwik Stix Paint - Found on Theresa's Reviews
You can even paint the stem of the pumpkin! With such bold colors, the paint left the pumpkin stem a shockingly bright blue.
Mess-Free Pumpkin Painting - Decorating Pumpkins with Kwik Stix Paint - Found on Theresa's Reviews

When you paint your pumpkin, double check where you are placing the paint stick. Since the stick is large, it can be difficult to place it exactly where you want it to go. To get any smudges off, simply use a wet paper towel and gently wipe it off. Since this will wipe of any paint, you should be careful about where you wipe.

Mess-Free Pumpkin Painting - Decorating Pumpkins with Kwik Stix Paint - Found on Theresa's Reviews

Children love using this fun paints. Allow your preschooler to make whatever silly design they like. Georgiana had the best time scribbling on her pumpkin. Decorating pumpkins as a family was so much more enjoyable than just having one adult carve a pumpkin. It was nice having everyone involved in painting pumpkins.
Mess-Free Pumpkin Painting - Decorating Pumpkins with Kwik Stix Paint - Found on Theresa's Reviews

If you’re really careful with the paints, you can make a smooth surface. I used the gold and red paints to make as smooth of a surface as I could. Even though there were a few spots that didn’t have paint on them, the effect was overall very nice.
Mess-Free Pumpkin Painting - Decorating Pumpkins with Kwik Stix Paint - Found on Theresa's Reviews

To make the pumpkins more festive, we added some adorable Disney character stickers. Remember my post 5 Reasons You’d Love To Spend Halloween At Walt Disney World? Even though we didn’t end up visiting for Halloween, that doesn’t mean we can’t spread some Disney cheer from our home.
Mess-Free Pumpkin Painting - Decorating Pumpkins with Kwik Stix Paint - Found on Theresa's Reviews

On the back of my pumpkin, I created a simple silver heart with a red outline. I loved the effect of drawing with a darker paint on top of a shape. This layered look added a pop of color to the design.

Mess-Free Pumpkin Painting - Decorating Pumpkins with Kwik Stix Paint - Found on Theresa's Reviews

Adding stickers made decorating the pumpkins even more fun. Since the paint dried so quickly, we were able to add the stickers only minutes afterwards. This quick, simple, and mess-free craft was an enjoyable way to spend a Saturday afternoon before Halloween.
Mess-Free Pumpkin Painting - Decorating Pumpkins with Kwik Stix Paint - Found on Theresa's Reviews

When you want a fun, DIY pumpkin painting craft without the mess, Kwik Stix offers exactly what you need. For more information, check out the other paint sets offered by The Pencil Grip company.

For more DIY craft ideas, follow Theresa’s Reviews on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Flipboard and Youtube.

Disclosure

I received a free item, but it in no way influenced my opinion!

36 Responses

  1. Lauren

    I’ve never seen Kwik Stix before, but they look amazing!! My daughter would love these. I’ll definitely check them out.

    Reply
  2. Kiara Catanzaro

    This is such an awesome idea if you want a no-mess pumpkin decorating for Halloween! I will definitely be sharing this with my siblings for their kids!

    Reply
  3. Christy

    What a fun idea for little hands! I don’t dare let my toddler work with paints, but I would let him use these paints. Thanks for the idea!

    Reply
  4. Tayè

    This post is right on time! I have been racking my brains trying to figure out a less messy alternative to carving pumpkins with the kids. Thank you for sharing! I can’t wait to get them started.

    Reply
  5. Ashlea

    This is definitely something I need in my house. I have an 11 month old who I like doing crafts with. Your little one lookes great.

    Reply
  6. Madi

    THis is so cool! I just had to bite the bullet and we painted pumpkins already this year, but it was a mess! haha. I need to look into these!

    Reply
  7. Glenda

    Painting our Pumpkins with Kwik Stix can be so useful. I really like how it is messy free
    and comes with so many colors.

    Reply
  8. OurFamilyWorld

    These are great for my kids. They love pumpkin painting Thanks for the tips

    Reply
  9. Amanda

    This is great. My daughter hates getting her hands messy. This looks like the solution to the painting dilemma.

    Reply
  10. Carol Cassara

    Those quick sticks sound amazing! I also think that it’s the perfect gift for kids this Christmas! It would be nice as a stocking stuffer!

    Reply
  11. Teresa Kunberger

    Now those are some super cool pumpkins! I so gotta check these painting tools out!

    Reply
  12. Melissa

    Very cool! This is perfect for little kids. I will add these to my list of things to get when my little guy is a bit older 🙂

    Reply

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