Here’s an easy no-carve pumpkin decorating idea using glow-in-the-dark paint to add that extra wow factor. The best part? It’s practically mess free with the painting method we used!
Washing the Pumpkins (A Pre-Activity Activity)
First, we gave the pumpkins a good wash. This took about half an hour to complete and both kids were thoroughly entertained. We probably could have gone longer, but the little one had to take a nap.
I filled an underbed storage bin with dish soap and water, laid a towel underneath the whole thing, and added a dish brush and bottle brush.
The girls washed three little pumpkins. Then Elena dried the pumpkins while little sister went down for a nap.
Decorating Pumpkins With Glow-In-the-Dark Paint
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Supplies Needed
To decorate our pumpkins, we used
- glow-in-the-dark paint (6-pack)
- pumpkins
- newspaper (to cover the work surface)
Tulip Glow-in-the-Dark Paint Mini Review
I read several good reviews on the glow-in-the-dark paint linked above. After using it, I definitely like it. You get six colors in the pack I linked above: blue, green, yellow, orange, pink, and white. The colors appear neon in daylight and glow in the dark.
The paint has the consistency of school glue, not too runny or too globby. I thought it was perfect for making puffy dots (more like splotches, really) on our pumpkins.
I also liked the squeeze bottles the paint came in. Paint is a lot easier to work with when you don’t have to pull out brushes and palettes (or paper plates if I’m being honest, we don’t use palettes around here!).
The tips of the squeeze bottles were small and flexible.
I don’t know about your kids, but mine like to use A LOT of everything. This is natural when kids are exploring new materials for the first time, but it definitely terrifies my inner neat freak.
Because the tips were small, only a small amount of paint came out, but the tips weren’t SO small that Elena couldn’t squeeze the paint out easily.
You can find Tulip glow-in-the-dark fabric paint on Amazon or at most craft stores in the fabric paint aisle.
How We Decorated Our Pumpkins
Now, on to the decorating.
I asked Elena to paint dots because I wanted to give her some direction, but still let her have free creative license and make the decorating was all her own.
I picked dots because it’s a simple design and doesn’t use too much paint. I was worried we’d run out of paint with that big pumpkin, but we ended up having plenty left over, even after we decorated the little pumpkin.
She decided to do “rainbow dots,” which meant making dots with every color of paint. Why stick to one color when you have six to choose from?
I was proud of how hard she worked twisting off the paint caps and putting them on and squeezing those bottles to decorate each pumpkin.
To keep things clean, I put newspaper down under the pumpkins, but because the paint wasn’t too runny, there were hardly any drips. I can’t imagine how messy painting with a brush would’ve been. (Can you tell messes stress me out?)
I was also surprised that Elena was able to decorate the entire 24ish-inch pumpkin. That was a lot of square inchage to cover.
She definitely was worn out after decorating the big pumpkin. You can see how the little pumpkin got way more paint than the big pumpkin.
The paint glows beautifully in the dark, though you’ll have to take my word for it, as I didn’t get a decent picture. (Sorry!)
Was It worth It? YEs!
Elena was so proud of her glow-in-the-dark pumpkins. She could not wait until her dad came home so she could show off her hard work.
Our pumpkin decorating experience lasted the whole day, from washing the pumpkins to decorating them, to waiting for dark so we could see them glow.
We honestly had a great day with the pumpkins, and I was happy that a couple pumpkins could keep the girls busy all day.
And the excitement lasted well into the next day, too. Elena carried the little pumpkin around the house looking for dark corners to see it glow.
I think we’ll have to do another glow-in-the-dark paint project. Any suggestions?
Your Turn To Make a Glow-in-the-Dark pumpkin
I liked that we could still make our pumpkins give off light without having to carve them and put candles inside. The Tulip glow-in-the-dark paint we used was so perfect for my three-year-old to use.
Definitely “charge” your pumpkin up in sunlight for the best glow!
If you make a glow-in-the-dark pumpkin, we’d love to see it! Tag us, @entertainyourtoddler on Instagram.
Happy decorating!
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