How To Decorate A Pumpkin With Dyed Pumpkin Seeds

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Fall is officially here and we are busy crafting, baking and decorating. I especially love decorating pumpkins with my kids.

It’s a way for us to connect, talk, and make something fun. We recently discovered how to decorate a pumpkin with dyed pumpkin seeds.

Pumpkin seeds are a great medium to use for young kids.

They are big enough for small hands to glue onto a pumpkin or fun enough to throw into a sensory bin.

Moreover, pumpkin seeds are incredibly easy to dye into vibrant colors. It’s the same exact process as dyeing pasta. You can read about the dyeing process here.

Materials To Decorate Pumpkin Seed Pumpkins:

• Pumpkin seeds (you can find them at a local convenience store, or Walgreens).
• Neon Food Dye, and Assorted Colors Food Dye
• A plastic pumpkin, or a real pumpkin (any size)
• Mod-Podge
• Foam Brush

Decorating a pumpkin with dyed pumpkin seeds is a sweet project to try with your elementary aged kids.

They will love to help dye the pumpkin seeds, and they will learn a bit about color mixing. If you want to get adventurous, follow the color mixing direction on the back of the McCormicks Food Dye Pack.

Though real pumpkins have charm, I chose to buy plastic pumpkins so we can cherish them every year.

Moreover, I really dislike carving a real pumpkin and digging out pumpkin seeds. Store-bought pumpkin seeds are so much easier. The only mess here is glue.

First, set up a covered work space and place mod podge in an accessible container.

Then place the pumpkin seeds in a lazy susan, or muffin tin.

Finally, allow the kids to brush mod podge on the pumpkin and then stick the seeds on.

Encourage the kids to make a pattern, or make a free form design. If they want to clump seeds together, that’s okay too.

Tip: Keep a wet cloth handy for sticky hands. Also have the kids try and dip each pumpkin seed in the mod podge container. The seeds will stick better.

The mod podge will initially appear milky. Don’t worry, it will dry clear!

Last, once the dyed pumpkin seeds have dried, paint an extra coat of mod podge over the whole pumpkin for added longevity.

Display these pumpkin seed pumpkins together with other pumpkins, or display on its own. This is a fun way to decorate this year’s pumpkins!