5 Easy Pumpkin Crafts for Kids: Spots, Colour & Yayoi Kusama-Inspired Art

Pumpkins are a brilliant starting point for autumn art. Their bold shapes are easy for children to recognise, draw and cut, while their surfaces are perfect for experimenting with colour, pattern and texture.

These five simple pumpkin crafts all begin with the same idea: a pumpkin shape and a collection of spots. Children can use paper, felt, pom poms, sequins or whatever materials you already have at home.

And, of course, it's difficult to think about pumpkins and dots in art without thinking about Yayoi Kusama, whose repeated polka dots and pumpkin forms became some of the most recognisable motifs in contemporary art. You can read about her with kids here: https://www.tate.org.uk/kids/artists/who-yayoi-kusama

5 Easy Pumpkin Craft Ideas for Kids

Paper Pumpkin Craft

Easy paper pumpkin craft for kids using colourful cut-out spots, inspired by pattern, repetition and autumn art. You can use a hole puncher to make the spots.

Felt and Split Pin Pumpkin

Simple felt pumpkin craft for kids exploring colourful spots, pattern and texture for an autumn art activity.

Easy Pom Pom Pumpkin Craft

Easy pom-pom pumpkin craft for kids, using colourful craft materials to explore spots, texture and pattern.

Pumpkins and Sequins

Colourful sequin pumpkin collage for kids, a simple autumn craft exploring repeated circles, colour and pattern.

Mixed Material Pumpkin

Mixed-media pumpkin art for kids using colourful craft scraps to explore spots, texture and creative pattern making.

What we used: paper and card, felt, hole-punched paper circles, pom poms, sequins and other leftover craft materials. Try swapping these for whatever you already have at home.

Try asking your child:

• What different kinds of spots can you make?

• Can you create a repeating pattern?

• Which colours stand out next to each other?

• Can you make tiny, medium and enormous dots?

• What else in nature could you decorate with patterns?

Make it your own

These pumpkin ideas are only a starting point. Try different colours, materials, sizes and patterns, or simply put out a selection of craft materials and see what your child comes up with.

Looking at Yayoi Kusama’s pumpkins can be a wonderful reminder that something as simple as a dot can become part of an artist’s visual language. Children don’t need to recreate her work exactly. Instead, use it as an invitation to notice, experiment and make their own creative choices.

And if your pumpkin ends up looking completely different from ours? Even better.

Happy creating! 🧡