Zucchini Painting: A Simple Alternative to Pumpkin Carving

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Every spring I say, “this is going to be my gardening year.” Then, every fall I say, “next year is going to be my gardening year.” Every summer since having a yard I have started out hopeful, but between 1st trimester morning sicknesses and newborns, the weeds have taken over by the end of every summer. Thankfully something I plant always beats the odds and grows anyways. This year it was my zucchini. I had several get too big to be any good, but I didn’t want to waste them. Since younger kids, like my daughter, need a simple alternative to pumpkin carving, I decided to use it instead of a pumpkin.

I picked my biggest zucchini to use as a substitute jack o’ lantern. A couple weeks ago we used a traditional pumpkin to see what ways my daughter could safely carve it. Since a zucchini obviously doesn’t carve like a pumpkin, I let my 2 1/2 year old daughter paint the zucchini instead. We still added a face to it.

How to Paint a Zucchini as an Alternative to Pumpkin Carving

Supplies:

• Large zucchini
• Paint
• Cup
• Paper Towel
• Paint brush
• Tablecloth
• Googly eyes
• Foam sheets
• Hot glue gun
• White glue

Prep: 

First, I washed the zucchini to prep it for painting. Then, to minimize mess, I put out a plastic tablecloth. For more mess minimizing tips, check out how to paint with a toddler. 

Next, I set up my daughter’s painting area. I let my daughter pick which paint colors she wanted and squirted them out on a plate. Then, I filled a cup with water and set it near a paper towel.

Creating Your Zucchini-O’-Lantern:

Time to paint! While painting, we practiced cleaning our paint brush between each color of paint we used. Once she used up a color, she stuck her paintbrush in her water cup and dried her brush on the paper towel. She went through all these steps too quickly to actually do any good, but it was still good practice.

Since she was painting on a plastic tablecloth, I didn’t wait for each side of the zucchini to dry. When my daughter finished a side, I went ahead and turned it. She had a very big brush, so she finished very quickly. If I did it again, I think I would give her a smaller brush. After she finished, I put the painted zucchini outside to dry quickly. I made sure to turn it after a couple minutes to prevent it from sticking to the tablecloth.

When the zucchini was fully dry, it was time to decorate it. First, I cut out an oval from a black foam sheet and several small squares from a white foam sheet. 

Then, I had her make the mouth by gluing the white square teeth to the black mouth. I did make sure she placed the teeth along the sides of the mouth to make it obvious what it was supposed to be. Next, she glued the mouth and two googly eyes onto her painted zucchini. The glue didn’t work well at all, so I hot glued the mouth and eyes on where she had placed them.

Conclusion of Our Zucchini Alternative to Pumpkin Carving:

While the finished zucchini looked nothing like a traditional jack o’ lantern, it still had a festive feel and was a lot of fun to make. My daughter was very proud of it and named it Peanut. Since we didn’t put any sealant on it, it comes inside when it is supposed to rain. If you want to make yours last longer and survive being outside check out these tips. Have you tried an alternative to pumpkin carving? How did it turn out?