Fall Painting for Kids Using Pumpkin Seeds

Leftover pumpkin seeds are perfect to use with this fall painting for kids activity. Be sure to add it to your collection of fall activities for preschoolers.

Green, yellow, and red paint bottles, a small bowl of pumpkin seeds, and pumpkin seed art in progress.

Related: Pumpkin Seed Activities

Fall is a great time to discuss colors with young children.

I think this is especially true if you happen to live in an area where the leaves change color with the seasons. And if you don’t – there are always books!

If you’re willing to get creative, there are SO many fun seasonal activities for kids to do using pumpkins or their seeds in the fall time. In fact, we have a huge list of over 40 pumpkin crafts for preschoolers that your preschoolers will love.

This specific activity lets the children explore fall colors while they create art using pumpkin seeds.

My favorite thing about this activity is that it not only combines two senses – touch and sight – but it’s also open-ended enough that children can get as creative as they’d like.

Table of Contents

Pumpkin Seeds Fall Painting for Kids

If you’re a regular reader of Fun-A-Day, you know we’ve had a lot of fun over the years with pumpkin seeds.

There’s just something about those seeds that entice preschoolers. Maybe it’s because they come from “pumpkin guts,” or maybe it’s how enamored the kids are with pumpkins.

Either way, pumpkin seeds always seem to be a hit with the kids. So, combining the seeds with fall paint colors was an easy decision.

I’m a big fan of process art because it focuses on letting kids be creative and explore. This fall painting activity does just that AND it has an easy set up and short material list – which is always a plus for busy teachers and parents!

Materials List

You don’t really need a lot of items for this fall painting activity for kids. In fact, you’ll likely already have most of these items on-hand in your classroom.

I may get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

Green, yellow, and red bottles of paint and a small bowl of pumpkin seeds as ingredients for fall painting for kids.

Related: Pumpkin Seed Counting Activity

You can definitely add additional art materials to this activity if you want to.

I often find that children prefer simplicity and can get very creative with only a few materials. So don’t feel obligated to add any extras.

How to Create this Fall Painting Activity for Kids

Start by passing out white construction paper to each child. It can be the standard size or the larger pieces. It just depends on what you prefer (or what you already have in stock).

Then, talk with the children about the different fall paint colors you have to choose from. When we painted with pumpkin seeds, we used yellow, green, and a reddish-orange.

Other possible color options include red, orange, yellow, green, brown, and maybe even purple. That’s really up to you and the children.

Let the kids choose a few colors for their fall painting. Some children might focus in on just one color, while others might want to use every single color available.

Once their color palette is set, help the children place small drops of paint on their paper. Then, have them place their pumpkin seeds on the paint.

Portions of Red, Yellow, and green finger paint with pumpkin seeds on top.

Related: Pumpkin Calendar Numbers

You might want to start off with one pumpkin seed per paint color. If the children want more once they get started, you can give them a few or place a handful of seeds within their reach.

Creating Pumpkin Seed Fall Art

Now it’s time to let the children create! The kids can use their fingers to push the pumpkin seeds through the paint, sliding along the construction paper.

Related: Messy Play Recipes

Some children might want to use the pumpkin seeds to stamp all over the paper too. Still others might want to move the paper around, seeing if the seeds will slide a little as they do so.

Once the kids are happy with their creations, place them on a drying rack, or another safe place, to dry.

Both the final product and the process of creating this piece of artwork will be so unique to each child. That’s the real beauty in this fall painting activity for kids!

Red, yellow, and green paint being swirled with pumpkin seeds.

To jazz this piece up a little, you could have your students add more materials to the painting. Some possibilities include pumpkin sequins, glitter in fall colors, or stickers.

These pieces of art will be perfect for a fall bulleton board or wall display in your classroom.

A New Spin on this Fall Painting Activity for Kids

In addition to loving process art, I also really enjoy helping children create collaborative art.

In the past, we’ve made classroom canvases together in preschool. I loved each and every one of the kids’ contributions to the artwork. These pieces always looked amazing up on the walls of the classroom.

I think this pumpkin seed fall painting would make a fabulous collaborative piece.

Collaborative Fall Painting Activity

Grab some small pumpkins.
Let some of the kids work together to roll them through paint on a canvas. Let dry.
Then have a different group of kids stamp the canvas with pieces of the pumpkins dipped in paint, like we did in this pumpkin process art activity. Let dry.
After that, have a third set of children slide pumpkin seeds through paint on the canvas. Let dry.
Finally, help any children who are interested to hot glue pumpkin seeds to the canvas. They can be plain seeds (or learn how to dye pumpkin seeds and add colorful seeds).

Now that I’ve written that out, I really hope we get the chance to try that out soon. There are so many possibilities with this idea.

You could even take the students for a nature walk to gather leaves in a variety of colors. Other items like acorns, twigs, or pine cones would also be fun to glue onto a collaborative fall art piece.

I hope you and your students have a blast and get creative with this fall painting for kids idea.

Let me know if you get a chance to try this out in your classroom!

Preschool Pumpkin Resources

Sometimes I wonder how I ever got everything done in a day as a preschool teacher. Preschool Teacher 101 offers some really helpful resources for quick and meaningful lesson planning with included printables. These resources can save you so much time!

Click on the links below for more information about each of these pumpkin-themed resources.