Make simple jack-o-lantern without the mess. Give each student a medium-sized white paper bag and several sheets of newspaper or paper from your recycle bin. Show students how to crumple paper and stuff it inside the bag, using more paper for larger, rounder pumpkins and less paper for smaller pumpkins. Make certain that students leave space at the top of the bag for the stem. Once students have finished stuffing their pumpkins, twist the top of the bag closed and secure with a green pipe cleaner. Wrap the ends of the pipe cleaner around a pencil to make them curl like a pumpkin vine. Next, give students orange paint and encourage them to paint their pumpkins. Paint the area above the pipe cleaner green. When the paint is dry, help students use paint or markers to draw a jack-o-lantern face.
Save a few pieces of candy from your class trick-or-treat bowl to make a tasty treat for your Halloween party. Bake round sugar cookies and bring to class. Make orange icing by adding orange food coloring to regular white icing. Let students put icing on their cookie to make a pumpkin. Provide a variety of candy for students to turn their cookie into a jack-o-lantern. Candy corn, chocolate drops, brightly colored hard candy and licorice are all good choices.
Use pompoms to make a colorful pumpkin patch, suggests the website Kaboose. Give each student a piece of cardboard and green felt or construction paper. Ask students to glue the paper or fabric to the cardboard. Provide orange pompoms in a variety of sizes. In addition, give students black and green paper and green pipe cleaners. Cut triangle shapes from black paper and glue them to the pompom to make a jack-o-lantern. Cut stems from green construction paper and attach to the top of the pompom. Once the pumpkins are decorated, glue them onto fabric or paper. Curl pipe cleaners around a pencil to make them look like pumpkin vines and glue them around the pumpkins. For added decoration, cut leaves from green construction paper and attach.
Use an art activity to teach students what is inside a pumpkin. Cut open a pumpkin and let students take a few seeds from the inside. Show students how to carefully rinse the seeds and set them out to dry. Draw a pumpkin shape on white card stock and ask students to cut out two of the shapes. Using crayons or markers, ask students to color one side of each of the pumpkins and add a jack-o-lantern face if they wish. Tell students to turn the pumpkin shapes over and glue seeds to the uncolored sides of the pumpkin shapes. Use a stapler to attach the pumpkins together, colored side out. Staple the bottom and sides but leave the top open so that the seeds are visible from the top.