Make your own pumpkin bowl for Halloween

Make an awesome pumpkin bowl to store your Halloween sweets and treats! Follow these easy steps to create a spooky papier-mâché pumpkin that's perfect for parties, decorations and trick-or-treat goodies.

You will need
  • A balloon
  • String
  • Scissors
  • PVA glue
  • Ripped up newspaper
  • Card
  • Template (download below!)
  • Pipe cleaners
  • Glitter
Download template

How to make your pumpkin bowl

🚨Be careful when using sharp appliances, ask a grown-up to help you!🚨

This pumpkin bowl is a fun papier-mâché Halloween craft made using a balloon, paint and card. Complete with a lid, stalk and spooky face, it's perfect for storing sweets and treats.

Step 1: Pumpkin bowl

  1. Blow up a balloon, then let some air out until it's about half its original size. Tie a knot in the balloon.

  2. Cut a length of string and tie the middle of it around the nozzle of the balloon.

  3. Turn the balloon over. Pull the string tightly around the balloon so that it changes shape. Twist the ends of the string around each other at a 90-degree angle and secure them with a piece of tape.

  4. Turn the balloon over again. Pull the string tight so the balloon changes shape, then tie the ends of the string together. Secure them with a piece of tape.

  5. Repeat until the balloon is divided into eight sections by the string.

  6. Cover the balloon with three layers of papier-mâché, allowing each layer to dry for several hours, or overnight, before adding the next layer.

  7. Paint the pumpkin orange, with green paint around the top. Add a black line along each segment. Mix a small amount of black paint with orange paint and add shading along one side of each segment to create a 3D effect.

  8. Ask an adult to help you make a small hole near the top of the pumpkin using a pencil. Carefully insert scissors into the hole and cut out a jagged lid.

  9. Paint the inside of the pumpkin black.

Step 2: Making the stalk

  1. Fold a pipe cleaner in half. Twist it in the middle and gently pull the two ends apart. Open out the top slightly.

  2. Cover the pipe cleaner with two layers of papier-mâché, leaving the ends uncovered. Once dry, paint it green and sprinkle with glitter.

Step 3: Making the leaf

  1. Cut a leaf shape out of card. Paint it green and sprinkle with glitter.

  2. Attach the leaf to the stalk by wrapping a green-painted pipe cleaner around it. Leave part of the pipe cleaner loose and curl it like a pig's tail.

Step 4: Assemble

  • Push the ends of the stalk's pipe cleaners through the lid.

  • Secure them on the inside using sticky tape.

  • Cut a pumpkin face from black card using the template, or design your own.

  • Stick the face onto the pumpkin.

  • Fill your pumpkin bowl with sweets and treats!

🎃 Now you've got your very own spooky pumpkin bowl, ready to hold all your Halloween goodies!

Want more Halloween? 👻

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