Halloween for kids Pumpkin carving ideas Classic happy face
Easy jack-o'-lantern face for kids
Ages 6+ · about 1 hour
The easiest jack-o'-lantern face is two triangle eyes, a triangle nose, and a wide smile with square teeth: every cut is a straight line. Your kid draws the face and scoops the pumpkin, a grown-up carves, and a battery tea light makes it glow.
What you need
- A pumpkin with a smooth front
- The happy face stencil, or paper and a marker
- A big spoon
- Tape and a pushpin
- A small pumpkin saw (for the grown-up)
- A battery tea light
How to make it
- Draw the faceYour kid draws two triangle eyes, a triangle nose, and a wide smile with two square teeth, or prints the happy face stencil at the size of the pumpkin.
- Open it (grown-up)A grown-up cuts a lid around the stem with the knife angled toward the middle, so the lid sits on a ledge and doesn't fall in.
- Scoop it outYour kid scoops out the seeds and strings with a big spoon, then scrapes the inside of the front until the wall is about 2 cm (1 inch) thick.
- Trace the designTape the drawing to the front and poke along every line with the pushpin, a few millimeters apart. Peel the paper off: the dots show where to cut.
- Carve (grown-up)A grown-up saws from dot to dot: the nose first, then the eyes, then the mouth. Push each piece out from the inside.
- Light itPut a battery tea light inside and put the lid back on. It is safer than a candle, and the pumpkin lasts longer.
Tips by age
For younger kids
Your kid is the designer and the scooper. Drawing the face straight on the pumpkin with a marker works too.
For older kids
With a grown-up's hand on theirs, kids 9 to 13 can saw the straight triangle edges with the small pumpkin saw.
Make it your own
More ideas like this
Surprised face
Round eyes and an O-shaped mouth. Circles are easy to draw and easy to cut.
Your kid's monster
Three eyes, uneven teeth: the face your kid draws is the design, wobbly lines and all.
Ghost
One rounded shape with a face: pin the cut-out eyes back in with toothpicks.
On Kubrio, your kid can build a monster in Monster Maker and use its face as the design for the pumpkin.