All Things Pumpkin

Decorate, carve, bake, and play! The possibilities of activities with pumpkins are endless. Here are a few ideas for your tween and teen:

Decorate

Bring out the supplies and get creative. Paint, glitter, stickers, pipe cleaners, yarn, and more! Let your tween or teen choose the items they want and see what they come up with. You can also check out some of these sites for ideas:

• Paint pumpkins
• Decorate pumpkins

Carve

There are so many different ways you can carve a pumpkin. You can even make it a contest with the family and have everyone choose their favorite when they are done.

Here are a few tips and tricks:

• Step-by-step instructions for carving
• Pumpkin carving ideas

Bake

Don't throw away the seeds! Roasted pumpkin seeds are delicious and good for you too. Try this easy recipe.

If you have a sugar pumpkin, try roasting the squash in wedges for an easy and tasty side dish to serve with roasted meats. 

Or make a delicious no-bake treat with just a few ingredients:

Pumpkin Dessert Dip

Ingredients Needed:

• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 2 Tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 15 oz canned pumpkin (not pie filling)
• 8 oz whipped cream cheese
• Dippers (apple Slices, graham crackers, vanilla wafers, etc.)

Instructions:

1. Combine canned pumpkin, cream cheese, maple syrup, and spice in a bowl.
2. Whisk until smooth.
3. Serve with your choice of dippers.

Play

Use pumpkins for a twist on some traditional games. Bowling or Tic-Tac-Toe, anyone?

Pumpkin Bowling

Supplies Needed: Empty plastic bottles and one pumpkin

• Remove the stem of the pumpkin, and it is now your ball
• Place the bottles in a triangle formation for your pins
• Get bowling!

Extra Challenge: Make the distance of your pins farther and/or add sand/rice/beans to the bottles to make your pins harder to knock over.

Pumpkin Tic-Tac-Toe

Supplies needed: 10 mini pumpkins

• Paint or use markers to create x and o on the top, or paint them two different colors
• Create a board with chalk or tape
• Start playing!

Consider picking up your pumpkins from a locally owned store or visiting one of the many pumpkin patches in our area.