Home » View by Grade » 3rd Grade » How to Draw a Pumpkin: Easy Step-by-Step Art Lesson for Kids

How to Draw a Pumpkin: Easy Step-by-Step Art Lesson for Kids

GRAB YOUR PUMPKIN ART LESSON >>

Below you’ll find an easy step-by-step tutorial for how to draw a Pumpkin and Pumpkin Coloring Pages. The shape is perfect for so many different projects!

Simple Pumpkin Drawing and Crayons

A drawing of a Pumpkin, made with the help of a step by step tutorial.

Got a Minute?

Great! Then you can see a preview of this lesson by clicking on the image.

It will take you to my one minute YouTube video that was made to show how easy this drawing is to do, when you take it one step at a time.

Sometimes you just need to see how a drawing happens, to take the mystery out of the process.

Pumpkins and Drawing

When it comes to fun and easy seasonal art projects, pumpkin drawing has it all. The ridges of the pumpkin can help show off their dimension so they don’t look like flat circles, and the bright orange color is so festive to look at. Learning how to draw a pumpkin step by step with all these features is easy to do when you take it step by step.

This easy pumpkin drawing shows that you don’t need fancy art supplies when it comes to coloring your pumpkin. I used Prang® crayons, pressed really hard to get the most pigment, and used yellow to get the color of the reflected light. Some crayons seem to blend a little better than others, and I’ve found the Prang brand does a good job when it comes to pumpkin drawing for kids.

Why Draw with Guides?

You may have noticed that all of the tutorials on this website have a dashed vertical line and horizontal line running through each step. If students make their own centered lines on their own paper, before drawing, they will have an easy reference to follow. All they need to do is fold their sheet of paper in half both ways, and make a crease. The best part is, by the time the drawing is done, the creases will have disappeared!

Student Pumpkin art from around the World

More Pumpkin Ideas

There’s no need to stop with crayons, when it comes to pumpkin drawing projects. The simplicity of their pumpkin shape make them the perfect subject matter for other media too. This pumpkin drawing was turned into a pumpkin painting with just a couple of tempera paint colors. You can see that just the combo of the yellow and orange colors adds so much and makes this pumpkin drawing just jump off the page.

watercolor pumpkin

Here’s the other kind of paint that I used most often in my classroom — watercolor. Specifically liquid watercolor paint. You do need the more expensive on watercolor paper to get this textured look on the paper, but can it can offer some really nice pumpkin shape painting too. Even if you only paint it with one color. This student just added an extra layer of orange over the black lines inside to get a more shaded look. It’s more subtle, but also makes a really pretty work of art.

Pumpkin Drawing and Oil Pastels

Student pumpkin drawing with pastels
Student Pumpkin drawing with oil pastels

Oil pastels make great pumpkin drawings too, especially when done on black paper. Most have really blunt ends so that means they work best for big shapes. But that’s just fine when you only really need a circle and curved lines inside. Oil pastels are known for their rich color, and when outlined with bold black edges, even the simplest of pumpkin drawings can have a dramatic look.

Pumpkin Drawing as a Collage Project

Silly Pumpkin drawing turned into a collage project

Here’s one more fun example of working with pumpkins, and turning it into a collage project.

The idea isn’t new, students have been cutting out pumpkin faces for years. This one is extra fun though as it pushes the look into the silly zone. The large easy shapes are easy to cut out, which make it perfect for younger elementary students.

It’s also fun to experiment with different looks for the eyes, and the arranging of the teeth, before anything is permanently glued down.

Subscribe to “The Daily Draw” to get this Pumpkin lesson!

Learn how to draw a pumpkin with an easy step by step tutorial.

Pumpkin Coloring Page

A Pumpkin Coloring Page, available as a free PDF.

Materials to Draw a Pumpkin


Dixon Prang Wax Crayons

Dixon Ticonderoga Crayons Made with Soy, 24 Colors/Box *This post contains affiliate links. If you click and take action, I will be compensated a small amount at no expense to you.


Sharpie Marker

Sharpie Permanent Markers, Fine Point, Black *

Drawing Paper

Standard Weight, 9″ x 12″, 500 Sheets *

Directions to Draw a Step by Step Pumpkin

Time needed: 45 minutes

Draw a Pumpkin in 9 Easy Steps

  1. Draw a center oval.

    Start a How to draw a pumpkin with an oval

  2. Add a curved shape on the right.

    Continue Pumpkin drawing by adding side shapes.

  3. Draw a curved shape on the left.

    Continue to draw a Pumpkin by adding another side.

  4. Add a curved shape on the right.

    How to draw a pumpkin easy step by step

  5. Draw a curved shape on the left.

    Next step to show how to draw a pumpkin for kids

  6. Place a stem on the top.

    Draw a stem on top to finish the easy pumpkin drawing

  7. Draw a vine with leaves and a horizon line.

    Add a vine to your pumpkin drawing

  8. Trace with a marker or pen. Color with yellow and light green crayons.

    Start your pumpkin coloring with yellow, to add highlights.

  9. Fill in with orange, dark green and a sky color.

    Finish pumpkin coloring with orange, and then add a background.

Already subscribed to “The Daily Draw”?
Great, then use the button below to get your free Pumpkin tutorial. And thanks for wanting to bring more step-by-step, no prep art lessons to your classroom!

How to Draw Three Pumpkins

Learn how to draw pumpkins with an easy to use step by step tutorial. The overlapping shapes give them lots of dimension.
Three pumpkins colored with shadows
Three pumpkins colored with single shade of orange

If you’d like to learn how to draw pumpkins that look more dimensional, then this lesson a large and medium and small, all leaning in various directions, is a great place to start.

This tutorial will show students how to draw the pumpkin circles and radiating lines coming from the stem, but then add little “bumps” to each section to make them stand out some more.

The great news is that those that find the bumpy step tricky, can simply skip it and go to the tracing and color. The radiating lines alone create most of the dimensional look all by themselves.

Use the Button below to get your Pumpkins Tutorial

Learn how to draw pumpkins with an easy to use step by step tutorial. The overlapping shapes give them lots of dimension.

Pumpkins Coloring Page

Pumpkin Coloring Page with three overlapping pumpkins. Come visit for your free download.

Positive / Negative Pumpkin

Collage art projects can teach valuable lessons about positive and negative shapes and make some very cool Halloween art.

A positive-negative pumpkin collage that teaches a lesson in symmetry.

This positive / negative pumpkin project requires students to flip and glue down their cut out shapes to mirror the other side. You can’t get more literal than that as a definition of symmetry.

IMPORTANT TIP: The pumpkin mouth, eye and mouth shapes need to be cut out as ONE piece, as they are going to be used for the other side. Cutting things out in small pieces will create a puzzle that can maybe be put back together in a pinch, but can be a pain.

Note: The best way to cut out the eye is to just make a slit from the side and then cut out the triangle. When the paper is glued down, the slit will barely show.

Green and Black Paper, plus white paint marker and black Sharpie

Use the button below to grab a PDF Tutorial

Diagram of how to make a positive - negative pumpkin.

Materials for a Positive / Negative Pumpkin

  • Black card stock or construction paper
  • Orange card stock or construction paper, cut to 5.5″ x 8.5″ panels
  • Scissors
  • Glue stick
  • Black marker (for variation project)
  • Silver metallic marker (for variation project)

Tips for your Positive / Negative Pumpkin Project

The steps to making this pumpkin are pretty basic, but it really helps to try to explain it in clear, basic steps. You can see how I diagrammed all the steps on my front board in a photo below.

One cool tip to share is that there will be no waste when they are done. Everything that is going to be cut out is going to be used!

Variations for a Positive / Negative Pumpkin Drawing

If your older students can do the initial cutting and gluing without a lot of struggle, try continuing the positive / negative theme a bit further and have them add details on either side with black marker, and a silver metallic marker (which will look almost white without the expense of a white paint marker.)

More Fall Drawing Projects

How to Draw Leaves
Draw a Bat
Draw a Fall Grid
How to Draw Corn
Draw a Cat in a Pumpkin
How to Draw a Scarecrow Face
Draw a Bushel of Apples

Similar Posts

One Comment

Leave a Reply