One of my boys is not a natural reader, so I go to (extreme) lengths to inspire excitement. Literary pumpkins for Halloween are a great way to do this. These ideas aren’t easy, but they sure are fun!! The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle is a beloved children’s book and the corresponding literary pumpkin makes for a great activity to do with your little ones. The Pigeon who drives the bus has inspired a series of epic books by Mo Willems. Lastly, crayons. The melted crayon pumpkin is a great way to use your broken pieces!

Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus Literary Pumpkin

You need to gather a styrofoam ball, white black and yellow foam paper, 2 branches a paper towel tube and a smallish pumpkin. Paint the ball, pumpkin and tube with blue paint. I played around with shapes until the beak and wings were right.

In the end, I painted the wings because the only foam I could get wasn’t a perfect match. I later donated this to the school library!

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Pumpkin

This one was fun in that you use small gourds, and have to paint them varying shades of green. I used some yellow foam from the pigeon for the eyes, and two brown pipe cleaners for the antennae. Yellow glitter or a pipecleaner could be added along the top if you wish. You could also slide each pumpkin onto a coat hanger for stability. Mine was for a 6-minute TV segment so I took my chances!!

The Melted Crayon Pumpkin

This one is so fun and very easy. First, paint the pumpkin white for a good base. Use your glue gun to glue a rainbow of crayons to the stem area of your pumpkin.

Once they are firmly attached, use a hairdryer to melt the wax. Try and do this from the top down: it will spray if you go sideways! Once it’s second-nature you will see how to swirl the wax and make fun designs.