Pumpkin House Tutorial

When I first came across the pumpkin fairy houses online, it seemed like something out of my reach. I’m not super crafty and I never viewed myself having the time to make little houses out of pumpkins during the fall months because we did so many other things like pumpkin patches and apple picking. But with this year being so socially distant, we’ve been spending more time at home (which I secretly love).

So the other day, I decided that instead of carving jack-o-lantern faces out of our pumpkins, that my daughters and I would make them into little houses! My five-year-old was ecstatic when I showed her our end-result goal. She delighted in collecting the nature materials outside during one of our walks, and then joyfully helped me construct the house while I used the hot glue gun to put everything onto the pumpkin. I did most of the glue-distributing, but the ideas and decor you see was mostly her. Her favorite part is the little ladder on the side.

If you’re curious as to how to make one of these, I break down the steps we took below!

      

How to Make a Pumpkin House

01. Collect some nature materials.

Here’s a little list of what my girls and I gathered:

-leaves (we love oak leaves)

-sticks of various sizes (especially some skinny ones for trim)

-moss and lichen

-the other items were from a craft box I’ve had for years, but truly, make this your own

02. Carve your pumpkin.

My husband got to join in on the fun by helping the girls carve the pumpkin. Have your kids scoop out the insides and then have an adult carve out a door, and a few windows.

03. Plug in your hot glue gun. I hot glued everything to the house. I did the glueing, and my daughter carefully placed the pieces onto the glue. She did touch the glue a few times, but she is five, and I told her if she wanted to help she could. She gladly helped and did get some glue on her finger a couple of times, but kept right on at it. I told her she could stop at any time, but she really enjoys art and crafting, so it was a really fun bonding experience for us.

04. Glue small stick around the door and windows for trim. It was a great lesson in shapes and symmetry as we searched for sticks that would fit the shape and size of the door and windows.

05. Add little details. We added moss and lichen around the pumpkin stem, to the doorway, and a few leaves as the “grass”, and some little wooden pieces I had as the entryway. My daughter also had this super creative idea to build a tree out of sticks. We hot glued all of the sticks together to make a branch-shaped tree and glued it to the side of the pumpkin house.

06. Make a stairs or ladder. We made a little ladder out of sticks, and it’s such a cute addition to the house. When my daughter plays with it, she pretends it’s the way up to the top of the pumpkin for her little animals. I just loved seeing how proud she was after helping me construct it all.

Both she and I are very proud of how it turned out. It really is the gift that keeps on giving too, as she’s been using it for her imaginary play since we finished it.

Have you ever tried making a pumpkin fairy house?

Thank you so much for reading!