Pumpkin Cottages: A Fall Nature Craft

Pumpkin cottages are such a fun way to bring a little magic into an autumn afternoon.

They can be as simple or elaborate as you like, which makes this a great activity for children of different ages. Younger children can gather and arrange the decorations, while older children might have all sorts of ideas for carving doors, windows, and other little details. And fair warning: adults may find themselves getting just as involved!

The best part is that you really don’t need a plan. Start with a pumpkin, gather some treasures from outside, and see what happens.

Before you begin, take a basket outdoors and look for anything that might belong in a tiny woodland home. Acorns, colourful leaves, twigs, pinecones, moss, bark pieces, dried flowers, stones, and seed pods are all perfect.

Children tend to be especially good at this part. A little piece of bark suddenly looks like a front step. A crooked twig is obviously a chimney. An acorn cap might be just the right size for a tiny bowl.
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What You'll Need

• A pumpkin
• Pumpkin carving tools
• Natural treasures such as acorns, leaves, twigs, pinecones, moss, bark, and stones
• A hot glue gun 
• Your imagination!

To begin, cut open the pumpkin and scoop out the inside as you would for a jack-o'-lantern. Hang onto the seeds if you’d like to roast them for a snack later.

Then decide where your little cottage will take shape. Carve a front door and perhaps a window or two. Add moss around the doorway, make a path from tiny stones, lean a twig against the pumpkin as a chimney, or use bark to make steps.

There’s no need to make it perfect. In fact, a crooked doorway or funny little window often gives a pumpkin cottage much more personality.

Younger children can help decide where everything should go while an adult handles the carving and hot glue. Older children may want to dream up and create much of the cottage themselves.

And don’t be surprised if the project keeps growing.

Once there’s a tiny cottage sitting in front of you, it’s easy to start wondering who lives there. Does the cottage need a garden? A table? A path leading into the woods? Soon a few pinecones, stones, and sticks can become a whole little world.

Pumpkin cottages make lovely fall decorations, too. Plus, they’re magical and inspire wonder for all ages, and they’re great for photoshoots ;-)

When your cottage has reached the end of its life, remove any glue or other non-natural materials. You can then compost the pumpkin or otherwise return it to the earth. If you’d like to leave it outdoors for wildlife, check first to make sure that’s safe and appropriate for the animals in your area.

And don’t forget about those seeds. Roast them with a little salt, and you’ll have a tasty snack to enjoy after all that cottage building.

We hope you have as much fun making these as we do. Happy pumpkin cottage making!

Want to see how ours came together? Visit our Instagram Reel for a little inspiration before you begin.