Get In The Halloween Spirit With These Free Pumpkin Coloring Pages

One pumpkin is pretty amazing. But three? Well, that’s a plethora of pumpkins to pick from. These three pumpkins will be a blast for your kiddo to fill in. And if you’ve ever wondered why it’s called a pumpkin patch, well, that’s because pumpkins grow in gardens or fields, and that “patch” of land might be designated for pumpkins to grow. It just might inspire you to create your own patch, perfect for your lil’ punkin to grow their own gourds.

If you thought that pumpkins were of the wobbly, sort of round shape and size, think again. Pumpkins come in all shapes, sizes, and colors. So your child shouldn’t be too surprised to see a traditional round pumpkin, but also spy ones that are pear-shaped, or super small in size. And while you might expect your standard orange-colored jack-o-lantern, pumpkins come in a plethora of colors, such as white, red, yellow, green — and blue, too.

Let’s admit it: jack-o-lanterns, while traditional, can be terrifying, especially to younger kids. Chalk it up to those pointy eyes (and teeth), and it’s the stuff of nightmares, momma. But this laughing jack-0-lantern should be fun (and not fearful) to color in. But why do people carve pumpkins in the first place? Well, pumpkin carving actually started as an Irish tradition where people carved turnips and potatoes, transforming them into scary-looking faces, History.com reported. As Irish immigrants arrived in the U.S., they brought the tradition with them and swapped out tubers for pumpkins instead.

Coloring a pumpkin is one thing, but filling in a cat is completely another. Put them together and you have a match made in Halloween heaven. Black cats became a symbol of Halloween due to their perceived association to witches, which the Puritan Pilgrims of Plymouth County believed witches could transform into. But this cat seems sweet enough (and not like it’s housing the soul of a bygone witch), so your child can color this page regardless. And it can also help your child learn to color in the lines, as they pick orange crayons for their pumpkin, and a black one for the cat.

Why should parents have to put a pause on their own craving for coloring? Grab some markers, momma, and print out this beautifully detailed pumpkin coloring page. Believe it or not, there are some big benefits to coloring, such as relaxing your brain and becoming a meditative practice. Just don’t expect younger children to be able to color in a page that’s this intricate, since coloring inside the lines requires certain developmental milestones, like having fine motor skills and strong spatial abilities, which will allow them to understand the relationship between objects, Scholastic reported.

A blank page (or in this case, pumpkin) might be scary to some, but having a simple outline of a pumpkin can allow your child’s creativity to soar. For starters, it allows newbie coloring enthusiasts the chance color to their heart’s content without having to worry about avoiding other objects, like eyes, nose, or a mouth. Plus, they can control the pumpkin’s personality, and learn the necessary facial cues (from happy, laughing, sad, or mad), and how to make the pumpkin reflect their feelings.

Well, it’s not quite a hot dog or a piece of cheese, but you’ll definitely be saying, “Meeska, Mooska, Mickey Mouse!” For this Mickey Mouse-inspired coloring page, the only Mouseketools you’ll need are a big pack o’ crayons. Mickey looks just like himself (except as a pumpkin) in this fun page that will have you singing the Mickey Mouse theme song. And after the crayons have been put away, you can watch The Scariest Story Ever: A Mickey Mouse Halloween Spooktacular to put everyone in a festive mood.

This pumpkin and ghost coloring page just screams Halloween. (Ha.) It’s definitely a coloring page fit for a preschooler, who might still be mastering their fine motor skills, including holding a crayon correctly. You can print this design on a different piece of paper (other than white, natch) so that when your child goes to color the page, the ghost will pop. But will a real one appear by your bed come nighttime? Possibly, but not for the supernatural reasons you might think. According to NBC News, visions of ghosts are sometimes attributable to hypnagogic hallucinations, otherwise known as waking dreams, and can occur when you’re about to fall asleep.

Admit it. You’ve plunked your baby (gently of course) among a pile of pumpkins for that quintessential fall shot. That’s what makes this free pumpkin printable page so cute. It represents what many parents do every time they go to the farm — take tons of pics of their kids perfectly posed among the pumpkins, and then purchase one to take home and carve. If you’re planning a pumpkin patch visit, though, be sure to time it right. Early morning and pre-sunset images both offer beautiful light to illuminate (and elevate) your image.

There’s nothing wrong with trying to get a little learning into a serious coloring sesh. Practice helping your child sound out their letters, and in particular, the letter P of which pumpkin comes from. The look on the pumpkin’s face shows that your child got it right. For added instruction, you can teach your child what “Mommy P” and “Baby P” look like, so they can start learning what uppercase and lowercase letters look like, which usually happens around the time they’re ready for preschool, Understood.org reported.