How to make a pumpkin fairy house: easy autumn craft for kids

Pumpkin season comes around every autumn – and that means it’s perfect for some fun autumn nature crafts.

A pumpkin fairy house makes a lovely seasonal decoration, and of course it’s ideal for Halloween too.

If you’re looking for some unusual and easy Halloween pumpkin ideas, a pumpkin fairy house is a cute alternative to spooky pumpkin carving designs. It’s also one of the more creative decorated pumpkin ideas for kids, because you can really let your imagination flow with the design and adornments.

Easy halloween pumpkin fairy house craft

We made our pumpkin fairy house using things we found in nature. The beauty of using natural materials to decorate your fairy house pumpkin is that everything is eco-friendly, and it looks really gorgeous. Collecting your materials is also lots of fun, and a great way to encourage kids to spend some time outdoors.

How do you make a pumpkin fairy house?

You can create a fantastic pumpkin fairy house with just a few basic supplies. Here’s what you will need:

A pumpkin
Natural materials such as leaves, twigs, berries, seeds, conkers, pine cones and feathers
String
Sharp knife or saw
Spoon
Pumpkin carving tools or small knife
LED tealight

Easy pumpkin fairy house DIY

Once you’ve gathered your materials, you’re ready to turn your pumpkin into a DIY fairy house. Here’s how to do it.

How do you carve a fairy pumpkin?

Place your pumpkin on a flat surface, and use a sharp knife or saw to cut the top off. If kids are joining in with this craft make sure the adults do this step, and keep little hands well away.

Now it’s time to get your hands in and scoop out the seeds and stringy flesh. This is bound to get messy, but that’s part of the fun!

You might find it easier to use a spoon, and you will definitely need one to get the last few bits off.

When you’re finished your pumpkin should look something like this:

The next step is to create your doorways and windows.

Creating a doorway

We used *pumpkin carving tools for this part, but a knife also works well. I find the little tools are better and safer for children to handle. If kids are doing the cutting make sure you supervise them closely.

Start by using a pencil (or a circular cutter which is often included in carving tool sets) to draw the shape of your doorway onto the outside of the pumpkin. When you’re happy with it, cut along the lines to make a door-shaped hole.

As you can see from the picture, we started with a much smaller door outline and changed our minds!

When you’ve cut out the shape, tidy up the edges with your cutter or knife to get rid of any loose bits of pumpkin flesh.

Creating windows

Repeat the same process to cut holes for windows. Making them smaller than the door and a bit higher up works well.

Two small sticks in a cross shape make a window look really cute. Simply cut two twigs to size and push them in to secure. Cutting each twig a bit longer than you need will make it easier to get a snug fit; you can always trim them down if necessary.

making a pumpkin fairy house with natural materials

Making some steps

This is a lovely way to create an entrance to your fairy pumpkin house. We used a simple configuration of twigs and string.

Cut your twigs to size, then remove them from the pumpkin and tie each joint together with string.

closeup of fingers tying twigs together with string

When your steps are finished simply pop them into the doorway.

Decorating your pumpkin fairy house

This is the part where you can really get creative with your pumpkin fairy house. Use your natural materials to decorate the doorway, windows, entrance and interior. We also tucked some nature treasures into the lid for extra impact.

How sweet is this? A little acorn cup filled with tiny flower heads makes the perfect autumnal fairy bowl.

closeup of pumpkin fairy house made with natural materials

You might find it easier to use pieces of wooden cocktail stick to attach smaller decorations. Push one end into the decoration, then secure it by pushing the other end into the pumpkin.

Finishing touches

When you’ve finished decorating your pumpkin fairy house, pop in an LED tealight and it’s ready to display.

pumpkin fairy house made with natural materials

You can scatter a few of your autumn treasures around the outside of your Halloween fairy house to really set the scene.

The whole thing looks even better when it gets dark!

Here’s a little video of the twinkling in action:

Of all the nature craft for kids we’ve done over the years, this was one of the most rewarding. The whole process – from gathering the materials to designing and decorating – was so much fun, and the kids were hugely proud of the end result. Having said that, it’s also a fantastic craft for adults – I would highly recommend making one yourself!

I also love the fact that these are pumpkin decorations for fall in general, rather than just Halloween crafts. I think we’ll be making DIY fairy houses every autumn from now on.

Head this way for more Halloween decoration ideas.

More pumpkin craft ideas & fall crafts for kids

Ready for more creative pumpkin ideas for kids? My pumpkin bird feeder is a fun way to put your pumpkins to good use after halloween and make your garden wildlife-friendly.

I’ve also got a list of family-friendly Halloween jokes for kids, skull puns, skeleton puns and pumpkin puns and pumpkin jokes to get everyone giggling, plus a cool list of 100 Halloween quotes.

You might like my leaf mason jars and spooky spider plants autumn craft ideas, and I’ve also rounded up fifteen autumn nature crafts all in one blog post. My mini gardens are perfect for creating a fairy garden in autumn too.

You will also find some simple pumpkin craft ideas (as well as lots of other kids nature activities) in my book *A Year of Nature Craft and Play. There’s a nature-themed activity for every week of the year, with games, crafts, science experiments, gardening projects and art activities to enjoy. If you’d like to keep the kids active and get them playing outside it’s definitely worth a look – and it makes a great gift too. Find out more in my nature play blog post.

a year of nature craft and play book by catherine hughes and becky goddard-hill

Fun nature play ideas for kids

For even more nature crafts and nature play ideas, check out my roundups of winter nature crafts, spring nature crafts, earth day activities for kids and kids gardening projects.

I’ve also got a series of free printable bucket lists packed with kids outdoor activities and ideas for outdoor play. There are autumn activities for kids as well as winter, spring and summer.