Pumpkin Coloring Pages

• Plain pumpkins: one large pumpkin with thick ribs and a curly stem, good for first-time colorers
• Draw-your-own faces: blank pumpkins where kids add eyes, a nose and a mouth before coloring
• Jack-o'-lanterns: carved faces that are happy, sleepy or silly, with a candle glowing inside
• Pumpkin patch scenes: rows of pumpkins on the vine with a scarecrow, a wheelbarrow or a red barn behind
• Stacks and displays: pumpkins of different shapes piled on hay bales and porch steps
• Pumpkin treats: pie slices, muffins, roasted seeds and a mug of spiced cider
• Patterned pumpkins: pumpkins filled with swirls, leaves and dots for detailed coloring

A pumpkin is a fruit, not a vegetable, because it grows from a flower and holds seeds. It belongs to the squash family, along with zucchini and butternut squash. Pumpkins grow on long vines along the ground and take about three to four months to go from seed to harvest. They aren't all orange: you can find white, green, pale blue-gray and striped ones too. Carving faces into them comes from an old Irish custom of carving turnips, which changed to pumpkins in America because they were bigger and easier to hollow out.

• Plan your carving: sketch a face on a blank pumpkin page first, then copy it onto the real thing.
• No-carve decorating: color and cut out paper pumpkins for a mantel or classroom door when knives and candles aren't practical.
• Life cycle lesson: use a seed, a vine, a flower, a green pumpkin and an orange pumpkin to show how one grows.
• Thanksgiving place cards: write a name on a small pumpkin, color it and fold it to stand by each plate.
• Color mixing: start with yellow, layer red on top and see how many oranges you can make.