Bats across the moon
Bat and Moon Pumpkin Stencil · Tricky, ages 9 and up, with a grown-up
Two bats fly across a big round moon.
🌕 Trickyages 9 and up, with a grown-up
You need
- a carving pumpkin
- the printed stencil and tape
- a big spoon or an ice-cream scoop
- a pumpkin poker or a thick pin (with a grown-up)
- a small pumpkin saw (grown-up)
- a serrated knife for the hole in the back (grown-up)
- an LED tea light
🖨️ Print the stencil
For a medium pumpkin, about 9 to 11 inches tall.
How we carve it, together
- Grown-up
1. Open the back
A grown-up cuts a hole in the back of the pumpkin, big enough for a hand. The picture goes right up to where a lid would be, so the hole goes at the back.
- You
2. Scoop it out
Scoop out the seeds and the stringy goop with a big spoon. Scrape the front wall thin, about as thick as your finger. Save the seeds!
🌰 Roast the seeds in the Kitchen - Together
3. Poke the dots
Tape the stencil on the front. Poke dots along every black line with a pumpkin poker, a grown-up beside you. Then take the paper off.
- Grown-up
4. Cut along the dots
A grown-up cuts along the dots with a small pumpkin saw, a little at a time, and pushes the pieces out from inside. Leave the skin at the big bat's two wing tips, the little bat's right wing tip and under its feet. Those bridges hold the bats in the moon.
- You
5. Lights out!
Put an LED tea light inside and turn the lights out. Never a candle: an LED stays cool and can't start a fire.
- ✋ A grown-up does every cut. Kids draw, scoop, poke the dots with a grown-up beside them, and light the LED.
- 💡 Light it with an LED tea light, never a candle. An LED stays cool and can't start a fire.
- 🌉 Leave the skin at the big bat's two wing tips, the little bat's right wing tip and under its feet. Those bridges hold the bats in the moon.
More pumpkins
For grown-ups
A big glowing moon with two bats in front of it. The bats are the skin you leave, held to the edge of the moon by bridges at their wing tips.
This is a free printable pumpkin carving stencil: choose Small, Medium or Big above and print at 100%. Black is cut away, grey is scraped thin (not through), dots are poked or drilled, and a white gap across a line is a bridge to leave. Children scoop, poke and light; you cut. The AAP's Halloween safety tips say the same, and suggest a flashlight or glow stick rather than a candle.
More: every pumpkin design and stencil, the pumpkin face maker and pumpkin painting ideas for kids.