Smiling jack-o'-lantern pumpkin in fallen leaves beside a bare tree with autumn leaves drifting down

Grinning Pumpkin Under a Bare Fall Tree

A cheerful jack-o'-lantern sits in a crunchy leaf pile while a skinny tree drops the last bright leaves of fall.

🎨 How to color it

Color the pumpkin a glowing orange, the bare tree trunk warm brown, and the scattered maple, oak, and birch leaves in gold, rust, and cranberry red. Use colored pencils for the leaf veins and the pumpkin’s curved ribs, then fill the larger pumpkin sections with smooth marker strokes. Try making the jack-o'-lantern’s grin pale yellow inside, as if it is hiding a tiny lantern under all those leaves.

The story behind this coloring page

The Grin Under the Leaves — Every day after school, Tobin raked the leaf circle around the old park pumpkin until it sat neat as a pie on a plate. Read the full story →

Every day after school, Tobin raked the leaf circle around the old park pumpkin until it sat neat as a pie on a plate. The dry oak leaves scratched his gloves, the little tree clicked its bare twigs, and Tobin made sure no maple point stuck out where the wind could grab it. Then one windy Thursday, the pumpkin grinned wider than usual and made a sound like “Pffft-hee-hee!”

Tobin froze with the rake in the air. Because of that, a squirrel dropped its acorn on his hat. Because of that, he stumbled backward into the leaf pile, and a tin box popped out from under the pumpkin with a springy boing. Inside were paper mustaches, orange confetti, and a note: SHARE IMMEDIATELY OR FACE THE TICKLE LEAVES.

“Absolutely suspicious,” Tobin said, which meant absolutely yes. He stuffed mustaches on twigs, sprinkled confetti into the crunchy pile, and called the whole block over. Soon everyone was laughing so hard the leaves jumped. If you spot that big grin next time, check the leaves below it—Tobin still rakes them neat as a pie on a plate.