When Halloween is close, people are preparing to carve pumpkins in real life. But those who seek additional fun or a replacement for the real thing, and play Minecraft in multiplayer, have an alternative. Such players will notice festive decorations, especially on private servers, and a Carved Pumpkin is bound to show up in one form or another. But where did it come from, and who carved it? Which resources were needed, and what else could they be used for? That’s precisely what we’ll answer as we show you how to carve a Pumpkin in Minecraft.
1. Carve a pumpkin in Minecraft Survival Mode
Follow these 4 steps to carve a Pumpkin in Minecraft:
1. Obtain a Pumpkin
You can find a Pumpkin in the open world, acquire it with methods 2 and 3 below, or grow it yourself. Regardless of the way you get it, the Pumpkin must be on the ground, in front of you.
2. Acquire Shears and prepare them
Move Shears, the same item needed to get wool from sheep in Minecraft, to any position in your Hotbar. If you don’t have them, fear not, we’ll teach you to create Shears in a separate guide. Make sure the shears are highlighted on your Hotbar, and that your character is holding them.
3. Carve a Pumpkin in Minecraft
Approach the Pumpkin on the ground, make sure your crosshair (plus sign) is on it, and use Shears like this:
- For Java Edition (PC/Mac)/Bedrock Edition (Windows 10)/Educational Edition, right-click on your computer mouse.
- On Pocket Edition, tap on the Pumpkin.
- For Nintendo Switch, press the ZL button on the controller.
- For Wii U, press the ZL button on the gamepad.
- On Xbox, press the LT button on the controller.
- For PlayStation, press the L2 button on the controller.
If you did everything right, you’ll see the eyes and the mouth appear on it, and 4 Pumpkin Seeds drop on the ground.
4. Dig the Carved Pumpkin up
The Carved Pumpkin will remain on the ground. To use it, you’ll need to pick it up. Here’s how digging a Carved Pumpkin works:
- For Java Edition (PC/Mac)/Educational Edition/Bedrock Edition (Windows 10), press and hold the left-click of your computer mouse.
- For PlayStation, press and hold the R2 button on the controller.
- On Xbox, press, then hold the RT button on the controller.
- On Pocket Edition, tap and hold on the Pumpkin.
- For Wii U, press and hold the ZR button on the gamepad.
- For Nintendo Switch, press, then hold the ZR button on the controller.
2. Acquire Carved Pumpkin in Minecraft Creative Mode
In Minecraft Creative Mode, type “carved pumpkin” the search bar in the upper right corner, and drag it to your inventory or Hotbar.
3. Minecraft Cheats/commands for Carved Pumpkin
Playing Survival Mode in single-player or as a server owner of Minecraft Realms? You can enable Minecraft cheats. Afterward, add a Carved Pumpkin to your inventory like this:
- Playing Minecraft Java Edition (PC/Mac) versions 1.13-1.17? Type this:
/give @p carved_pumpkin 1 - Using Bedrock Edition (Windows 10), Education Edition, Pocket Edition, Nintendo Switch, Xbox, PlayStation, or Java Edition 1.8 and later? Enter this:
/give @p carved_pumpkin 1 0
How to use a Carved Pumpkin in Minecraft
Now that you have it, you can use a Carved Pumpkin for the following:
1. As a helmet
This won’t make you stronger and will obstruct your vision. But, you can look Endermen in the eyes without them attacking.
2. Make a Jack O’Lantern
If you make and use a Crafting Table and place a Carved Pumpkin in an empty slot above a Minecraft Torch, you’ll get a Jack o’Lantern, which shines brighter than a Torch.
3. Create iron or snow golems
Both Iron Golem and Snow Golem will serve as powerful bodyguards. We’ll publish a detailed guide to create them.
4. Create a Carved Pumpkin farm
Remember those Pumpkin Seeds? You can use them to plant Pumpkins. Grab your Shears again, rinse and repeat the steps above, and voila!
5. Enchant the Carved Pumpkin
You can use Minecraft enchanting on a Carved Pumpkin, although you’ll only get Curse of Binding and Curse of Vanishing. When used with a Minecraft Dispenser, it’s ideal for pulling pranks on other players.