How to Make a Carved Pumpkin in Minecraft With Shears
Use shears on a placed pumpkin to carve it and get 4 seeds. How to make a carved pumpkin in Minecraft, wear it around endermen, and build golems with it.
Place a pumpkin on the ground, hold shears, and use them on the pumpkin. It turns into a carved pumpkin and pops out 4 pumpkin seeds. There’s no crafting recipe; the carving happens in the world.
The face is carved on the side you clicked, so aim at the side you want facing out. Break the carved pumpkin with an axe (fastest) or your hand and it drops as an item you can wear or place again.
Finding pumpkins
Pumpkins grow wild in small patches on grass in most temperate biomes, plains and forests especially. Some village farms grow them too. Once you have one, break it into a crafting grid for 4 seeds and start a patch:
- Plant seeds on farmland near water.
- Leave an open dirt, grass or farmland block beside each stem.
- The grown stem places a pumpkin on that free block. Harvest the pumpkin and leave the stem; it will grow another.
If you’re new to crops, our farming starter guide covers hydration and light. Spare pumpkins aren’t wasted: they’re also the main ingredient in pumpkin pie.
Wearing it on your head
Put a carved pumpkin in your helmet slot and endermen won’t turn hostile when you look at them. The cost is visibility: a pumpkin overlay covers much of your screen. Most players only wear one in the End, or while building an enderman farm, then swap back to a real helmet. It gives no armor points.
Building golems
The carved pumpkin is the head for both utility golems. Place it last, after the body:
- Snow golem: 2 snow blocks stacked, carved pumpkin on top. Snow golems throw snowballs at hostile mobs and leave snow trails.
- Iron golem: 4 iron blocks in a T shape, carved pumpkin on the middle top block. The arms need air beside the bottom block. More on what they do on the iron golem page.
A jack o’lantern works as the head for either.
Turning it into a light
Craft a carved pumpkin with a torch to get a jack o’lantern, a full block with light level 15. Unlike torches, it can’t be knocked off by water, which makes it handy under lily pads, in walls, and in farms. Other ideas for light sources and seasonal blocks are in the guides hub.
Pumpkin, carved pumpkin, jack o’lantern
| Block | How you get it | Wearable | Gives light | Golem head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pumpkin | Found or grown | No | No | No |
| Carved pumpkin | Shears on a placed pumpkin | Yes | No | Yes |
| Jack o’lantern | Carved pumpkin + torch | No | Yes (15) | Yes |
Common questions
Can you craft a carved pumpkin?
No. There is no crafting recipe. You place a pumpkin as a block and use shears on it.
Does wearing a carved pumpkin stop endermen attacking?
It stops you angering them by looking at them. An enderman you hit or bump into will still fight back.
How do you make a jack o'lantern?
Craft a carved pumpkin with a torch. The result is a light-emitting block you can also use to build golems.
Sources & verification
Facts on this page are checked against these references and in-game behavior for the stated edition(s). how we verify.
Keep reading