I have a soft spot for Jack-O-Lanterns, as they were my home’s light source in my very first world. While many view them as a Halloween item, they’re perfect to decorate your base with year-round. In particular, they make homes in snowy biomes stand out and are perfect for making scarecrows for your farms. This article will provide you with step-by-step instructions for creating your own, as well as a handy list of uses for them in-game!
This Jack-O-Lantern tutorial will work for both Minecraft Java edition, Bedrock edition, and Education edition, which includes all of the following platforms:
- Mac and PC
- Nintendo Switch
- Minecraft PS (Playstation)
- Minecraft for Xbox
- Minecraft PE for ios and Android
Table of Contents
Jack-O-Lantern Crafting Recipe
The crafting recipe for a jack-o-lantern requires two ingredients: a carved pumpkin and a torch.
To craft it, open up the crafting table’s crafting menu. In the crafting area, place the carved pumpkin in the middle box of the area, then place the torch directly beneath it.
Getting a Carved Pumpkin in Minecraft
In order to carve a pumpkin, you need one pumpkin and a pair of shears. To carve the pumpkin, place it down on the ground.
Move the shears from your inventory into your toolbar, placing them into your hand.
Now, interact with the pumpkin while holding the shears to create a carved pumpkin with an adorably spooky face!
This process drops four pumpkin seeds, which can then be used to produce more pumpkins.
How to Find Pumpkins in Minecraft
Most commonly, pumpkins can be found naturally growing in Plains biomes and Extreme Hills biomes. They can also be found growing in Taiga and Snowy Taiga Villages. However, they can more rarely be found growing in snowy biomes, swamps, and sandy biomes!
Occasionally, Jack-O-Lanterns can be found already generated in Taiga and Snowy Taiga Villages
How to Grow Pumpkins in Minecraft
To grow pumpkins, you need a water source, dirt, a hoe, and pumpkin seeds. Four pumpkin seeds can be gathered by carving a pumpkin, but a pumpkin can also be used to craft four seeds by placing it in a crafting interface.
A hoe can be crafted using two sticks and two pieces of another material, including wooden planks, cobblestone, an iron ingot, a gold ingot, or a diamond. Simply place one stick in the center row of the bottom box, the other stick in the center box of the middle row, and then place one piece of material in the center of the top row and the other in the rightmost box of the top row.
A very basic pumpkin farm consists of a row of water followed by a row of hoed farmland.
The pumpkin seeds can be planted on the farmland.
When the farm looks like this, it’s ready to grow pumpkins!
The pumpkins will grow on the block next to pumpkin vines. To harvest them, simply break the pumpkin block! Don’t touch the vines, as they will continue to grow pumpkins infinitely. They can be used for jack-o-lanterns, pumpkin pie, and any other pumpkin creations.
Trading with Wandering Traders for Pumpkins
You can also trade for both pumpkins and pumpkin seeds from wandering traders. Traders will sell pumpkin seeds for one emerald each, trading up to twelve seeds at a time.
They will also trade pumpkins for one emerald each, but will only do this trade four times at once.
How to Craft Shears in Minecraft
Shears can be crafted in the inventory’s crafting interface or on a crafting table. The recipe requires only two iron.
In a crafting grid, simply place the two iron diagonally from each other. For example, place the first ingot in the first box of the first row, then place the second ingot in the second box of the second row.
Getting Iron by Mining in Minecraft
The main way to get iron is by mining iron ore directly.
After mining, smelt it in a furnace to obtain iron ingots!
If you dig deep enough, you can occasionally find raw iron blocks. These can be turned into nine raw iron, which can then be smelted into ingots as usual.
Getting Iron From Chests in Minecraft
Iron can also be obtained as loot from different naturally-generating chests. These can include chests found in mineshafts, the chests in Blacksmiths’ homes, and even Woodland Mansion chests.
Getting Iron From Iron Golems in Minecraft
Upon defeat, Iron Golems can drop both iron ingots and poppies.
They are difficult to fight by hand, but many people use iron golem farms to kill them and obtain their loot.
How to Craft a Torch in Minecraft
Crafting a torch requires one stick and one coal. Simply place the coal in one box in the crafting area and place the stick in the box beneath it.
Coal spawns commonly in the upper layers of stone, being found early on in caves and all over mountains alongside iron.
To craft sticks, you first need to chop a tree. One wood block can be crafted into four planks.
Then place two of the wooden planks next to each other in the crafting interface to create four sticks.
What do Jack-O-Lanterns do in Minecraft?
There are three major uses for jack-o-lanterns in Minecraft. They are using them as light sources or decorations, using them to create snow golems, or using them to make iron golems.
Using Jack-o-Lanterns for Light
One of the main uses of Jack-O-Lanterns is as a light source. They are a level 15 light source, which is the brightest and equivalent to items like beacons, lava, and lanterns. They can be placed both on land and beneath water.
Using Jack-o-Lanterns to Create Snow Golems
To create a snow golem, you need two snow blocks and one jack-o-lantern. Place the snow blocks in a vertical stack on the ground.
Then place the jack-o-lantern on top to bring the snow golem to life!
Snow golems can be used to collect snowballs and will attack nearby enemies with snowballs.
Using Jack-o-Lanterns to Create Iron Golems
To create an iron golem, you need four iron blocks and one jack-o-lantern. To create the base, place two of the iron blocks in a vertical stack on the ground. Add one of the remaining blocks on the left side of the iron block on top of the stack, then add the final block on the right side.
To activate the golem, place the jack-o-lantern on top of the center block on the top.
