While those of us who are kids at heart love to celebrate Halloween, it’s always a lot of fun to involve your little ones in the festivities throughout the month of October. Need a few ideas to keep your kids busy and let them have a little fun creating their own monsters and creepy creatures? Here are 10 easy-to-create Halloween crafts perfect for kids of all ages.
What You’ll Need:
Cardboard egg carton (styrofoam doesn’t work properly)
First, you’ll want to cut one cup out of a cardboard egg carton, trimming the edges so that it sits flat. Then, paint the egg cup black and once it is dry, use a hole punch (or scissors) to punch 4 holes on each side of the cup, creating 8 holes total. If do you use scissors to poke the holes, an adult should do this step to avoid any injuries.
Next, push one of the pipe cleaners through one side of the cup directly through the hole lined up on the other side. You can trim down your legs once you’ve added all of them to your spider’s body and then bend them at the ends to give them an “arachnid-like” look. Using the red paint, create the spider’s mouth on the front and dab the backs of the googly eyes with glue, attaching them above the mouth on your spider. Let your spider dry and if you want to hang him, you can use the hole punch on the top of the cup to create two holes, feed some string through both openings, tie your string at the ends and then your spider is ready to go!
What You’ll Need:
First, trace around your child's foot, then cut the footprint out. Rotate the outline of the footprint downwards, creating your ghostly creature. Then, glue the footprint onto a piece of construction paper and once it is set, draw the face on the ghost. If you want to add a little fun to the project, you can add a little glitter to your boo-tiful creation; just cover the ghost with the glue stick and sprinkle the glitter on very carefully.
What You’ll Need:
First, cut a strip of the self-adhesive gauze wrap that is long enough to wrap around the toilet paper roll several times. Tape one end down, covering one of the roll’s openings, and wrap the cardboard tube. If you want to transform your mummies into treat-filled totes, fill the open end of the roll with various candies.
Then, cut another strip of gauze and tape one end down, covering the open end of the toilet paper roll before wrapping the self-adhesive gauze over and over until your mummy is covered. Use any leftover tape to wrap around the roll to cover gaps. Once completed, dab the backs of the two googly eyes and attach them to the front of the roll.
Use the markers to give your mummy a mouth and then he’s all set. Be sure to let his eyes dry for 30 minutes before use.
Handprint Bats
What You’ll Need:
Similar to the Footprint Ghosts, this time you will trace your child’s handprint onto the black construction paper and then cut out the shape, removing the thumb. Then, cut out a circle (a cup makes a good guide for little hands) from the black construction paper and cut out two ear shapes as well, affixing them at the top of the circle using the glue.
Next, glue the handprints to the back of the circle before attaching the googly eyes to the circle using glue, and finish off the bat by using the 3-D paint to draw a smile with two fangs right underneath the eyes. Perfect to go on the fridge, or attach some strings and let the little bats fly this Halloween!
What You’ll Need:
To prepare your Frankenstein Jar, first remove any labels and clean containers thoroughly with warm, soapy water. Let the jar and lid dry completely and then an adult should spray the jar with primer and allow the primer at least an hour or two to dry as well.
Now it’s time to start creating your own Frankenstein. First, paint the base of the jar completely in the green acrylic paint and then paint the lid black (if it is not already black). Let your paint dry for about an hour before proceeding.
Next, give Frankie his eyes by affixing the large googly eyes to the front of the container using the glue dots, and then attach the button right below (using the glue dots) to create his nose. Using the black felt or foam, cut out a mouth-like shape and then affix it on the front of the jar with several glue dots. To finish your Frankenstein Jar off, use the black marker to draw stitches all over your creation—you can even draw bolts on each side of the jar.
Ghostly Finger Puppets
What You’ll Need:
To start, fold your white felt in half and cut five ghost shapes about 2 inches wide and 2 1/4 inches long (for younger kids, adults should assist with the cutting step). If you want to give your ghosts a bit of a wavy effect at the bottom, cut them using the pinking shears. You should end up with 5 pairs of shapes, 10 ghosts total.
Then, take the top of each pair of ghosts and have your child (or yourself if you’re feeling crafty) draw faces onto the felt with the black permanent marker. To complete your finger puppets, glue them together by running a small line of hot glue around the curved edge of the unmarked piece and then lay the piece with the face directly on top. Again, if you have a younger crafter making these, adults should apply the hot glue. Let them dry for 5 minutes and then you’re ready for fun.
What You’ll Need:
First, make sure you’ve roasted your pumpkin seeds and that they have had plenty of time to cool before beginning. Once they are ready, paint your pumpkin seeds orange, green and black on top of the aluminum foil; keep in mind that you need mostly orange and very little green seeds, so paint accordingly.
While your seeds are drying, draw the design of the pumpkin on the piece of construction paper. Then, lightly paint in the design using the Elmer’s glue (just enough to where you can still see the picture). Fill in the shape with your painted pumpkin seeds as desired and wait two hours to dry before hanging your mosaic.
What You’ll Need:
Start off by painting a wooden clothespin green on the top half and white on the bottom (pin) half. Once the paint dries, paint orange stripes on the white legs and then let that dry. Next, you’ll draw a big circle on one piece of the black felt and then cut out the circle. Draw a line through the center going in both directions (so you have 4 equal pieces, like a pizza).
Then, cut out one of the "pizza slices" and hot glue your felt closed, with the two cut sides overlapping each other, making a cone-like shape. Push the rounded end of the clothespin through the hole of your felt cone, with the striped legs towards the larger end of the cone, creating your witch’s body and dress.
Next, use your second piece of black felt and cut out a small circle and a pizza slice shape (similar to the shape of the dress, just much smaller), which will create the witch’s hat. Glue your pizza shape together, making a small cone, and then cut small slits at the bottom of your cone (opposite the pointed end)—these will help make your hat easier to assemble. Using a small amount of hot glue, attach your cone to the small black felt circle, making sure the slits lay flat on top of the circle.
Once your hat is complete, let it dry for a few minutes and in the meantime, cut your orange yarn into 1 1/2 to 2-inch long pieces to create the hair. Add some hot glue to the rounded top of your clothespin and affix the yarn strands. Once they’re set, add a bit of hot glue to the bottom of your witch hat and attach it to the top of her head.
Find a small stick from outside and cut a slit in front of the dress, starting at the bottom and going up about 1/2 inch. Then, put the stick through both the clothespin mechanism and the slit in her dress to create her broomstick. To finish up your witch, cut 12 pieces of 1-inch long yellow yarn and then bunch all the strands together and tie them in the center with another small piece of yellow yarn. Tie your broom bristles on using one last piece of yellow yarn and now your Clothespin Witch is ready to fly!
Noodle Skeletons
What You’ll Need:
Using your black construction paper as your canvas, create your skeleton by cutting a piece of dry fettuccine to 3 inches long and gluing it vertically in the center of the paper, making the spine. To make the pelvis, glue a piece of dry bow-tie pasta right under the fettuccine. Next, glue two pieces of dry elbow macaroni at the top of the fettuccine, making a circular shape to create the skull.
Then, glue a piece of dry rotini pasta at either side of the fettuccine, just under the skull, to make the skeleton’s arms. Take three pieces of elbow macaroni and glue them horizontally along the fettuccine spine, making the ribs. To create the legs, glue two pieces of dry penne under the bow-tie pelvis and to give your skeleton some feet, glue a piece of dry elbow macaroni at the bottom of each penne leg. Let the skeleton dry for at least an hour before hanging him up to display.
Trick-or-Treat Tote
What You’ll Need:
Begin making your Trick-or-Treat Tote by taking the two orange felt squares and hot gluing them together (once again, if you have little hands working on the tote, an adult should use the hot glue gun), making sure you glue as close to the edge of the felt with the glue. Press the two pieces together and let the glue set for 20 minutes.
Next, cut two 8-inch long strands of ribbon and, using the hot glue, affix the ends of each inside both pieces of felt, creating straps (think of the handles on a handbag). While your tote handles set, use your Halloween-shaped cookie cutters to trace out a few shapes to attach to your tote. Cut the shapes out using your craft scissors and use the hot glue to affix them to both sides. Let them set for 20 minutes and then your tote is ready to use.
Heather A. Wixson was born and raised in the Chicago suburbs, until she followed her dreams and moved to Los Angeles in 2009. A 14-year veteran in the world of horror entertainment journalism, Wixson fell in love with genre films at a very early age, and has spent more than a decade as a writer and supporter of preserving the history of horror and science fiction cinema. Throughout her career, Wixson has contributed to several notable websites, including Fangoria, Dread Central, Terror Tube, and FEARnet, and she currently serves as the Managing Editor for Daily Dead, which has been her home since 2013. She's also written for both Fangoria Magazine & ReMind Magazine, and her latest book project, Monsters, Makeup & Effects: Volume One will be released on October 20, 2021.
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