Looking for fun Halloween craft ideas?
Part of the fun of Halloween, aside from overeating candy and wearing silly costumes, is decorating your home, inside and out. With parties, trick-or-treating and other activities on the way, your child can get so excited she wants to wear her girl’s costume all day. One way to keep littles ones excited about the upcoming day is to make fun arts and crafts projects with that Halloween theme in mind.
Toddlers (ages 12 mos. to 3 years)
Keep it simple. Little ones this age can only understand instructions a few steps at a time. One great way to have them create a little Halloween ambience of their own is to make a paper-plate spider. It’s a little messy, but well worth it.
Simply paint the palms of those two little hands black and then quickly (before they rub the paint all over your new white couch) lay them flat upon a paper plate, add two googly eyes and a piece of white yarn for a web. Voila! Spider extraordinaire.
Preschoolers
Preschoolers are big kids now, or so they like to think, but truth is, they still need a lot of help. One way to have them feel a little more grown up, is to let them do most of the work themselves. A great project for kids this age is lollipop ghosts.
What could be more simple than a small square of white cloth, a ribbon or piece of yarn and a black pen? Simply take the piece of cloth, center the lollipop underneath, tie it off with the ribbon/string and let them decorate the face. Too cute! Even they will approve.
Elementary
This age group is generally good to go with scissors and glue, one fun craft that uses both are Halloween Luminaries. Another good thing about this project is that it requires very little time and expertise. Simply have them decorate a small, white paper bag with pieces of black construction paper.
They can let their imaginations take over from here; jack o’lantern faces, spiders, spooky ghosts, tombstones, skeleton’s…whatever they can cut out and glue on, they can create it. A great (and safe) way to illuminate these are to use battery-operated candles that you simply drop into the bottom of the bag. They can be found at most arts and crafts stores, or your local supermarkets. They are super easy to make and a great way to really decorate a front yard.
Emma Rae Curtis is a costume/dressing up/makeup & accessories expert. She mainly writes about Halloween but also about all things costume and dress-up related.
