Decorate your home for Halloween and keep your children occupied that night by creating several holiday-themed craft projects. Halloween crafts do not have to be scary. You can make cute lollipop ghosts, fun pumpkin plates or paper bag puppets. Get together with other neighborhood moms and plan a Halloween craft party.
Candy Crafts
Help children thread candy corn or another soft Halloween candy onto string to make edible necklaces. Thread a slightly dull sewing needle and push the candy onto the string. Make the necklace big enough to fit easily over the child’s head.
You can also turn the candy you will give trick or treaters into a craft project. Wrap lollipops in white tissue paper and have the child draw a ghost face on them. Secure the paper to the lollipop with a small piece of orange or black curling ribbon.
Crafts for Your Porch
Carving a jack o’lantern is one way to decorate your front steps. If your child is not quite old enough to appreciate pumpkin carving, you can paint a pumpkin with a silly or scary face instead. You can also help him draw on several white paper bags, then position the bags along your front walkway. Place a electric tea light in each bag to illuminate your child’s artwork and light the way for trick or treaters.
Paper Plate Crafts
If you are hosting a Halloween party for children, give each child a paper plate. Have them each decorate their plate with markers. Good decorating ideas include an owl or jack o’lantern face. When the children finish decorating their plates, turn them over so that the decorated side faces down. Cover the plates with beans or seeds and place another plate on top. Staple the two plates together, making sure you don’t leave gaps big enough for the seeds to slip through. The children will have fun shaking their Halloween plates all night.
Pipe Cleaner Spiders
Turn a collection of pipe cleaners into creepy crawly spiders. Help children cut four pipe cleaners in half. Stick one end of each pipe cleaner into a foam ball. Give the children poster paint or another child-friendly paint to decorate the foam. You can make a larger version of the spider using pipe insulation and either a large foam ball or empty juice or milk jug painted black.
Trick or Treat Bags
Gather several old pillowcases and re-purpose them to use as trick or treat goody bags. Have each child decorate his bag with his name or initials, using fabric paint or fabric markers. He can also draw the type of candy he hopes to get on Halloween on the pillowcase. You can stitch decorative sequins to the bag if you have time or sprinkle glitter all over the bag.
Photo Credit
- halloween image by Svetlana Kashkina from Fotolia.com
