Oct 22
Oct 22
Total Time 1 hour Ages preschooler
Party guests are sure to get wrapped up in this activity: crafting mini mummies to take home as favors when the festivities are over.
What you'll need
- Wire snips
- Wooden craft sticks
- Wooden craft spoons
- Glue dots
- 1 square yard of muslin torn into 1-inch-wide strips (this should be enough for at least 7 mummies)
- Small googly eyes
How to make it
With the wire snips, trim 2 craft sticks to 2 1/2 inches for the arms and 2 more to 3 inches for the legs. Attach an arm and a leg to each side of a wooden craft spoon using 1 glue dot per limb.
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Stick the end of a muslin strip to the skeleton with a glue dot and wrap the rest of the length around the wood, using another dot at the end. Wrap 4 or so more strips around the skeleton in this way. Use glue dots to attach googly eyes.
Oct 22
Total Time 1 hour Ages preschooler
We've gone batty! This easy-to-make Bat Mobile will guarantee a spooktacularly fun Halloween for you and your kids.
What you'll need
- Bat templates (see Steps 1 and 2)
- Markers or crayons (optional)
- Glow-in-the-dark paint (optional)
- Scissors
- Glue stick
- String
- Coat hanger (the type from a dry cleaner, with a cardboard sleeve on the bottom, works best)
- Hot-glue gun
- Fiberfill
How to make it
Here are the templates for the different bats, which will print in color. To download in black and white, see Step 2.
Mad Bat in color
Howling Bat in color
Sad Bat in color
Moon (only in black and white)
Or, download the templates in black and white that the kids can color in themselves with markers or crayons.
Mad Bat in black and white
Howling Bat in black and white
Sad Bat in black and white
Moon
Tip: Paint each bat's eyes, and all of the moon, with glow-in-the-dark paint.
Next, carefully cut out your bats and moon. Match the back and front of each bat and glue them together, sandwiching a piece of string in between. Then glue together the moon halves (no string is necessary).
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Now it's time to put it all together. Lay out the bats on a table with the coat hanger. (If your hanger doesn't have a cardboard sleeve, you can easily fashion one with construction paper and glue.) Play around with the lengths of the bats' strings until you like the bats' positions (and they're properly balanced), and then tie them to the hanger.
Finally, hot-glue the fiberfill cloud to the hanger and the moon to the cloud. Hang it up in a dark hallway and wait for the squeals to begin!
Oct 22
Total Time 2 to 3 hours Ages preschooler
Everyone will go buggy when they see these cool creepy crawlers all around the crevices of your haunted house!
What you'll need
- Scissors
- 4 12-inch-long black bumpy pipe cleaners
- Tacky glue
- Disk-shaped magnet, 1 inch in diameter
- 1 1/2-inch black pom-pom
- 2 googly eyes
How to make it
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Cut each pipe cleaner in half to create the spider's 8 legs.
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Keep the stems straight and use a generous amount of glue to attach the ends of all 8 pieces to the magnet, arranging the pieces in 2 groups of 4.
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Apply a small amount of glue to the center of the magnet and attach the pom-pom.
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Glue the googly eyes to the pom-pom.
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After the glue dries (about 2 hours), bend each pipe cleaner up and back down to create legs. Place in a suitably frightening spot and enjoy.
Oct 22
Total Time afternoon or evening Ages all-ages
Make these simple chair covers for Halloween, then customize them for any celebration at home or school.
What you'll need
- Felt
- Fabric glue or needle and thread
- Pins
- Repositionable glue (we used nontoxic Aleene's Spritz-On Reposition-It Tacky Glue, available at craft stores)
How to make it
The Slipcover:
This easy slipcover, made from a few yards of felt, serves as a backdrop for a year's worth of decorations.
First, decide how far down the back of your chair you want the slipcover to hang. Measure from that point up and over the top of the chair, then down to the seat (or stop at the arms if your chair has them). This is the total length of felt you'll need for each cover. Now measure the width of the chair back at its widest point; add to that measurement the thickness of the chair back and 1 inch for the seams (1/2 inch per side).-
For each chair, cut a piece of white felt to fit your measurements. Ours ran 1 1/2 yards long and 2/3 yard wide.
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Fold the felt over the chair and pin the sides in place. Remove the cover and sew up the sides or glue them together with fabric glue. If you sew them, turn the cover inside out.
The Decorations
To haunt your house with this friendly spirit, simply download the
ghost template.
Trace the templates on to felt (or other lightweight materials such as ribbon) and then cut them out. (We glued white felt pupils onto the black eyes.) Dimensions will depend on the size of your chair covers.
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Spray the back of each piece with a thin layer of repositionable glue, then press them onto the slipcovers or layer them on top of one another. (If little hands peel off any of them, just apply another layer of glue and press them back on.) Tip: If you get a clump of glue, spread it out with a paintbrush so it doesn't leave a mark on the white felt.
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Store the pieces in plastic bags, preferably with the sticky sides facing away from one another. Next time you use them, spritz on another layer of glue.
Oct 22
Total Time 1 hour Ages school-age
Looking for a festive decoration for your home this Halloween? Try conjuring up a few of these flapping craft foam creatures.
What you'll need
- Bat templates (download them here)
- Black craft foam
- Red sequins
- Black paper fasteners (or brass fasteners colored with permanent black marker)
- 10-inch piece of string or dental floss
- Short piece of ribbon
- A bead (optional)
How to make it
Click here to download a printable version of the flapping bat. To view the .pdf file, you'll need Acrobat Reader which is available for free from the Adobe site.
Cut 1 body shape and 2 matching wing shapes from black craft foam, punching holes where indicated. Glue red sequins to the head for eyes.
To attach the wings to the body, align the hole farthest from the rounded end of each wing with a shoulder hole. Use black paper fasteners (or brass fasteners colored with permanent black marker) to loosely attach the wings to the back of the body, as shown.
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Next, thread one end of a 10-inch piece of string or dental floss through the remaining wing holes and tie it in a loose loop, making sure the free end extends beyond the bat's head. Tie a bead to the end of the string, if you like.
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Tie a piece of ribbon through the hole at the bottom of the bat, then hang him upside down on a wall or window. To make the bat's wings flap, pull the hanging string.
Oct 22
Total Time 1 hour Ages school-age
Stationed on a walkway or porch, these homemade lanterns will extend a ghostly greeting and good-bye to all your holiday visitors.
What you'll need
- Clean plastic gallon milk jugs
- Black permanent marker
- Craft knife
- String of 50 clear low-wattage holiday lights
How to make it
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Draw ghost eyes and mouths on the jugs. Tip: Leave the caps on while you do this, so the jugs don't dent.
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Use the craft knife to cut a half-dollar-size hole in the back of each jug (a parent's job).
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Arrange the ghosts near each other and string the lights between them, stuffing several bulbs into each of the jugs.
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