It’s time to get crafty! Halloween is just around the corner and it’s a great excuse to spend some quality creative time with your kids. Besides the obvious overwhelming amounts of sugar that your little ones will absorb in the next few weeks—or will at least attempt to—as well as the intense costume planning and executing, it’s a perfect time of year to set aside a cool Saturday morning and enjoy some quiet and imaginative time with your child.
Here are a few ideas for fun fall crafts:
PUMPKIN-MAN FAMILY
This is a great craft that the whole family can do—including little kids—that is similar to making a snowman (which is, of course, guaranteed fun). You should have most of these items in your home—you’ll just need to go “pumpkin patching” and get some cutie pumpkins or gourds of various sizes. Make sure to supervise little ones with the toothpicks and staples, but otherwise, let them go to town and get creative!
What You’ll Need
• Wax pencil
• Child-safe pumpkin-carving saw
• Toothpicks
• Staples
• Waxed twine
• Round wood gouge
Step 1
To make the bodies, select pumpkins in a range of sizes, stack, and secure them to one another with skewers.
Step 2
To make faces, trace the object you will use for each feature onto pumpkin with wax pencil, then cut and scoop out a slightly smaller opening. Lay object on the opening, and press to wedge it in. Poke holes for small objects such as twigs and leaf stems using skewers or toothpicks. Push in staples to hold hair, such as dad’s comb-over.
Step 3
For the dad’s glasses, twist a 2-foot-long twig; tie in place through the lenses with waxed twine. For the mom’s apron, tie Swiss chard onto twine.
Step 4
For the child’s hat, an adult should cut a small pumpkin in half horizontally and scallop the edge of the top using the wood gouge.
BAT O’ LANTERNS
This is a great project for kids that are a little bit older, 6 years or so and up, that combines two fun Halloween celebrities—bats and pumpkins!
What You’ll Need
• Black acrylic paint
• Ornamental (miniature) pumpkins
• Black and white craft foam
• Wings, ears and template
• Hole punch
• Glue dots
• Black duct tape
• Toothpicks
• Wooden skewers
Step 1
Cover your work surface with a drop cloth or newspaper, then paint the pumpkins. Allow them to dry completely.
Step 2
For each bat, choose a style of wings and eyes from the template. Trace and cut out two identical eyes from the white craft foam and use the hole punch to make pupils. Adhere the eyes to the pumpkin with glue dots.
Step 3
Cut a matching pairs of ears and wings from the black craft foam (our wings are about 6 inches long). Attach the ears by taping a toothpick to the back of each one, leaving about 1 1/2 inches of the toothpick exposed, then inserting it into the top of the pumpkin.
Step 4
Finally, tape a skewer to the back of each wing, leaving a 2-inch point exposed, and push it in place.
SWAB SKELETONS
This is a great Halloween craft that will serve as a cool decoration for your house. It’s a bit more sophisticated as far as dexterity is concerned, so plan to do with project with your older kids.
What You’ll Need
• Cotton swabs
• Cotton balls
• Black construction paper
• Blue
• Thread
Step 1
Cover a work area with plastic wrap, then set out cotton swabs, cotton balls, black paper, and glue.
Step 2
Using plenty of glue, your guests can build skeletons from the swabs, cutting them into different lengths as needed, then attach cotton ball skulls and black paper faces.
Step 3
When the glue is dry, the skeletons can be hung up with thread.
Happy crafting!
