Halloween Crafts For The Kids

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Trick or Treat time is fast approaching, so fill a rainy weekend afternoon with Halloween crafts to get your kids in the mood for spooky good fun.

Using paper, paints, found objects and craft items, your children can decorate the family room or porch and prepare for Halloween fun.

Decorate Pumpkins And Gourds

Painting uncarved Jack O’ Lanterns works the best. Not every Jack O’Lantern needs carving. Let the kids create a spooky or funny face on pumpkins or gourds with acrylic paints. The hard surface is perfect for acrylics and permanent markers. They can create ghouls and goblins or cute characters. If little ones need a bit of help, you can use a fine-line permanent marker to draw designs for little artists to paint.

For tiny tots who want to paint like their big brother and sister, you can cut stencils for eyes, nose and mouth from duct tape or masking tape and adhere them to a pumpkin. Let your toddler use finger paints to paint all over the pumpkin. Make sure the area where you placed the stencil is well covered with paint. When the paint is dry, remove the stencil. Just like the big kids, your little one has created a special, one-of-a-kind Jack O’Lantern.

For a Jack O’Lantern that will sit on the front porch, give the kids glow-in-the-dark and neon paints to add an eerie luminosity to their spooky decorations. These are water-based paints and are easy to wash from messy fingers and faces.

Create A Centerpiece For The Dining Room

Children can make an easy and elegant centerpiece for mom with miniature gourds and pumpkins. Use acrylics to paint a bowl-full of assorted gourds. Use a color that complements the room’s color scheme. A soft sage green, pale blue or muted gold lends a sophisticated look. Silver, gold or copper color paint would be great for a metallic appearance. When the paint is dry, there are several ideas for completing the gourds.

Use a small amount of watered-down acrylic, quickly paint over the gourd and wipe off the wet paint. Choose a color like burnt umber, black or navy blue. The paint that remains in the crevasses and indentations give the vegetables an antiqued look. Leave in the natural matte finish or spray with clear polyurethane for a shiny look.

Adding a touch of glitter and glamour is easy. A number of paint manufacturers make glitter paints that come in squeeze tubes, jars, pens and bottles. These paints are kid-safe and made in plastic containers that are easy for little hands to manipulate. Instead of antiquing the gourds, children can paint the bottom one third of the gourds with glitter paint. To keep the glitter paint from damage while wet, hang the gourds on strings until they are dry. Place in a low bowl or serving dish to set a festive mood for holiday gatherings.

Custom Trick Or Treat Bags

Check your local craft store or dollar store for plain cloth bags. These bags come in various sizes and types of material. Choose a bag that’s the appropriate size for your children.

Acrylic paints and permanent markers allow kids to get creative with their treat bags. Ghosts, black cats, witches and demons are just a few of the spooky-fun motifs they can use. Big kids can add their own name, while toddlers may need help personalizing their treat bag.

Children can free-hand paint names and saying on their bags, or they can use stencils to make the job easy. Mom or dad may help position the stencils and help make sure the little artist fills in the stencil completely.

If you’re not in the mood to create freehand drawings for little ones to paint, you can use coloring book pictures to trace designs on bags for your little artists to fill in with paints.

Paper Plate Mask

Use thin paper plates as a basis for a fun and creative mask. Cut paper plates in half, then cut out eyeholes and use a paper punch to make holes on either side to hold string or ribbon to use as ties. To make a fancier mask template, cut an indentation for the bridge of the nose and dip down on either side to cover the cheek areas.

Bring out the paint, crayons, glitter, glue and any other hobby product you find in the kid’s craft collection. Buttons, sequins, feathers, string, ribbon, fabric scraps and even dried pasta and beans are all things that can be painted, glittered and glued to a mask.

To prepare for this project, a scavenger hunt could be in order. Indoors and outside, there are lots of craft potentials just waiting for a small, creative mind.

Crafts are Fun!

Halloween crafts can be fun, silly, ornamental or spooky. Kids can create things for themselves to use and for the family to enjoy. These projects are a great way to spend a boring afternoon and are a good way to develop originality. You provide the raw supplies; your children supply the creativity and imagination.

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