6 Easy DIY Halloween Crafts
Paper Tube Bats
Check out this easy technique for making bats out of cardboard tubes, courtesy of hello, Wonderful.
Here’s what you’ll need:
Paper cardstock or construction paper in rainbow colors, black and white
Empty paper tubes
Glue, tape, scissors
Googly eyes
Instructions:
Cut a strip of colored construction paper to cover the width of your tube. Either glue, staple or tape to your paper tube. Draw a bat wing, cut it out and use that as a template to make several more wings with your black paper (two wings per bat). Glue your eyes to the paper tubes. Fold in the top and bottom of the tubes. Glue or tape the wings to back of the tubes. Cut tiny triangle out of white paper for the fangs. Glue to the bats.
You can easily unfold the tube to add some wrapped candy or treats. Or stick them on the wall or a door for a colorful Halloween decoration!
(Photo: Shutterstock)
Homemade Halloween Slime
Make your own goo, courtesy of The Best Ideas for Kids
Here’s what you’ll need:
6 ounces of Elmer’s glue– we used white (2 bottles) and glitter green and repeated the recipe 3 times. Note: we made this with Elmer’s glue. It is recommended you do not substitute with other glue as the make-up may not be the same and the recipe may not work (especially Dollar store glue many people report having problems using this).
Orange food coloring for the pumpkin slime jar *Note: the food coloring may stain, use wax paper to cover your table when playing with it and avoid contact with anything you do not want stained.
1/2 teaspoon of Baking Soda
1½ tablespoons of Contact lens solution. **Important: your brand of contact lens solution must have boric acid in the ingredient list. This is what interacts with the glue to form the slime.
Water – add 2 TBSP of water to your glue before adding baking soda if you’d like a stretchier slime
(Photo: Shutterstock)
Mummy Jar
Turn any Mason Jar you’ve got laying around the house into an instant luminary with this how-to from DIY N Crafts.
Here’s what you’ll need:
Mason jar or wide-mouthed jar
Paper tape (sometimes called paper glue)
Googly eyes
Battery operated tealight candle
Scissors
Hot glue gun and glue
Instructions:
Begin by gathering up your supplies. If you want to use paper tape, you will most often find two varieties. There is one that is often found in the hardware department to wrap pipes and one that is found in first aid to help secure gauze. They have different textures, but I would recommend the first aid paper tape is the best option.Once your supplies are in order, you can place your googly eyes onto the jar. I put mine about 3/4 of the way up the jar. Secure these with hot glue. I chose the same size eyes, but you could definitely make it more spooky by using one small and one large eye.
Next, you will begin taking the paper tape and wrapping it around the jar leaving small gaps here and there so it looks like a real mummy. Since it is sticky on one side, it will be easy to secure as you move along.Overlap layers as you wish, and if you run out and have to use another roll, just wrap over it so it looks like a loose end. This process isn’t perfect.When you get to the area with the eyes, do not cover them, but feel free to have part of the paper tape across the edges. This creates a more authentic look.Once you are happy with the appearance of your layers of tape, you can drop the tealight candle into the jar.
(Photo: Shutterstock)
Paper Bag Monster Puppets
What you’ll need:
paper lunch bag
acrylic paint (color of your choice)
colored cardstock paper
scrapbook scissors (optional)
markers
circle punches (optional-we used a 3-inch, 2-inch, 1 1/2-inch and 1-inch)
scissors
glue
Instructions:
Paint the front and bottom of your paper bag with the color of your choice. Let it dry completely. After painting the bag I like to open the bag up for it to dry so any paint under the bottom flap of the bag doesn’t make the bag stick together. Use your colored cardstock paper, construction paper, scissors, circle punches and markers to design a unique monster. Let your creativity take over! Think eyeballs, teeth, fun patterns, pointy ears and horns. I even added a silly tongue and some long eyelashes on my monster.
Finger Puppets
Not only a fun family craft, but functional for those spooky nights. Try out these fun finger puppets from One Creative Mommy
Here’s what you’ll need:
Felt scraps
Embroidery floss
Fabric glue
Wiggly eyes
Fabric scissors
Instructions:
Download and print the Halloween Finger Puppet Template. Cut out the finger puppet shape and trace it two times onto a scrap of felt. Cut out the shapes. You will need two of each shape for each finger puppet.
Once you have cut out all of your shapes, select a coordinating or matching color of embroidery floss for every puppet. Leaving the bottom of the puppet open, sew around the outside edge with a blanket or whip stitch. *NO SEW INSTRUCTIONS* Instead of sewing around the edges, use a bead of fabric glue to seal the edges of the puppet.
Using felt scraps, fabric scissors, glue and wiggly eyes, let your kids go wild and turn the puppets into monsters and Halloween characters.
(Photo: Shutterstock)
Painted Rock Ghosts
Easy, Peasy and Fun shows us an inexpensive and creative way to add some Halloween spirit to your home.
Here’s what you’ll need:
stones (either pick them up on your next walk in the nature or grab them at the craft store)
white acrylic paint
paint brush
black permanent marker
Instructions:
Wash the stones to get rid of any dirt, grease or dust they might have collected while they were waiting to become this crafty project. Leave them to dry completely. Once they have dried, paint them with white acrylic paint. Depending on your rocks and your paint you might need to apply more than one layer of white to cover the stones completely. Let the paint dry. Once the white paint is completely dry add ghostly details on your rocks with a black permanent marker.
(Photo: Shutterstock)
