Fun Halloween Crafts for Children Using Paper and Recycled Materials

Get ready, as Halloween is coming on the 31st of October. What a wonderful family holiday; a perfect time for parents and children to spend time together carving pumpkins, designing costumes and planning trick-or-treat activities. Kids can lose themselves in fun without having to worry about normal, proper behavior. They can act out their fantasies, dreams and imaginations, it's OK because it's Halloween. Spend good days together making these fun Halloween crafts for children.

Make a Bat with Hands

Make use of a child's hands to make this fun Halloween bat. Trace each hand onto black poster board, heavy construction paper or fun foam. Then cut out a headpiece with pointed ears. Assemble the pieces with glue or tape. The handprints are the bat's wings. Decorate the head with googly eyes (or paper ones), a pompom nose, and a freaky mouth cut from white paper. Add a yarn or ribbon loop at the top to hang this bat decoration around the house.

Halloween Tic-Tac-Toe

Take the traditional tic-tac-toe game and give it a Halloween flair. Cut a large pumpkin from a sheet of orange poster board. Draw the game grid with a black marker. Cut game markers (in Halloween shapes) from construction paper. Another good tip is to use your computer and find clip art that would serve as markers, you need at least five markers of two different shapes. Preserve your game board and pieces covering them with clear plastic adhesive paper if you wish. Enjoy playing this game with the children and think about how this game can be made for other holidays too.

Make an Original Creature

Remind the kids that Frankenstein was created with all kinds of odd parts. Now, children can make their own creatures (or monsters) from things found around the house. Grab the recycle bin and invite the children to glue together all kinds of materials to make a unique creature. Heavy tacky glue works well, however a low temperature glue gun is best (adult supervision is necessary). Start with a box or two and then glue on other household leftovers you can find. Continue building upward until the creation is tall. Think about how plastic bottle caps, tape dispensers, toothpaste tubes, paper cones, plastic flatware, and all those containers from fast food restaurants can be utilized.

Recycled Ghost

Materials:

-One white plastic kitchen-size trash bag
-One white round balloon
-Rubber band or twist tie
-Black construction paper
-Tape or glue
-Heavy string

Blow up the balloon until it's as big as the head of a ghost. Put the balloon in a plastic bag and situate it so that a corner of the bottom of the bag is at the top of the balloon. Tie the bag just below the bottom of the balloon. The rest of the bag will drape like the ghost's body. Cut out facial features from black construction paper. Glue or tape these in place. Make a hole in the top of the bag (make sure not to pop the balloon) just large enough to insert some heavy string. Tie the string tightly and hang this ghost in the house or from a tree branch.

Get busy getting your home ready for this favorite holiday in October with these fun Halloween crafts for children. They are wholesome projects with inexpensive items you may already have at home. Save these decorations to be reused each year which teaches your child about recycling - and that's a good thing!

For Halloween songs to sing, click here.
Face Painting for Halloween, click here.